Q & A

   النَّكِرَةُ                                الْمَعْرِفَةُ
(definite article: al)      (indefinite article)
قَمَرٌ                                       الْقَمَرُ
وَلَدٌ                                         الْوَلَدُ
بِنْتٌ                                        الْبِنْتُ
شَمْسٌ                                     الشَّمْسُ
سَطْرٌ                                      السَّطْرُ
صَيْدٌ                                       الصَّيْدُ
دَوْلَةٌ                                       الدَّوْلَةُ

مُذَكَّرٌ                                           مُؤَنَّثٌ
(femininie)                           (masculine)

كاتِبٌ                                         كاتِبَةٌ
لاعِبٌ                                        لاعِبَةٌ
رَئيسٌ                                       رَئيسَةٌ
وَزيرٌ                                       وَزيرَةٌ
تِلْميذٌ                                        تِلْميذَةٌ
أُسْتاذٌ                                        أُسْتاذَةٌ
مُديرٌ                                        مُديرَةٌ
مُهَنْدِسٌ                                    مُهَنْدِسَةٌ

Q:

What's the difference between:

1. Laa

2. Lan

3. Lam

4. Laisa

A:

Laa : no

Lan: will not, shall not

Lam: did not, have not (past participle)

Laisa: is not

Examples:

Hal tudakhin(u)       (do you smoke?)

Laa                     (no)

Hal sa taf'alu dalika   (will you do it/that?)

Laa, lan af'ala dalika  (no, I will not do it / won't

do it)

(Note the last sound in af'ala is a and not u; all verbs following lan end in a .)

Hal sharibta min hada (a)l haleeb(i)

(Did you drink from this milk?)

Laa , lam ashrab minhu

(no, I didn't drink from it)

(Note the verb following lam ends in sukoon, i.e. ashrab, not ashrabu, or ashraba, or ashrabi)

Lam ashrab, aktub, al'ab, asma', aqul, adhab;

Lam amshi, ara, ad'u, …

(Verbs with long vowels at the end lose the length of the vowel: i:  becomes i, u: becomes u; a: becomes a)

Hamid laisa fee (a)l bait(i)  (masc., singular)

Hamid is not at home / in the room.

Salima laisat fee (a)l bait   (fem., singular)

Salima is not at home / in the room.

Hamid wa Salima laisaa (with a long a) fee (a)l

bait      (dual, masc.)

Hamid and Salima are not …

Halima wa Salima laisata (with a long a) fee (a)l

bait      (dual, fem.)

Halima and Salima are not …

Al awlad(u) laisu (long u) fee…  (masc., plural)

The boys are not …

Al banat(u) lasna fee ….     (fem. , plural)

The girls are not …

Q:
Can you teach us something about Arabic grammar?
For example why is it Alhamdu lillahi not Alhamdu lillaha or Alhamdu lillahu.
Thanks

A:

It is alhamdu lillahi   because of     li   before llahi
We call these: huruf aljarr
Examples:
ma'a  (with)          
    ana ma'a arrajuli    (I am with the man.)
ela       (to)       
    dahaba ela almadrasati   (He went to school.)
li          (to, for)        hadihi  libintihi            (This is for his daughter.)
hatta     (until)           hatta assabahi        (until the morning)
bayna   (between)     bayna albayti wal madrasati  (between the house and the school)

Q:
So if there is a harfu jar before the noun, the noun must end with a kasrah.
Did I get it right?

A:

That's right, Friend. That's the general rule. The exception is with nouns called mamnou' u assarf. I myself don't know all about this. But let me give you just one example:
ana dahibun 'inda shayma a (and not shayma i) (I'm going to Shayma's.)
Hope you'll find explanations for that elsewhere. But don't worry, that's the exception.