A1Unit 2 · People and family · Lesson 17 of 100
The: il-
il-bēt · ish-shams · is-sūʾ · il-bēt il-kbīr · hal-madīne
Goal: Say "the" and "this", and tell "the big house" from "the house is big".
Dialogue
On Saturday morning Lina and Sam walk through Ramallah to the market. Sam tries to say "the sun" and gets it wrong. You will learn the word for "the", why it sometimes changes its sound, and how to say "this town".
Saturday morning. Lina and Sam walk to the market in the center of Ramallah.
- Linayalla, ya Sām, ʿas-sūʾ!Come on, Sam, to the market!
- Samyalla! il-shams ḥilwe ktīr!Let's go! The sun is lovely!
- Linaish-shams, mish il-shams!It's "ish-shams", not "il-shams"!
- Samṭayyib, ish-shams ḥilwe. w hal-madīne ḥilwe kamān!OK, ish-shams is lovely. And this town is lovely too!
- Linaaywa. hōn ish-shāreʿ il-kbīr, w hunāk il-maktabe.Yes. Here is the big street, and over there is the bookstore.
- Samil-maktabe jdīde?Is the bookstore new?
- Linalaʾ, ʾadīme ktīr, bass ḥilwe. w hunāk is-sūʾ. zaḥme ktīr!No, it's very old, but nice. And over there is the market. It's very crowded!
- Samish-shams, il-madīne, in-nās, is-sūʾ… mazbūṭ?Ish-shams, il-madīne, in-nās, is-sūʾ… right?
- Linamazbūṭ! tamām, ya Sām!Right! Perfect, Sam!
New words
| Palestinian Arabic | English |
|---|---|
| shams | suna feminine word: ish-shams ḥilwe |
| nās | peoplea plural word: in-nās |
| sūʾ | marketplural aswāʾ; is-sūʾ the market |
| shāreʿ | streetplural shawāreʿ; ish-shāreʿ the street |
| maktabe | library; bookstoreplural maktabāt |
| dukkān | shopa feminine word; plural dakākīn |
| madīne | city, townplural mudon |
| ṭarīʾ | road, waya feminine word; plural ṭuruʾ |
| zaḥme | crowd; trafficzaḥme ktīr! it's very crowded! |
| ʾamar | moonil-ʾamar the moon |
| jabal | hill, mountainplural jbāl |
| shajara | treeshajar trees |
Grammar
1. "The" is il-
il- means "the". It never changes for a man, a woman or a plural: il-bēt "the house", il-madīne "the town", il-ʾamar "the moon".
2. Sometimes il- changes its sound
Before t, d, r, z, s, sh, ṣ, ḍ, ṭ, ẓ, l and n, the l of il- becomes the first letter of the word, and that letter is said long.
| Word | With "the" | English |
|---|---|---|
| shams | ish-shams | the sun |
| sūʾ | is-sūʾ | the market |
| nās | in-nās | the people |
| ṭarīʾ | iṭ-ṭarīʾ | the road |
| dukkān | id-dukkān | the shop |
| ʾamar | il-ʾamar | the moon (no change) |
3. The big house, the house is big
With "the", the adjective takes il- too. Without il- on the adjective, it is a sentence.
After a word ending in a vowel, il- loses its i: il-madīne l-kbīre "the big town". hal- means "this" or "these" and is the same for every noun: hal-bēt "this house", hal-madīne "this town". Before a sun letter its l changes like the article: haṣ-ṣūra "this picture".
Practice
1Choose the right words
"the sun"
sh is a sun letter: ish-shams.
"the bookstore"
hal-maktabe means "this bookstore".
"the big street"
ish-shāreʿ kbīr is a sentence: "the street is big".
"This town is lovely."
madīne is feminine: ḥilwe. madīne ḥilwe means "a lovely town".
2Complete the sentence
___ hunāk. = The market is over there.
s is a sun letter: is-sūʾ.
il-maktabe ___ ktīr. = The bookstore is very old.
hōn ___ il-kbīr. = Here is the big street.
3Match the Arabic and the English
shams
ʾamar
jabal
shajara
dukkān
ṭarīʾ
4Put the words in order
The bookstore is very old.
The big house is very old.
5Say it in Palestinian Arabic, then check
Say: the people
in-nās
Say: This house is small.
hal-bēt zghīr.
6True or false?
Sam says il-shams and Lina corrects him.
The bookstore is new.
Lina says ʾadīme ktīr.
The market is very crowded.
Summary
- You can say "the" with il-: il-bēt, il-madīne, il-ʾamar.
- You can make the sound change before sun letters: ish-shams, is-sūʾ, in-nās.
- You can tell il-bēt il-kbīr "the big house" from il-bēt kbīr "the house is big".
- You can say "this" with hal-: hal-bēt, hal-madīne.