Learn Arabic together

Reading right to left: twenty letters, the vowel signs and how letters join.

1. Right to left: ا ب ت ث ن و ي and the vowel signs
2. ج ح خ, د ذ ر ز and the letters that never join forward
3. س ش ص ض ط ظ: teeth, loops and the heavy letters
4. Checkpoint: Letters and Joining
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The last ten letters, doubling, the -n endings, the hamza and the article.

1. ع غ ف ق ك ل م ه and the lam-alif
2. Shadda, tanwin, ta marbuta and alif maqsura
3. Hamza, madda and the article: sun and moon letters
4. Checkpoint: The Rest of the Alphabet and the Signs
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Hello, your name, where you are from, and a “you” that has a gender.

1. Greetings and your name: السلام عليكم
2. Where are you from? Countries and nationalities
3. How are you? Polite words: كيف حالك؟
4. Checkpoint: Greetings and Introductions
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Sentences without a verb “to be”, the personal pronouns, masculine and feminine.

1. I am a student: the sentence without “to be” – أنا طالب
2. Masculine and feminine: the tāʾ marbūṭa ة
3. Questions with هل، من، ما، أين and the plural pronouns
4. Checkpoint: Pronouns and the Nominal Sentence
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

This and that, the definite article, and the noun with its adjective.

1. This is a…: هذا and هذه
2. The article and the noun with its adjective
3. That: ذلك and تلك, and questions about things
4. Checkpoint: This and That, the Article and Adjectives
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Two nouns in a row for “of”, endings for “my” and “your”, and having without a verb.

1. The iḍāfa: the student’s book
2. My, your, his: the possessive suffixes
3. Having things: “I have” with عندي، لي، معي
4. Checkpoint: Possession – Idafa and Suffixes
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Parents, brothers and sisters, the two sides of the family, and describing people.

1. My father and my mother: the family
2. ʿAmm or khāl: both sides of the family
3. Describing people
4. Checkpoint: Family
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Counting to a hundred, prices, the hour and the days of the week.

1. Zero to ten: numbers and phone numbers
2. Eleven to a hundred: how much is it?
3. What time is it? The hours and the days of the week
4. Checkpoint: Numbers, Prices and Time
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Places, prepositions, “there is”, and asking the way.

1. Places in the city
2. On, under, next to: prepositions of place
3. There is: هناك and يوجد, and asking the way
4. Checkpoint: In the City
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Ordering at a café, meals, likes and dislikes, and the market.

1. At the café: I would like a coffee
2. Meals: I like, I don’t like
3. At the market: fruit, vegetables and quantities
4. Checkpoint: Food and Drink
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The present tense in every person and a day from morning to night.

1. I study, you work: the present, singular
2. My routine from morning to night
3. We, you, they – and “not”
4. Checkpoint: My Day – the Present Tense
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Rooms, furniture, where things are, and the neighbourhood.

1. Rooms of the house
2. Furniture: where is the key?
3. My home and my neighbourhood
4. Checkpoint: At Home
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Hobbies, the weather and the seasons, and making plans together.

1. I like reading: hobbies
2. The weather and the seasons
3. Shall we go? Inviting and answering
4. Checkpoint: Free Time and the Weather
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

What happened yesterday, how to tell it, and verbs with a weak letter.

1. Yesterday: the past, singular
2. We, you, they: the past, plural
3. Then, after that: telling what happened
4. Checkpoint: The Past Tense
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

A different word for “not” in each tense – and nobody, nothing, never.

1. “Not”: لا and ليس
2. لم: I did not go
3. لن: I will not – and “not yet”
4. Checkpoint: Saying No: Negation
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The future tense, wanting, having to and being able to, and holiday plans.

1. سـ and سوف: the future
2. I want to, I must, I can: أن and the subjunctive
3. Plans for the holidays
4. Checkpoint: The Future and Plans
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Arabic has its own form for exactly two – in nouns, pronouns and verbs.

1. Two books: the dual noun
2. The two of them: dual pronouns and verbs
3. Kitābā al-ṭālib: the dual in iḍāfa and with suffixes
4. Checkpoint: The Dual
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Regular plurals, the “broken” plurals that change inside the word, and how things agree.

1. Sound plurals: -ūna and -āt
2. Broken plurals: kutub, awlād, rijāl
3. These books are new: plurals of things
4. Checkpoint: Plurals
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Full adjective agreement, “bigger than”, “the biggest”, and character.

1. Adjectives that agree
2. Bigger than: the comparative
3. The biggest in the world: the superlative
4. Checkpoint: Describing and comparing
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Telling, forbidding and asking politely – and following a recipe.

1. Write! Sit down! The imperative
2. Don’t be late! Prohibitions and signs
3. Could you…? Polite requests
4. Checkpoint: Commands and requests
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The airport, the hotel, the sights, and the countries of the Arab world.

1. At the airport
2. At the hotel
3. Sightseeing: museums, castles, old towns
4. Checkpoint: Travelling
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Clothes, sizes and prices, bargaining in the market, and a visit to the doctor.

1. Clothes and colours
2. In the clothes shop
3. Bargaining in the souq
4. Checkpoint: Shopping and Clothes
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

How Arabic builds words from three-letter roots, and the first derived verb forms.

1. Root and pattern: Form II
2. Form III: doing with someone
3. Form IV: making happen
4. Checkpoint: Roots and Verb Forms II–IV
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Verbs for doing to oneself, to each other, for something happening and for asking.

1. Forms V and VI: to oneself, with each other
2. Forms VII and VIII: happening, getting
3. Form X: asking for, considering
4. Checkpoint: Verb Forms V–X
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The verb “to be” in the past and future, “used to”, “became” and “still”.

1. كان: the past of the nominal sentence
2. كان يفعل: used to, was doing
3. Became and still: أصبح، صار، ما زال، ظلّ
4. Checkpoint: Was, Became, Still: Kana and Its Sisters
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The small words that change the case of the subject – and giving opinions.

1. إنّ and أنّ: “indeed” and “that”
2. لكنّ and لأنّ: but and because
3. كأنّ، ليت، لعلّ: as if, if only, perhaps
4. Checkpoint: That, But, Because: Inna and Its Sisters
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Who, which and that, with the pronoun that points back.

1. الذي and التي: who, which, that
2. الذين, اللواتي and the dual: the full set
3. ما and من: what, whoever
4. Checkpoint: Relative Clauses
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Verbs used as nouns – travelling, learning, using – and the job interview.

1. The masdar of Form I
2. The masdar of the derived forms
3. أن + verb or the masdar
4. Checkpoint: The Verbal Noun
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Likely, possible and impossible conditions, and giving advice.

1. إذا: if (likely)
2. إن and the jussive
3. لو … لـ: unreal conditions
4. Checkpoint: Conditionals
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

How something is done and what it is done for.

1. The ḥāl: he came running
2. The ḥāl clause with و
3. Purpose: لـ, كي, لكي, حتى
4. Checkpoint: Manner and Purpose
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Verb-first sentences, the words of the news, and reporting what was said.

1. The verbal sentence and agreement
2. Headlines and news verbs
3. He said that…: reported speech
4. Checkpoint: The Verbal Sentence and the News
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

School and university, exams, and learning Arabic itself.

1. School and university
2. Exams and grades
3. Learning a language
4. Checkpoint: Studies and Learning
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

When it does not matter who did it: the passive and its alternative in the news.

1. The past passive: كُتِبَ
2. The present passive: يُكْتَبُ
3. The passive of the news: تمّ and a verbal noun
4. Checkpoint: The Passive
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

One root, a whole family of words: doers, done things, places and tools.

1. The active participle: كاتِب، مُنَظِّم
2. The passive participle: مَكْتُوب، مُنَظَّم
3. Nouns of place, time and instrument
4. Checkpoint: Participles and Derived Nouns
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The endings of the present after “that”, “will not” and “did not”, weak verbs included.

1. The subjunctive after أنْ، لنْ، كيْ
2. The jussive: لم، لا، لـ
3. Weak verbs in the subjunctive and jussive
4. Checkpoint: The Moods: Subjunctive and Jussive
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Why three takes the opposite gender, the counted noun, ordinals and years.

1. 3–10: the number takes the other gender
2. 11–99 and the counted noun
3. Hundreds, thousands, ordinals and fractions
4. Checkpoint: Numbers and the Counted Noun
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The three cases and their endings, and reading aloud like a newsreader.

1. The three cases and their marks
2. Diptotes and the five nouns
3. Reading aloud: the newsreader’s Arabic
4. Checkpoint: Case Endings
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Adding, contrasting, explaining, and building a paragraph and an essay.

1. Adding and contrasting
2. Cause and result
3. Ammā … fa and the shape of a text
4. Checkpoint: Connectors and Text
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Politics, the economy and the environment in the press and on the air.

1. Politics and government
2. Economy and business
3. Environment and climate
4. Checkpoint: Media Arabic
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Ramadan and the feasts, weddings and condolences, change – and the dialects.

1. Feasts and celebrations
2. Weddings, births and condolences
3. Generations and change
4. Checkpoint: Society and Traditions
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The expressive structures of formal Arabic, from “how beautiful!” to the oath.

1. Mā afʿalahu! – exclamation
2. Niʿma and biʾsa – praise and blame
3. Oaths, vocatives and emphasis
4. Checkpoint: Style: Exclamation, Praise and Emphasis
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Taking a position, conceding, rebutting, concluding – and debating.

1. Stating a thesis and supporting it
2. Concession and counter-argument
3. Conclusions and recommendations
4. Checkpoint: Argumentation
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Words that belong together, idioms, proverbs and the formulas of everyday speech.

1. Collocations: verb and noun that belong together
2. Idioms
3. Proverbs and sayings
4. Checkpoint: Idioms, Proverbs and Collocations
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Root families, abstract nouns and how Arabic coins words for new things.

1. The root family
2. Abstract nouns and nisba
3. Quadriliterals and new words
4. Checkpoint: Word Formation
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The nominal style of research, citing sources and summarizing.

1. The nominal style
2. Citing and paraphrasing
3. Summarizing
4. Checkpoint: Academic Arabic
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Official letters, contracts, applications, banks and offices.

1. Official correspondence
2. Contracts and regulations
3. Applications and the CV
4. Checkpoint: Formal and Administrative Arabic
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Al-Manfaluti, Gibran, Shawqi and al-Shabbi: modern classics in the original.

1. The prose of the Nahda: al-Manfalūṭī
2. Jubrān’s prose poetry
3. Shawqī and al-Shābbī: neoclassical and romantic
4. Checkpoint: Literature of the Nahda
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Simile, metaphor, metonymy and rhymed prose: the classical art of eloquence.

1. Simile and metaphor
2. Kināya and allusion: saying one thing, meaning another
3. Sound figures: sajʿ, jinās, ṭibāq
4. Checkpoint: Rhetoric (Balāgha)
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Kalila and Dimna, al-Jahiz, the Thousand and One Nights and the maqama.

1. Kalīla and Dimna
2. Al-Jāḥiẓ and the art of the essay
3. The Thousand and One Nights
4. Checkpoint: Classical Prose
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The ode, al-Mutanabbi, the meters of Arabic verse and al-Andalus.

1. The Muʿallaqāt and the qaṣīda
2. Al-Mutanabbī
3. Metre and rhyme: an introduction to ʿarūḍ
4. Checkpoint: Classical Poetry
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Recognizing the script, phrases and grammar of the classical register in modern texts.

1. Reading the Uthmanic script
2. Qurʾānic expressions in modern Arabic
3. Classical features absent from modern MSA
4. Checkpoint: The Qurʾānic and Classical Register
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Editorials, speeches, interviews, and reading between the lines.

1. Editorials and commentary
2. Political speeches
3. Reading between the lines
4. Checkpoint: Advanced Press and Political Discourse
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

Moving between Arabic and other languages, calques, editing and subtitling.

1. From and into Arabic: structure
2. False friends and calques
3. Style editing
4. Checkpoint: Translation and Style
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions

The story of Arabic, its dialect families and its place in modern life.

1. A history of Arabic
2. Dialect families
3. Fuṣḥā in modern life
4. Checkpoint: Arabic in History and in the World
5. Reading, listening and 10 questions