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انا افضل المدينة معظم الوقت و لكن احب القية كثير احياناً

I hope that's right...

Well,@Shamsayn , a simple typo, the word for village is (قرية) so you missed the (ر). Also you would use (أكثر) instead of (كثير).

Mohamed raises a very interesting point when he asks Ehab about the pronunciation of ﻮﺴﻂ (wasat). When Ehab says “wast” instead of “wasat” he elides the second vowel.

Since elision is particularly frequent in Arabic, an entire podcast might be devoted to this subject. In Arabic elision is known as ﺇﺴﻗﺎﺖ ('isqaat), and this term can also mean “downfall” (as in “'isqaat al-nedhaam”, the downfall of the regime).

Both vowels and consonants can be elided. As the consonant “laam” is elided before sun letters, we say “a-shanta” instead of al-shanta” (ﺍﻠﺸﻨﻄﺔ. I shall say no more about this phenomenon because it has already been dealt with in dozens of podcasts.

There is, however, a type of vowel elision which has so far been completely ignored in the podcasts. Take the word ﺍﺒﻦ (ibn), for instance. The initial vowel of ﺍﺒﻦ is elided when this word is preceded by the proclitic conjunction ﻮ (wa) or the subject pronoun ﻫﻮ (huwa).

The glottal stop at the beginning of ﺍﺒﻦ is known as hamza (ﻫﻤﺰﺓ al-wasl (ﺍﻠﻮﺼﻞ. English-speaking Arabists describe this as “the glottal stop of the juncture”, “weak hamza” or “elidable hamza”.

The other type of hamza (i.e. the normal stable hamza) is known in Arabic as hamza (ﻫﻤﺰﺓ al-qat’ (ﺍﻠﻗﻄﻊ. In Arabic verbs it is found in the first-person singular subject prefix.

It remains to add that glottal stops are quite common in non-semitic languages such as English and German. In Cockney and Estuary English, for instance “city” is pronounced “ci'y” and “water” becomes “wa'er”. The consonant “t” disappears owing to full or partial closure of the glottis. Similarly, in modern standard German there is a glottal stop in verbs like “bearbeiten” and “beantworten”. Here the glottal stop occurs after the prefix “be-”.

@Desmond

The following Arabic words start with the connecting hamza or همزة الوصل
اسم, ابن, ابنة, امرؤ, امرأَة, اثنان, اثنتان, است

Two things to note about the connecting hamza –

It lacks ء sign.
إسم is wrong
اسم is correct

It is pronounced only if it comes first in a sentence.

@ vinod

There are a lot of words that begin with an elidable hamza. The noun ﺍﺴﺘﻗﺒﺎﻞ (istiqbal) is a case in point.

I’ve noticed that ﺍﺴﻡ is frequently misspelt. This is very confusing for learners who are still trying to master the rudiments of Arabic orthography.

Another interesting point is that there is a bizarre diacritical mark which is sometimes placed above the alif in words like ﺍﺒﻦ (ibn). On websites devoted to classical Arabic you’ll sometimes find ٱﺒﻦ (I’m not sure whether there is a technical term for this).

@Desmond
You are absolutely correct. The connecting hamza can appear in the beginning of so many Arabic words.

There are many verbs and its derivatives that begin with the connecting hamza. They are –

Past tense (Third person masculine singular) of verbs in Form 7, 8, and 10
Imperative of verbs in Form 1 (not beginning with hamza), 7, 8 and 10
Verbal nouns of verbs in Form 7, 8 and 10

The example you mentioned استقبال is verbal noun of Form 10 verb.

It may be noted that the past tense (third person masculine singular), the imperative and the verbal noun of Form 4 verbs do NOT begin with the connecting hamza.
أرْسَلَ – to send
أرْسِل – Send! – Imperative
إرْسال - sending

There are only a small number of nouns in Arabic that begin with the connecting hamza, and those are the ones that I had listed in my previous comment. Actually, I did make a mistake in that comment – I should have written ‘Arabic nouns’ instead of ‘Arabic words’.

The duals of those nouns, except اثنان and اثنتان can also be included in the list, as they too begin with the connecting hamza!

The only particle in Arabic that begins with the connecting hamza is the definite article الـ . It is known as ال التعريف

@Desmond

ٱ
The technical term of the diacritical mark which you had mentioned in your comment is وصلة - wa9la.

It indicates the the connecting hamza or همزة الوصل

An alif with a wa9la on top of it is THE SAME AS an alif without a hamza.
بٱسم = باسم
ٱلله = الله

يا محمد،

يجب علينا أن إدرك قيما الإيجابيات من مناطق. في كل المكان الإيجابيات والسلبيات. لندن وإيروبا جنة مقاراً اليمن بنسبة الإنترنت والكهرباء.

حتى الريف في إيروبا إفضل من بعض البلدان الفقراء...سوال هي ماذا تفعل إذا لا يوجد كهرباء؟

ممكن أن تتكلم مع أعلتك أو تقراء كتب أو تدرب رياضة؟

@ vinod

Thank you for all the extra information. This discussion has proved very fruitful.

As diacritical marks are frequently omitted in contemporary Arabic texts, it isn’t always easy to decide whether an initial alif is elidable. Take ﺍﺴﻓﻨﺠﺔ (isfanja), for instance. In the Almaany dictionary the initial alif in this word looks just like the initial letter of ﺍﺒﻦ (ibn), and there are dozens of Arabic websites where “isfanja” is spelt just like this. However, if you consult the article on sponges in the Arabic version of Wikipedia you’ll discover that it is entitled ﺇﺴﻓﻨﺠﻴﺎﺖ (isfanjiaat). This conveys the impression that the initial alif is not elidable. Why is there a diacritical mark below the alif in the plural form? Should there be a similar diacritical mark beneath the alif in the singular form? And why has a “ya” been inserted before the plural “-aat” ending?

@Jenkki

معك حق. بعض الأحيان الانترنت مثلا تشغل الشخص من القراءة وقضاء الوقت مع العائلة إلخ

A great deal might be said about 'a’uudhu (ﺃﻋﻭﺬ bi-llah (ﺒﺎﷲ. Like “God forbid” and “à Dieu ne plaise”, it is an apotropaic formula, i.e. a conventional expression intended to ward off evil.

'a’uudhu (ﺃﻋﻭﺬ is the first person singular present-tense form of the verb ’aadha (ﻋﺎﺬ, which means “to seek refuge”. Bi-llah (ﺒﺎﷲ means “in Allah or “with Allah”.

’aadha (ﻋﺎﺬ, a synonym of ista’aadha (ﺍﺳﺘﻌﺎﺬ, is frequently employed in classical Arabic texts. The form 'a’uudhu (ﺃﻋﻭﺬ occurs seven times in the Qu’ran, and the word combination 'a’uudhu (ﺃﻋﻭﺬ bi-llah (ﺒﺎﷲ occurs once in the sacred text.

In everyday spoken Arabic ﺒﷲ is pronounced “bi-llah”, but in classical Arabic it is pronounced “bi-llahi” since it is in the genitive case. The noun ﷲ is governed by the proclitic preposition ﺐ (bi-), and such nouns are always in the haala (ﺤﺎﻠﺔ al-jarr (ﺍﻠﺟﺮ.

In formal contexts the expression under discussion can be expanded to 'a’uudhu (ﺃﻋﻭﺬ bi-llah (ﺒﺎﷲ min (ﻤﻥ al-shaytaan (ﺍﻠﺸﻴﻄﺎﻥ al-rajiim (ﺍﻠﺮﺠﻴﻡ: I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Devil. This is not in the Qu’ran, but it is frequently employed at the beginning of a sermon or a Qu’ranic recitation.

@Desmond

Just an additional point. As you have mentioned, the classical pronunciation of بالله is bi-llaahi. For example, as in
أقسم بالله - I swear by God

But in Saudi, بالله is used alone, as an expression of surprise, with a distinct pronunciation, to mean – Really?

The Saudi expression is distinct because of three features. One, the stress is on the initial bi. Two, the long vowel aa is shortened to a. And three, the final h is not pronounced. So, it can be transliterated to – billa (Compare this with bi-llaahi)

And, there is a distinct difference in the pronunciation of the double laam (ll) in الله and بالله (the expression of surprise) which can NOT be transliterated using English! (Certain Indian languages have two different alphabets corresponding to L of English and laam of Arabic. Since I am an Indian, I can appreciate this difference without much difficulty.) If you repeatedly hear the third and fifth sentences of the audio transcript of this lesson, and notice the difference in the way Ehab pronounces the double laam in أعوذ بالله and لله يعينه you will know what I mean.

@ vinod

Thank you for your very interesting comment on the use of ﺒﷲ as a synonym of ﺤﻗﺄ (haqqan) or ﻤﻦ (min) ﺟﺪ (jid).

I agree that the transliteration of Arabic words poses enormous problems. I’ve invented a transliteration system which is adapted to my own needs, but it is not entirely satisfactory, and I’m still trying to improve it. Some Arabists use weird and off-putting symbols, but I’ve avoided special characters so that I can find Arabic words quickly with the aid of the search function.

The most difficult words are those which contain a hamza. A good example is provided by ﺍﻹﻋﻼﻢ (the mass media).

By the way, do you know anything about the origin of the formula 'a’uudhu (ﺃﻋﻭﺬ bi-llah (ﺒﺎﷲ min (ﻤﻥ al-shaytaan (ﺍﻠﺸﻴﻄﺎﻥ al-rajiim (ﺍﻠﺮﺠﻴﻡ? I’ve heard this hundreds of times, and there are lots of examples in texts which are available on the Internet, but so far I haven’t been able to identify a source.

@Desmond
On searching, I could find out about the origin of - أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم

It comes from صحيح البخاري‎ - the Hadith collections. And the reference is Sahih Bukhari 8.136.

English version of Sahih Bukhari in the pdf format is available in the net.

@ vinod

Thank you for the extremely useful information about the apotropaic formula under discussion. I suspected that it was borrowed from one of the six canonical hadith collections of Sunni Islam, but it was rather difficult to identify the exact source.

As far as I can remember, the first two words of the formula used in the Sahiih al-Bukhaary occur in the sura al-baqera. Do you know the passage I'm referring to?

@Desmond
Yes, I know the passage you are referring to. It is Chapter 2 (al baqarah), verse 67.

@ vinod

Yes, that's exactly what I had in mind. It's interesting to study linguistic parallels between the Qu'ran and the hadith collections.

At the moment I'm analysing fixed word combinations in Arabic (proverbs, greetings, apotropaic formulae, etc.). There are some very beautiful Arabic proverbs which have no counterparts in European languages.

A great deal might be said about Arabic greetings. In a recent podcast Ehab said there was no Arabic expression for "Good afternoon". However, when I visited Tunisia many years ago I noticed that people often said "masaa' al-khayyer" as early as 2.30 p.m. (Since I look rather like an Arab, shopkeepers assumed I was Tunisian and greeted me in Arabic.)

The word "masaa'" seems to mean both "afternoon" and "evening", at least in Tunisia, and this leads to interference phenomena. When Tunisians speak French, they say "Bonsoir" (Good evening) early in the afternoon. This is one of the first things I noticed when I arrived at my hotel.

How is "masaa'" used in your part of the world?

This is a pretty old discussion, can be found in the good book between Abraham (one of the major figures of Islam? and Lot) Lot chose the city...which turned out to be a bad choice...:( )
(Genesis 13:12)
وسكن ابرام في ارض كنعان و اقام لوط في مدن السهل حيث نصب خيامة بجوار سدوم