Chapter 1

The Arabic You Already Know

IN THIS CHAPTER

Recognizing what you may already know

Introducing the Arabic alphabet

Talking Arabic like the locals

Getting acquainted with everyday Arabic

Let me ????? (mar.?ah.ba) (welcome) you to the wonderful world of Arabic! Arabic is the official language of 27 countries and is spoken by more than 420 million people across the globe. It's the language in which the Quran, the Holy Book in Islam, was revealed and written, and a large majority of the more than 1.3 billion Muslims across the world study Arabic in order to read the Quran and to fulfill their religious duties. By speaking Arabic, you get access to people and places from Morocco to Indonesia.

In this chapter, I ease you into Arabic by showing you some familiar English words that trace their roots to Arabic. You discover the Arabic alphabet and its beautiful letters, and I give you tips on how to pronounce those letters so that you can sound like a native speaker. Part of exploring a new language is discovering a new culture and a new way of looking at things, so in this first chapter of the third edition of Arabic For Dummies, you begin your discovery of Arabic and its unique characteristics, including the fact that it's written from right to left!

Taking Stock of What's Familiar

If English is your primary language, part of grasping a new ??? (lu.ghah) (language) is creating connections between the ????? (ka.li.mat) (words) of the language, in this case Arabic and English. You may be surprised to hear that quite a few English words trace their origins to Arabic. For example, did you know that "magazine," "candy," and "coffee" are actually Arabic words? Table 1-1 lists some familiar English words with Arabic origins.

TABLE 1-1 Arabic Origins of English Words

English

Arabic Origin

Arabic Meaning

admiral

???? ????? (a.mir al-ba?r)

ruler of the sea

alcohol

????? (al.ku?ul)

a mixture of powdered antimony

alcove

????? (al.qub.bah)

a dome or arch

algebra

????? (al.jabr)

to reduce or consolidate

almanac

?????? (al.ma.nakh)

a calendar

arsenal

??? ?????? (dar as.si.la?)

house of weapons

azure

???????? (al.la.za.ward)

lapis lazuli

candy

??? ????? (suk.kar al.qa.?ab)

cane sugar

coffee

???? (qah.wah)

coffee

cotton

??? (qu?n)

cotton

elixir

????? (ik.sir)

philosopher's stone

gazelle

???? (gha.zal)

gazelle

hazard

??? (zahr)

dice

magazine

?????? (al.makh.zan)

a storehouse

saffron

?????? (za'.fa.ran)

saffron

Sahara

??????? (a?.?a?.ra')

Sahara (desert)

sherbet

????? (shar.bat)

dessert

sofa

???? (?u.fa)

a cushion

sugar

??? (suk.kar)

sugar

zero

??? (?ifr)

zero

As you can see from the table, Arabic has had a major influence on the English language. Some English words such as "admiral" and "arsenal" have an indirect Arabic origin, whereas others, such as "coffee" and "cotton," are exact matches. The influence runs the other way, too, especially when it comes to relatively contemporary terms. For example, the word ??????? (ti.li.fiz.yon) (television) comes straight from the word "television." As is often the case with languages, Arabic and English tend to influence each other, which is what makes studying them so much fun.

Discovering the Arabic Alphabet

Unlike English and other Romance languages, you write and read Arabic from right to left. Like English, Arabic has both vowels and consonants, but the main vowels in Arabic aren't actual letters. Rather, Arabic vowels are symbols that you place on top of or below consonants to create certain sounds. As for consonants, Arabic has 28 different consonants, and each one is represented by a letter. In order to vocalize these letters, you place a vowel above or below the particular consonant. For example, when you put a ???? (fat.?ah), a vowel representing the "ah" sound, above the consonant representing the letter "b," you get the sound "bah" as in "ball." When you take the same consonant and use a ???? (kas.rah), which represents the short "i" sound, you get the sound "bih" as in "big."

To help you get a better grasp of the different letters in the alphabet, I explain vowels and consonants in the following sections.

All about vowels

Arabic has three main vowels. Luckily, they're very simple to pronounce because they're similar to English vowels. However, you need to realize that Arabic also has vowel derivatives that are as important as the main vowels. These vowel derivatives fall into three categories: double vowels, long vowels, and diphthongs. In this section, I walk you through all the different vowels, vowel derivatives, and vowel combinations.

Main vowels

The three main Arabic vowels are

• ???? (fat.?ah): The first main vowel in Arabic is called a ???? (fat.?ah). A ???? is the equivalent of the short "a" in "apple." Occasionally, a ???? also sounds like the short "e" in "bet" or "set." Much like the other vowels, the way you pronounce a ???? depends on what consonants come before or after it. In Arabic script, the ???? is written as a small horizontal line above a consonant. In English transcription, which I use in this book, it's simply represented by the letter "a," as in the words ??? (kalb) (dog) and ??? (wa.lad) (boy).
• ??? (?am.mah): The second main Arabic vowel is the ??? (?am.mah). This vowel sounds like the "uh" in "foot" or "book." In Arabic script, it's written like a tiny backward "e" above a particular consonant. In English transcription, it's represented by the letter "u," as in ???? (fun.duq) (hotel) or ??? (su.?ub) (clouds).
• ???? (kas.rah): The third main vowel in Arabic is the ???? (kas.rah), which sounds like the long "e" in "feet" or "treat." This vowel is written the same way as a ???? - as a small horizontal line - except that it goes underneath the consonant. In English transcription, it's written as an "i," as in...