The Collections: Quran

Lession 1: هَـ ٰ ذَا (Hādhā)

Please read the sentences below. After completing the sentences we shall go over the rules for this lesson.
In Part 1 of Lesson 1 we learn how to use the pronoun ه َ ـٰذَا which means 'This' (called the demonstrative pronoun in grammar). /Hādhā/ is pronounced هَاذَا but is written without the first /alif/. The second word is the noun (object) being referred to, e.g.: بَيْتٌ means house.

Please click on the words to hear speech, i.e. how the words should be pronounced.

Arabic has no word which is equal to the English word "is" which is referred to as a “copula” in grammar. We can see this rule demonstrated above where we see the words for هَـٰذَا and the noun/predicate مَسْجِدٌ being referred to without any copula. i.e. هَـٰذَا مَسْجِدٌ If read literally this sentence would read "This a mosque", however, the word "is" can be implied in this sentence so that it reads "This is a mosque".
There is no word in Arabic corresponding to "a" in English as in: "This is a book". The n-sound, i.e. the /tanwīn/ (doubled vowel sign) at the end of the Arabic noun (kitābu-n, baitu-n, masĴidu-n) is the Arabic indefinite article corresponding to the English "a/an".

Thursday 28 November 2013