Hello and welcome to Kaleela. Over the past few weeks we’ve been delving into Arabic grammar. Today we will continue as we talk about prepositions – those parts of Arabic speech that are usually placed in front of a noun or noun phrase and show the direction, time, place, location, or spatial relationship to that noun or noun phrase.
Like English and most other languages, prepositions are used in everyday Arabic conversations and have the important function of connecting other parts of a sentence. Also like English, there are no real rules behind which prepositions to use. Indeed, they are often idiomatic, and most of the time, they have to be learned on a case-by-case basis.
Ah, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves already so why don’t we start off on the right foot with the basics of prepositions for now?
In Arabic, prepositions are known as حُروف الجَرّ /huroof iljarr/ and are a single letter or word that connects either two nouns or a verb and a noun together to make a sentence. Like English, they are also put in front of the noun or noun phrase which is known as the object of the preposition. What’s more, they are what they call in Arabic كَلِمات مَبنِيَّة or “built words” that have a fixed pronunciation.
Though there a many prepositions in Arabic, today we will discuss prepositions that you’re most likely to hear in everyday Arabic conversations.
min (مِنْ): from; some of; or one of.
Example: مِنْ أَمْريكا /min ʼamreekaa/ from America.
ʻalaa (عَلَى): on; on the top of something.
Example: ِعَلَى المَائِدَة /‘alaa ilmaa’idati/ on the table
fee (في): in; into; at.
Example: في العَملِ /fee ilʻamali/ at work or في الصَّيفِ /fee iSSayfi/ in summer
‘an (عَـن ) about; away from something or someone.
Example: أَسأَل عَن السّاعَةِ/ʼasʼaal ʻan issaaʻati/ asking about the hour or ابتَعِد عَن ذَلِكَ الفَتى /ibtaʻid ʻan THalika ilfataa/ Stay away from that boy.
bi ( بِـ): by; with, in.
Example: بِالسَّيّارَةِ /bissayyaarati/ by the car.
ka ( كَ ) like; as.
Example: أَنتَ كَأَبيكَ /ʼanta kaʼabeeka/ You are like your father.
hattaa( :(حَتّى until
Example: حَتّى الصَّباحِ /hattaa iSSabaaHi/until morning or حَتّى اراكَ /Hattaa araaka/ until I see you.
munTHu/muTH (مُنْذُ/ مُذ) since; for
Example: مُنْذُ خَمسِ دَقائِقَ /munTHu khamsi daqaaʼiqa/since 5 minutes
Again, there are many more prepositions to learn, and you’ll learn them all when you learn Arabic the right way with the Kaleela Arabic language learning app.
For more information on how you can start learning Arabic today and be speaking it by tomorrow, visit kaleela.com for more information.
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