Nominal Sentences in Arabic

In the present, Arabic needs no verb for "is" or "are". You put the subject and the description side by side: ⁨الْبَيْت كَبِير⁩ means "The house is big".

Subject and Predicate

A nominal sentence has two parts: the subject (⁨الْمُبْتَدَأ⁩), usually definite, and the predicate (⁨الْخَبَر⁩), usually indefinite. The predicate can be an adjective, a noun or a place phrase.

With or Without ⁨ال⁩

⁨ال⁩ on both words makes a phrase, not a sentence. The missing "is" is shown by the predicate having no ⁨ال⁩.

When both parts are definite, put the pronoun ⁨هُوَ⁩ or ⁨هِيَ⁩ between them to show where "is" goes: ⁨الْمُعَلِّم هُوَ الْمُدِير⁩ (The teacher is the headmaster).

"There Is": Place First

A sentence can't start with an indefinite subject. When you say that something exists somewhere, put the place phrase first. The same pattern with ⁨عِنْدَ⁩ or ⁨لِ⁩ means "to have".

Questions

To ask a yes or no question, put ⁨هَلْ⁩ (or the shorter ⁨أَ⁩) in front of the sentence. Question words also go first. The word order doesn't change.

Past and Negative

The missing "is" is only for the present. For "was" you need the verb ⁨كَانَ⁩, and for "is not" the word ⁨لَيْسَ⁩. Each has its own lesson.

Common Mistakes

• Adding a word for "is": say ⁨أَنَا مُتْعَب⁩, not ⁨أَنَا هُوَ مُتْعَب⁩.
• Putting ⁨ال⁩ on the predicate: ⁨الْغُرْفَة نَظِيفَة⁩ (The room is clean), not ⁨الْغُرْفَة النَّظِيفَة⁩ (the clean room).
• Starting with an indefinite subject: ⁨فِي الشَّارِع سَيَّارَة⁩, not ⁨سَيَّارَة فِي الشَّارِع⁩.
• Forgetting agreement: the predicate adjective matches the subject, so ⁨الْبِنْت سَعِيدَة⁩.

Example Sentences