Introductory Notes on Learning Arabic

1. Root Consonants

‘I’ve learned the alphabet and they’re giving me lists of words,’ she says, ‘but…’

‘But?’

‘I haven’t got a handle on it. How it works.’

‘Listen,’ I say, ‘you know the alphabet and you’ve got a dictionary. Everything stems from a root. And the root is mostly made up of three consonants or four*. And then the word takes different forms. Look…Take the root q-l-b, qalb. You see, you can read this?’

‘Yes.’

‘Qalb: the heart, the heart that beats, the heart at the heart of things. Yes?’

She nods, looking intently at the marks on the paper.

‘Then there’s a set number of forms – a template almost – that any root can take. So in the case of qalb you get qalab: to overturn, overthrow, turn upside down, make into the opposite; hence maqlab: a dirty trick, a turning of the tables and also a rubbish dump. Maqloub: upside down; mutaqallib: changeable; and inqilab: a coup.’

*Here the text reads ‘three consonants or two’.

(from The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif, Bloomsbury paperback, London 2000).

The quotation above refers to one of the most important features that the student needs to understand about the structure of the Arabic language, which is that verbs are formed from three or four root consonants occurring in the same sequence. These radicals not only provide the skeleton upon which the tenses are built, but also give rise to whole families of meaning along the lines indicated in the quotation.

Another convenient example is provided by kataba, ‘to write’, which has the advantage of using consonants with direct English equivalents. Kataba is not really an infinitive, though in dictionaries it is used as though it were. It is in fact the third person singular masculine of the past tense, ‘he wrote’. It is used to represent the verb because it is its simplest form with the radicals clearly demonstrated, in this case k t b. Katab is the stem on which the rest of the past tense is built:

Past Tense of kataba:

I wrote	katabtu
You (masc.) wrote	katabta
You (fem.) wrote	katabti
He/it wrote	kataba
She/it wrote	katabat
We wrote	katabnā*
You (masc.pl.) wrote	katabtum
You (fem.pl.) wrote	katabtunna
They (masc.) wrote	katabū*
They (fem.) wrote	katabna

*ā and ū indicate long vowels.

The same radicals are used in the formation of the Present Tense, but they morph into a different stem, ktub, to which letters are added at both ends as prefixes and suffixes:

Present Tense of kataba:

I write	’aktub(u)*
You (masc.) write	taktub(u)
You (fem.) write	taktubīna
He/it writes	yaktub(u)
She/it writes	taktub(u)
We write	naktub(u)
You (masc.pl.) write	taktubūna
You (fem.pl.) write	taktubna
They (masc.) write	yaktubūna
They (fem.) write	yaktubna

*The bracketed ‘u’ is usually not pronounced. The ’ represents a hamza or glottal stop. See Reading Arabic.

Some Members of the kataba Family:

Other verbs and nouns are generated in this fashion e.g.:

Verbs:	kutiba (Passive Past)	(it) was written
	kātib (Active Participle)	writing; a writer; a clerk
	maktūb (Passive Participle)	(to be) written; written
Nouns:	kitāb	book
	kuttayib	booklet
	kitāba	writing ( a piece of)
	kutubī	bookseller
	maktab	office; study
	maktaba	library; bookshop

Graham Rooth

References and Recommended Reading

Awde, N. and Smith, K. Arabic Dictionary (London: Bennett and Bloom, 2004)

Ayyad, A.T. Teach Yourself Arabic: Rules of Reading and Writing (London: Ta-Ha Publishers, 1996)

Cohen, J.M. ed. Arabic-English Dictionary, 4th Edition (Urbana, Il: Spoken Language Services, 1994)

Liddicoat, M-J, Lennane, R., and Rahim, I.A. Syrian Colloquial Arabic,a Functional Course.

Mace, J. Teach Yourself Beginner’s Arabic Script (London: Hodder Arnold, 2003)

Wightwick, J. and Gaafar, M. Arabic Verbs and Essentials of Grammar (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008)