Lesson 2
Family
الأسرة
Describe your family in Arabic. This unit introduces core family vocabulary and your first grammar structure: possessive pronouns attached directly to nouns.
Family Vocabulary
ArabicTransliterationMeaning
أَبabfather
أُمّummmother
أَخakhbrother
أُخْتukhtsister
زَوْج / زَوْجَةzawj / zawjahusband / wife
اِبْن / اِبْنَةibn / ibnason / daughter
جَدّ / جَدَّةjadd / jaddagrandfather / grandmother
Possessive Pronouns on Nouns
In Arabic, "my", "your", "his" etc. are suffixes attached directly to the noun. There is no separate word like "my" it fuses onto the end of the noun.
SuffixMeaningWith أَب (father)
ـِيmyأَبِي
ـُكyour (m)أَبُوك
ـُهhisأَبُوه
ـُهَاherأَبُوهَا
أَبِي مُدَرِّسٌ وَأُمِّي طَبِيبَة
Abī mudarrisun wa-ummī ṭabība
My father is a teacher and my mother is a doctor.
لِي أَخَانِ وَأُخْتٌ وَاحِدَة
Lī akhāni wa-ukhtun wāḥida
I have two brothers and one sister.
- Possessive = suffix: أَبِي (my father) the ـِي suffix replaces "my" entirely.
- Gender: Most feminine family nouns end in ة أُمّ (mother) is an exception to memorise.
- لِي: "I have" is expressed as لِي + noun (literally "for me is a...").
- Islamic family values: The family unit (أُسْرَة) is central to Islamic society vocabulary from this unit appears throughout the series.