Elementary Arabic Morphology 1

The Division of Words Into Nouns and Prepositions

  1. How many divisions of words are there?

  2. What is a verb?

  3. What is a noun?

  4. What is a preposition?

  5. Words are divided into three categories:

• verb: کَتَبَ یَکتُبُ اُکتُب (write, he writes, he wrote)

• noun: خالِد عُصفُور تُفّاحة(apple, sparrow, Khalid)

• preposition: هل فی لم (lam of negation, in, hal question word)

  1. A verb is a word that denotes an action or state in the past, present or future. For example: کُنتُ کَتَبتُ اکُونُ اکتُبُ کُن اُکتُب (write, be, I write, I am, I wrote, I was)

  2. A noun is a word that denotes an adjective or noun that can be described.

• A noun that can be described is a noun that denotes a person, animal or thing. For example: مریم فَرَس وَرَقَة (paper, horse, Maryam)

• An adjective is a word that is related to another word describing its condition: for example: شَجَرَةٌ عالیَةٌ حَیَوانٌ بَرّیٌ (a wild animal, a tall tree)

  1. A preposition is a word that does not have a meaning unless it is related to a verb or noun. For example: the lā of negation for it does not have a meaning unless one says لا یضرِبُ ( don't hit).