LinguaYes or no: هَلْ
Put هَلْ (hal) in front of a sentence and it becomes a yes–no question: أَنْتَ طَالِبٌ → هَلْ أَنْتَ طَالِبٌ؟ The answer is نَعَمْ (naʿam, yes) or لَا (lā, no). For other questions: مَنْ (man) asks about people, مَا about things, أَيْنَ about places.
| Question word | Asks about | Example |
|---|---|---|
| هَلْ | yes or no | هَلْ هُوَ طَبِيبٌ؟ |
| مَنْ | a person | مَنْ هِيَ؟ |
| مَا | a thing | مَا اسْمُكَ؟ |
| أَيْنَ | a place | أَيْنَ الْبَيْتُ؟ |
We, you, they
| Pronoun | Meaning |
|---|---|
| نَحْنُ | we |
| أَنْتُمْ | you (several; men or mixed) |
| أَنْتُنَّ | you (several women) |
| هُمْ | they (men or mixed) |
| هُنَّ | they (women) |
A plural subject needs a plural predicate. For now learn it as a ready form: نَحْنُ طُلَّابٌ (naḥnu ṭullāb, “we are students”). طُلَّاب is the plural of طَالِب – built inside the word, not by an ending. Place words: هُنَا (hunā, here), هُنَاكَ (hunāka, there).
مَنْ أَنْتَ؟ أَنَا سَمِيرٌ.Who are you? (to a man) – I am Samir.
هَلْ هُمْ هُنَا؟ لَا، هُمْ هُنَاكَ.Are they here? – No, they are there.
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| هَلْ | (yes–no question word) | هَلْ أَنْتَ طَبِيبٌ؟ Are you a doctor? |
| نَعَمْ | yes | نَعَمْ، أَنَا طَبِيبٌ. Yes, I am a doctor. |
| لَا | no | لَا، هُوَ ضَابِط no, he is an officer |
| مَنْ | who | مَنْ هُوَ؟ Who is he? |
| مَا | what (in questions) | مَا اسْمُكَ؟ What is your name? (to a man) |
| أَيْنَ | where | أَيْنَ مُوسَى؟ Where is Musa? |
| نَحْنُ | we | نَحْنُ مِنْ مِصْرَ. We are from Egypt. |
| أَنْتُمْ | you (several) | أَنْتُمْ هُنَا. You are here. |
| هُمْ | they (men or mixed) | هُمْ مِنْ لُبْنَانَ. They are from Lebanon. |
| هُنَّ | they (women) | هُنَّ مِنْ تُونِسَ. They are from Tunisia. (women) |
| طُلَّاب | students | هُمْ طُلَّابٌ. They are students. |
| هُنَا | here | الْكِتَابُ هُنَا. The book is here. |
| هُنَاكَ | there | السُّوقُ هُنَاكَ. The market is there. |
Exercises
This lesson has 11 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 3
- fill the gap: 3
- match the pairs: 1
- build the sentence: 1
- translate the sentence: 2
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
Which word means “who”?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.