LinguaFive people, one verb
| Pronoun | studies | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| أَنَا | أَدْرُسُ | I study |
| أَنْتَ | تَدْرُسُ | you study (man) |
| أَنْتِ | تَدْرُسِينَ | you study (woman) |
| هُوَ | يَدْرُسُ | he studies |
| هِيَ | تَدْرُسُ | she studies |
The present tense puts a prefix before the root: أَ for “I”, تَ for “you”, يَ for “he”, تَ for “she”. So “you” to a man and “she” sound the same – the pronoun or the context tells them apart. A woman addressed as “you” also gets the ending -īna. On the cards each verb is listed as “he did”, e.g. دَرَسَ – that is the dictionary form.
أَنَا أَدْرُسُ، وَأُخْتِي تَعْمَلُ، وَأَخِي يَلْعَبُ.I study, my sister works and my brother plays.
The vowel in the middle of the present stem is learned with each verb: يَكْتُبُ has u, يَعْمَلُ has a, يَجْلِسُ has i. In a sentence the verb usually comes first: يَعْمَلُ أَبِي فِي بَنْكٍ – my father works in a bank.
تَسْكُنُ خَالَتِي فِي دِمَشْقَ، وَتَشْرَبُ الْقَهْوَةَ صَبَاحًا.My aunt lives in Damascus and drinks coffee in the morning.
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| دَرَسَ | to study | أَدْرُسُ الْعَرَبِيَّةَ. I study Arabic. |
| كَتَبَ | to write | يَكْتُبُ اسْمَهُ. He writes his name. |
| عَمِلَ | to work | تَعْمَلُ فِي مُسْتَشْفًى. She works in a hospital. |
| قَرَأَ | to read | أَقْرَأُ كِتَابًا. I am reading a book. |
| سَكَنَ | to live (somewhere) | يَسْكُنُ فِي بَيْتٍ كَبِيرٍ. He lives in a big house. |
| جَلَسَ | to sit | أَجْلِسُ هُنَا. I sit here. |
| شَرِبَ | to drink | يَشْرَبُ الْمَاءَ. He drinks water. |
| أَكَلَ | to eat | آكُلُ الْخُبْزَ. I eat bread. |
| ذَهَبَ | to go | تَذْهَبُ إِلَى الْمَدْرَسَةِ. She goes to school. |
| لَعِبَ | to play | يَلْعَبُ الطِّفْلُ. The child is playing. |
| فَهِمَ | to understand | هَلْ تَفْهَمُ؟ Do you understand? |
| عَرَفَ | to know | أَعْرِفُ الطَّرِيقَ. I know the way. |
Exercises
This lesson has 10 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 3
- fill the gap: 2
- match the pairs: 1
- build the sentence: 1
- translate the sentence: 2
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
Which word means “to write”?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.