القانون واضح.

Breakdown of القانون واضح.

واضح
clear
قانونqânûn
law

Questions & Answers about القانون واضح.

How do I pronounce القانون واضح in Levantine Arabic?

A good Levantine-style pronunciation is el/il-qānūn wādeḥ.

A few notes:

  • القانون is el-qānūn or il-qānūn.
  • In some Levantine accents, ق can become a glottal stop, so you may hear el-ʾānūn instead of el-qānūn.
  • واضح is commonly pronounced wādeḥ in Levantine.
  • The final ح is a stronger, throatier sound than English h.
Why is there no word for is in this sentence?

Because Arabic often leaves out is/am/are in the present tense.

So القانون واضح literally looks like the law clear, but it means the law is clear.

This is very normal in both Levantine and Standard Arabic.

If you want other tenses, then a verb appears:

  • كان القانون واضح = the law was clear
  • رح يكون القانون واضح = the law will be clear
Why is the ل in ال pronounced here? Why doesn’t it merge into the next letter?

Because ق is a moon letter, not a sun letter.

That means the ل of ال stays pronounced:

  • القانون → el-qānūn

If the next letter were a sun letter, the ل would assimilate and you would not hear it clearly.

So here, saying the l sound is correct.

Why doesn’t واضح have ال?

Because واضح here is not part of the noun phrase the clear law. It is the predicate of the sentence: it tells you something about القانون.

So:

  • القانون واضح = The law is clear
  • القانون الواضح = the clear law

This is a very important difference in Arabic.

In short:

  • without ال on واضح → it means is clear
  • with ال on الواضح → it means the clear...
What is the difference between القانون واضح and القانون الواضح?

They look similar, but they mean different things.

  • القانون واضح is a full sentence: The law is clear
  • القانون الواضح is a noun phrase: the clear law

So the first one makes a statement.
The second one names a specific kind of law.

This is one of the most common things learners need to notice in Arabic.

Does واضح agree with القانون?

Yes. It agrees in gender and number.

Here:

  • القانون is masculine singular
  • so واضح is also masculine singular

If the noun were feminine, the adjective would change:

  • القصة واضحة = The story is clear

One important detail: in this kind of sentence, the predicate adjective does not take ال, even when the noun is definite.

Is this sentence actually natural in Levantine, or is it only Standard Arabic?

It is natural in Levantine too.

The wording القانون واضح is perfectly understandable and normal, especially because law is the kind of word that often sounds similar in both formal and colloquial Arabic.

What usually changes more is:

  • pronunciation
  • sometimes vocabulary
  • and the fact that spoken Levantine does not use formal case endings

So a Levantine speaker can absolutely say القانون واضح.

How would I say The law is not clear in Levantine?

The usual Levantine negation is:

  • القانون مش واضح

In some areas, you may also hear:

  • القانون مو واضح

Both are normal regional ways to say not clear.

What would this look like in fully vocalized Standard Arabic?

In full formal vocalization, it would be:

اَلْقَانُونُ وَاضِحٌ

That is pronounced al-qānūnu wāḍiḥun in Standard Arabic.

In Levantine speech, those case endings are dropped, so you usually just hear something like:

  • el/il-qānūn wādeḥ

So if you are learning Levantine, you do not need to pronounce the -u and -un endings in normal speech.

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