Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

On a movie stunt set, directors need to describe sudden actions and precise movements—a single jump, one strike, or a quick glance. In Arabic, expressing a single occurrence of an action is done using the Noun of Once (اسم المرة).

### The Pattern (فَعْلَة)

To indicate that an action happened exactly one time, we use the pattern فَعْلَة. Apply this pattern to the three-letter root of a verb: the first letter takes a فتحة, the second takes a سكون, and the word ends with a تاء مربوطة. 

Because they end in a تاء مربوطة, these nouns are feminine. They behave like any regular noun in a sentence—they can be subjects, take adjectives, or be the object of a preposition.

{{item:1143470}}

{{item:1143474}}

{{item:1143476}}

### Pairing the Noun with its Verb

A common stylistic structure in Arabic pairs the Noun of Once directly with its matching verb in the same sentence. 

While translating this literally to English sounds repetitive (e.g., "he jumped a jump" or "she looked a look"), it is highly idiomatic in Arabic. Using this structure emphasizes the single occurrence of the action, often by adding adjectives to describe exactly *how* it happened, or by adding the number واحدة for extra emphasis.

{{item:1143472}}

{{item:1143484}}

{{item:1143478}}

These nouns can also be used independently to describe an action that was seen or heard:

{{item:1143480}}

The noun of once (فَعْلَة)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

interrogative

noun

numeral

particle

prefix

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

The definite article and locatives (الـ)

Basic noun gender (ة)

Sun and moon letters

Singular subject pronouns (أنا، أنت، هو، هي)

Indefinite nouns and nominal sentences (ـٌ)

Demonstrative pronouns for 'this' (هذا / هذه)

Separate prepositions (في، من، إلى، على)

Attributive adjectives

Predicative adjectives

Yes/No questions (هل، أ)

Basic questions (من، ما، أين)

Singular possessive pronouns (ـي، ـك، ـه، ـها)

Plural subject pronouns (نحن، أنتم، هم)

Plural possessive pronouns (ـنا، ـكم، ـهم)

Noun possession

Attached prepositions (بـ، لـ، كـ)

Pronouns with prepositions

Having and possessing (عند، لـ، مع)

Regular plural nouns (ـون، ـين، ـات)

Broken plurals

Dual nouns (ـان / ـين)

Plural and distant demonstratives (هؤلاء، ذلك، تلك)

Non-human plural agreement

Present tense singular verbs

Verbal sentences (VSO)

Present tense plural verbs

Topicalized sentences (SVO)

The indefinite accusative case (ـاً)

Verb object pronouns (-ني، -ك، -ه)

Present tense negation (لا)

Question words with verbs (متى، كيف...)

Adverbs of time and place

The future tense (سـ / سوف)

Intentions and desires (أن)

Negating states and possession (ليس)

Past tense singular suffixes

Past tense plural suffixes

Negating past events (ما)

Singular commands

Numbers 1 to 10

Number agreement for 1 and 2 (واحد، اثنان)

Asking how many (كم)

Numbers 3 to 10 (ثلاثة إلى عشرة)

Ordinal numbers 1 to 10 (الأول، الثاني)

Basic conjunctions (فـ، أو، لكن)

Ordering at a café (واحد، اثنان)

Food and drink with conjunctions (و، ف، أو، لكن)

There is and there are (هناك / ليس هناك)

Direct address (يا)

Giving reasons (لأنّ)

Relative pronouns (الذي / التي)

Quantifiers (كل / بعض)

The past tense of 'to be' (كان)

Past possession

Numbers 11 to 19 and tens to 80

Telling time (الساعة)

This book vs this is a book (هذا الكتاب، هذا كتاب)

Greetings (مرحبا، السلام عليكم)

How are you? and goodbye (كيف حالك، مع السلامة)

Nationalities (مصري، مصرية)

Roots and patterns (كتب، كتاب، مكتب)

Politeness (من فضلك، آسف)

Complex possession chains

Colors and traits (أفعل / فعلاء)

Plural colors and traits (فُعْل)

Comparative adjectives (أفعل من)

Superlative adjectives (أفعل)

Adverbs of manner (ـاً)

The nominative case (ـُ)

The genitive case (ـِ)

The accusative case (ـَ)

Dual noun cases (ـان / ـين)

Masculine plurals and 'the best of' (أفضل النجارين)

Emphasizing sentences (إنّ)

Connecting clauses (أنّ)

Reporting speech (قال إنّ)

Expressing contrast (لكنّ)

Comparison and probability (كأنّ, لعلّ)

Distant plural pointing (أولئك)

Plural relative pronouns (الذين, اللواتي)

Past habits (كان + present)

Ongoing actions (ما زال)

Masculine plurals online (مبرمجون، مؤثرون)

Perfective past (قد)

Probability (قد)

The subjunctive mood (أن)

Question	Answer
jump	قفزةqafza
shot (camera/photo)	لقطةlaqta
The actor jumped one jump in this shot.	قفز الممثل قفزة واحدة في هذه اللقطة.qafaza al-mumaththilu qafzatan wâhidatan fî hâdhihi al-laqtati
strike	ضربةdarba
The actress wants a real blow in the next shot.	تريد الممثلة ضربة حقيقية في اللقطة القادمة.turîdu al-mumaththilatu darbatan haqîqiyyatan fî al-laqtati al-qâdimah
fall	سقطةsaqta
This fall is worse than the jump.	هذه السقطة أسوأ من القفزة.hâdhihi as-saqtatu aswa'u mina al-qafzati
scream	صرخةsarkha
The stuntman shouted a loud scream out of fear of the fall.	صرخ الممثل البديل صرخة عالية خوفا من السقطة.sarakha al-mumaththilu al-badîlu sarkhatan âliyatan khawfan mina as-saqtati
throw	رميةramya
She heard a scream after the throw of the weapon.	سمعت صرخة بعد رمية السلاح.samiat sarkhatan bada ramyati as-silâh.
This throw might end the scene with a blow.	قد تنهي هذه الرمية المشهد بضربة.qad tunhi hâthihi r-ramyatu l-mash-hada bidarbah
glance	نظرةnazra
whisper	همسةhamsa
The actress looked a quick look and whispered a whisper.	نظرت الممثلة نظرة سريعة وهمست همسة.nazaratil mumaththilatu nazratan sari'atan wa hamasat hamsatan
spin	دورةdawra
The hero finished one turn in front of the camera.	أنهى البطل دورة واحدة أمام الكاميرا.anha al-batalu dawratan wahidatan amama al-kamira
The fast turn might end with a fall.	قد تنتهي الدورة السريعة بسقطة.qad tantahi ad-dawratu as-sarî'atu bisaqtatin.
touch	لمسةlamsa
The scene needs a gentle touch and a quiet whisper.	يحتاج المشهد إلى لمسة ناعمة وهمسة هادئة.yahtâju al-mashhadu ilâ lamsatin nâ'imatin wa hamsatin hâdi'atin
That touch started with a mysterious look.	بدأت تلك اللمسة بنظرة غامضة.bada'at tilka l-lamsatu binazratin ghâmidatin