Lesson 2- Roots

Arabic doesn't work like English, French, Spanish, or German, where little word parts are stuck together to make bigger ideas.
ideo-syncr-isy
morph-olog-ic-al
inter-depend-ent
anti-dis-establish-ment-arian-ism

Instead, the ideas of Arabic (and Hebrew) words are contained in sets of 3 consonants called "roots."

k-t-b  (writing)

The vowels in between the roots are changed to make different ideas, and a small number of meaningless suffixes and prefixes are used to make derived forms like nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verb conjugations.

Almost all of the prefixes and suffixes used in the Arabic language are in this list:

ma-

ta-

ya-

a-

-t-

-t

-u

-i

-a
-n

-ah

-an

-ayn

-ii

-iin

-iina

-un

-uun
-uu

-uuna

-na

ma-  is the most common prefix in Arabic, and it has no meaning of its own, but is used exclusively in nouns and adjectives.  Let's see how the root k-t-b can be used to make many different Arabic words using vowels and our prefixes and suffixes.  

katab he wrote

kaatib a writer

ma-ktab  a place where writing is done:  a desk or an office

maktabah a library or bookstore

ya-ktub he is writing

aktub I am writing

You will become with these shapes as you learn more Arabic.  Let's look at the same shapes using a different root.

m-l-k - ruling

malak he ruled

maalik a ruler (a king)

ma-mlak a place where ruling is done (a Kingdom)

ya-mlak he is ruling

amlak I am ruling

sh-gh-l  working

(also 3-m-l labor)

(the sound gh is a French gargling "r" sound)

(the sound 3 is a smooth English "r" sound made with the muscles used when coughing)

shaghal he worked

shaaghil a worker

ma-shghal a place where work is done, a workshop

ya-shghal he is working

a-shghal I am working

ma-shghuul busy