LESSON 1 - ُ‫س الّول‬

ُ ‫الّدْر‬
'This.....' - ‫هـذا‬
ٰ

In Part 1 of Lesson 1 we learn how to use the pronoun ‫ ه ٰـذا‬which means 'This'
(called the demonstrative pronoun in grammar). haadhaa is pronounced ‫ذا‬
َ ‫ َها‬but
is written without the first alif. The second word is the noun (object) being referred

to e.g. ٌ ‫ َبْي‬means house.

‫ت‬

‫ب‬
ٌ ‫ه ٰـذا ِكَتا‬ ‫جٌد‬
ِ‫س‬ْ ‫ه ٰـذا َم‬ ٌ ‫ه ٰـذا َبا‬
‫ب‬ ٌ ‫ه ٰـذا َبْي‬
‫ت‬

This is a book This is a mosque This is a door This is a house

• 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 ‫ه ٰـذا‬and the noun/object ‫جد‬ ِ ‫سـ‬

ْ ‫ َم‬being referred to
without any copula. i.e. ‫د‬
ٌ‫ج‬ِ‫س‬
ْ ‫ه ٰـذا َم‬If read literally this sentence would
read "This 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 tanween (doubled vowel sign) at the end of the
Arabic noun (kitabu-n, baitu-n, masjidu-n) is the Arabic indefinite article
corresponding to the English "a/an".
• In this part of lesson 1 we will learn the phrase ‫ما هـٰذا‬ which means
"What's this". We shall then answer the questions with the phrase we learnt in
the earlier lessons, i.e. haadhaa

( ‫ )ه ٰـذا‬. We will also learn the phrase ‫أه ٰـذا‬which means "Is this...", for
example ‫ت‬ٌ ‫ أهـٰذا َبْي‬which means "Is this a house.
• In addition, we will learn the words for Yes and No in Arabic to answer these

questions. The word for Yes in Arabic is ‫ َنَعْم‬and the word for No in Arabic is ‫َل‬
• As we have already learnt, the Arabic script is read from right to left, please
read the sentences below from right to left.

Picture Answer Question

ٌ ‫ ه ٰـذا َبْي‬.
‫ت‬ ‫ماه ٰـذا؟‬
This is a house. What is this?

.‫ص‬
ٌ ‫ه ٰـذا َقِمْي‬ ‫ما ه ٰـذا؟‬
?What is this
This is a shirt.

‫ ه ٰـذا َقَلٌم‬،‫ َل‬. ‫ح؟‬

ٌ ‫أه ٰـذا ِمْفَتا‬
.No, this is a pen ?Is this a key
 .‫ت‬
ٌ ‫ ه ٰـذا َبْي‬،‫َنَعْم‬ ‫ت؟‬
ٌ ‫أه ٰـذا َبْي‬
Yes, this is a house. Is this a house?

.‫ي‬
ٌ‫س‬ِ ‫ ه ٰـذا ُكْر‬،‫َل‬ ‫سِرْيٌر؟‬
َ ‫أه ٰـذا‬
No, this is a chair. ?Is this a bed

ْ ‫ه ٰـذا َن‬.
ٌ‫جم‬ ‫ما ه ٰـذا؟‬
What is this?
.This is a star

In this section we shall cover the phrase ‫ن ه ٰـذا؟‬

ْ ‫َم‬which means 'Who is
this?'.

Picture Answer Question

. ٌ‫هـٰذا َطِبْيب‬ ‫ن ه ٰـذا؟‬

ْ ‫َم‬
Who is this?
.This is a doctor
 ٌ‫ هٰـذا َوَلد‬. ‫ن ه ٰـذا؟‬
ْ ‫َم‬
This is a boy. Who is this?

ٌ‫هـٰذا َطاِلب‬. ‫ن ه ٰـذا؟‬

ْ ‫َم‬
This is a student. Who is this?

ُ ‫ ه ٰـذا َر‬.
‫جٌل‬ ‫ن ه ٰـذا؟‬
ْ ‫َم‬
This is a man. Who is this?

.‫ه ٰـذا مسجد‬ ‫ما ه ٰـذا ؟‬

.This is a mosque What is this?

. ‫جٌر‬
ِ ‫هـٰذا َتا‬ ‫ن ه ٰـذا؟‬
ْ ‫َم‬
Who is this?
This is a merchant.

• You have now completed lesson 1. To summarise, the areas we have covered
are:

o The Demonstrative Pronoun - ‫'(ه ٰـذا‬This is..')

 o The particle‫ أ‬as in ‫أه ٰـذا‬i.e. 'Is This a...?'
o The word ‫ ما‬which means 'what' as in ‫ما ه ٰـذا؟‬- 'What is this?'

o The words for Yes and No - ‫م‬ ْ ‫ َنَع‬and ‫ ل‬respectively.

o The word ‫ن‬
ْ ‫ َم‬which means 'who' as in ‫ن ه ٰـذا؟‬ ْ ‫ َم‬- 'Who is this?'
o Several new words - these have to be memorised as vocabulary is
very important to learn the Arabic language.
If you feel confident with the lesson covered, please move on to the next lesson

where we will cover the Demonstrative Pronoun - َ‫ ٰذِلـك‬which means ('That is..').
Insha Allah the next lesson is a short and relatively straightforward lesson. Please
click on Lesson 2 below to go to the next lesson.