The Article "Al"


As salamu a3laikoum. Kedayrin?


Today's lesson is about the use of the article and how varies depending on the letter by which start the word that accompanies .


To explain the article, we must first differentiate clearly two groups of letters- Huruf al Shamsia (Sun letters) and Huruf al Qamaria ( Moon letters), The difference between these two letters is that when adding the article "Al" to the word in the first group, we duplicate the sound of the letter. And the second group does not change and the article "Al" is pronounced as it is.


HURUF AL SHAMSIA:
Named sun  letters since in Arabic sun is "Shams" شمس    and the Arabic letter  ش it's duplicated  when adding the article.


ن ل ط ظ ص ض س ش ز ر د ذ ت ث
Are sun letters


HURUF AL QAMARIA:
Moon letters , its name comes from “Qamar” moon, قمر  begings with ق and are the rest letters


ي و ه ك م ق ف غ ع خ ح ج ب ا


In Arabic writing , we indicate this duplication with a shadda, (ـّ)

The article in Arabic, does not change depending on the amount, or gender of the word attached as occurs in other languages

In the picture above, I explained graphically how the article is used in the sun letters , if you have any doubt please leave a comment or contact me using the form you can find on the page.

Bslama a3laikoum.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Dear Maryam:
I've noticed that there are differences in the pronunciation of the article (and sometimes even in writing ال/ل):
l-/el/le/la/“ø”
• When it is followed by consonant and vowel is /l-/ or /el/ or /al/, (as in "l-makla" لمكلة = the food and "el-kas" الكاس = the glass)
• When it is followed by two consonants, then it is /le/ or /la/ (as in "le ktab" لكتاب = the book and "la hlib" لحليب = the milk).
• As you well say , when the first of those two consonants is "solar", the sound of the article is completely assimilated /ø/, as in "d-dar" الدار = the house, where for a Spanish ear is hardly possible to appreciate whether the word is or not determined ( "d-dar" ≈ "dar").

• Moreover, in Darija, there is a solar consonant rather than in cult Arabic: حرف الجيم the letter jim, but usually, their pronunciation is not performed as a solar letter in cultisms: it says "y-yebbaniya" الجبانية = the bowl, but no "y-yami3a" الجامعة, but "el-yami3a").

• In Darija there is no "tanween". So, sometimes, the indeterminacy is expressed by the numeral "a/an/one واحد wahed followed by a name with the definite article:
a cat: Wahed el-qet واحد القط (lit.: one the cat)
• And I just come up with another way to express uncertainty: adding a ة Ta Marbuta to the name. Ex.:
his car: الطوموبيل ديالو
a car: طوموبيلة
Yes or no, what do you think?

Unknown said...

Exactly, about the article in the words that begin with the letter jim. It may be difficult for non-Arab speakers appreciate it but the intensity varies in the pronunciation,the letter jim in y-yebbaniya is intense and short while the jim in l-yami3a is soft.

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