# Arabic is a beautiful language



## shuaibah

I want to translate "Arabic is a beautiful language". Which of the following two choices is accurate?

a. العلربيةُ لغةٌ جميلةٌ
b. عربيةٌ هي لغةٌ جميلةُ

Would "b" be the more accurate translation?


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## elroy

No - a is correct (except for the typo); b is not.


shuaibah said:


> a. العربيةُ لغةٌ جميلةٌ
> b. عربيةٌ هي لغةٌ جميلةُ


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## shuaibah

Thanks Elroy.

I thought (a) translated to "The Arabic" is a ...

How do you translate this without the "Al" (since my original sentence does not say "The Arabic is a beautiful language")

Does (b) translate to "Arabic (it is) a beautiful language."?


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## elroy

Languages don't work that way. 

In English, you say "Arabic" to refer to the language but in Arabic you say العربية.

The logic in English is that you don't need an article because Arabic is already specific so it's defined without a definite article.

The logic in Arabic is that you need an article precisely because it _is_ specific, and the article indicates that.

Notice that in English you would say "the Arabic language." You can think of العربية as short for اللغة العربية.

عربية is a feminine adjective meaning "Arab."


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## shuaibah

I would not have thought of عربية as an adjective, so thanks for the info.

I understand your explanation. Two questions:

- Is there a grammatical error in sentence (b) 
- If I wanted to say "Arabic book" (not "Book of Arabic"), is it correct to say الكتابُ العربيُّ ?

(yes/no answers to these questions are fine..)


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## Josh_

The only grammatical error in sentence (b) is, as Elroy pointed out, the lack of the definite article on the first word.  Also, it is worthy to point out that an Arabic sentence cannot start with an indefinite noun.

Yes, الكتابُ العربيُّ is correct.


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## elroy

Josh_ said:


> Also, it is worthy to point out that an Arabic sentence cannot start with an indefinite noun.


 Are you sure? 

سنة واحدة لا تكفي لتعلم اللغة العربية
مظلة مثل هذه لن تحميك من المطر
امرأة فاضلة من يجدها لأن ثمنها يفوق اللآلئ (from the Bible) 





> Yes, الكتابُ العربيُّ is correct.


 Yes, but it means "*the* Arab book."

(I would say "Arab" and not "Arabic" because "the Arabic book" immediately makes me think of a book for learning Arabic, whereas you wanted to emphasize the origin of the book and not its content.  "The Arab book" sounds a little odd, but then again, how often do you speak of books in terms of their origin?  Perhaps this wasn't a well-chosen example. )


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## clevermizo

elroy said:


> "The Arab book" sounds a little odd, but then again, how often do you speak of books in terms of their origin?  Perhaps this wasn't a well-chosen example. )



The "Arab book" sounds very odd to me. If I heard someone say that in English I would misunderstand it as "The Arab's book" because I think I only have "Arab" lexicalized as an ethnonym.

I would say the Arabic book. I agree that this immediately sounds like a book for learning the Arabic language, but honestly that's what I would assume any such description (the "Spanish book", "French book," etc.) would mean. If they meant "a book written in Arabic" I would just say that instead.

That's all in English, however. Does الكتاب العربي have any further implication in Arabic?


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## elroy

I agree with you, of course. "The Arab book" was a very "forced" translation, only because Shuaibah said 





> If I wanted to say "Arabic book" (not "Book of Arabic"), is it correct to say الكتابُ العربيُّ ?


 which made me assume he was interested in describing the book's origin and not making a reference to its content. I thought he meant "a book from the Arab world."  But I could be wrong - he may have meant "a book written in Arabic."

Perhaps Shuaibah could clarify what he meant.


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## cherine

shuaibah said:


> - Is there a grammatical error in sentence (b)
> b. عربيةٌ هي لغةٌ جميلةُ


I'd say yes.
And although I first thought like Josh, and then got doubts because of Elroy's examples, I still think that (b) is incorrect.
Let's put it this way: A nominative sentence should have a مبتدأ وخبر . The khabar is always indefinite and the mubtada2 is always definitie.
I'm still confused and can't tell what is it exactly that makes this sentence incorrect    So I'll try to check with some friends and get back to you.


> - If I wanted to say "Arabic book" (not "Book of Arabic"), is it correct to say الكتابُ العربيُّ ?


When we say الكتاب العربي we generally mean: books written in Arabic, and it sounds like a collective term. Something like:
الكتاب العربي يشهد زيادةً في التوزيع
الكتاب العربي يجذب القرَّاء في معرض الكتاب بباريس


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## Josh_

elroy said:


> Are you sure?
> 
> سنة واحدة لا تكفي لتعلم اللغة العربية
> مظلة مثل هذه لن تحميك من المطر
> امرأة فاضلة من يجدها لأن ثمنها يفوق اللآلئ (from the Bible)


As a general rule an Arabic sentence cannot start with an indefinite noun.  That is what I learned in my classes.  

If an indefinite noun were freely allowed at the beginning of a sentence in any case then that would preclude the need for structures such as المبتدأ المؤخر and الخبر المقدم .

For "a man is in the house" we could just as easily say رجل في البيت as في البيت رجل .

There are, of course, exceptions to the rule.  W. Wright writes:
_
The inchoative or subject of a nominal sentence cannot, according to the Arab grammarians, consist of an indefinite noun, or one which is not qualified by an adjective, or an expression equivalent to an adjective, except in certain cases.  _

He then goes on to list those cases.  

So, a sentence can start with an indefinite noun when it is followed by and adjective.  This is in line  in your first and third sentences.

Wright says later on that the subject may also be indefinite in some cases in which a strong emphasis rests upon it.  This appears to be the case with your third sentence from the Bible in which there is a strong emphasis on  امرأة فاضلة .  

As for the second sentence, I don't know, it seems like it works, but it also seems like it is wrong.  I would write:

  لن تحميك مظلة مثل هذه من المطر

Or maybe even placed after من المطر as is the case sometimes when there is a long subject:
لن تحميك من المطر مظلة مثل هذه

The only thing I can think of is that the expression  مثل هذه is an expression equivalent to an adjective.  When Wright wrote "an expression equivalent to an adjective" he listed the example of:

رجل من الكرام عندنا _there is a man of the noble with us,_ = رجل كريم .  So مثل هذه , whatever that refers, is equivalent to an adjective.  For example, let's say مثل هذه refers to torn umbrellas, then we could say:

مظلة مثل هذه المظلات الممزقة لن تحميك من المطر​


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## elroy

Thank you for that response. Had you said in your previous post that there were exceptions to the rule, I probably wouldn't have objected.  

My second sentence is not wrong. You can either think of مثل هذه as "equivalent to an adjective," as you proposed, or consider that there is special emphasis on مظلة مثل هذه.


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## shuaibah

Thank you for your responses.

Elroy: By "Arabic book", I meant to call out a book used to learn Arabic . 

My purpose behind my question was to find out the masc. and fem. use of عربيَّ/عربيّةُ. If I said "الكتابُ العربيّةُ", it would be incorrect since كتاب is masc. That part is clear now.

Cherine: I was trying to state the translation of "Arabic is a beautiful language" by using نكرة form of Arabic (عربيَّةٌ). I think it translates to: "Arabic - it is a beautiful language" (عربيةٌ هي لغةٌ جميلة).


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## asadxyz

shuaibah said:


> Thank you for your responses.
> 
> Elroy: By "Arabic book", I meant to call out a book used to learn Arabic .
> 
> My purpose behind my question was to find out the masc. and fem. use of عربيَّ/عربيّةُ. If I said "الكتابُ العربيّةُ", it would be incorrect since كتاب is masc. That part is clear now.
> 
> Cherine: I was trying to state the translation of "Arabic is a beautiful language" by using نكرة form of Arabic (عربيَّةٌ). I think it translates to: "Arabic - it is a beautiful language" (عربيةٌ هي لغةٌ جميلة).


Dear *shuaibah*;
As far as I can guess there are two mistakes.The word عربيّ never means "Arabic language".It is اسم النسبة which means 
=Related to Arab 
=Related to Arabic language.
And عربية is a feminine form.
Note: One may feel difficulty when these two words i.e عربيّ and عربيّة are preceded by AL- to make them definite. 
If you want to say "Arabic Language" then correct word for it is "العربية " 
Arabic is a beautiful language = العربية لغة جميلة .

Secondly nominal sentences (as Josh pointed out) do not start with indefinite nouns (of course exception are there).
Your phrase الكتاب العربي can mean both ways ;

Book related to Arab
Book related to Arabic language.
It is the context which will decide.


لسان العرب - (ج 1 / ص 586)​
والعربي منسوب إلى العرب وإن لم يكن بدوياً​
لسان العرب - (ج 1 / ص 587)​
والعربية هي هذه اللغة​


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## cherine

shuaibah said:


> By "Arabic book", I meant to call out a book used to learn Arabic .


In this case, maybe you should say: كتب تعلُّم اللغة العربية or كتب تعلُّم العربية (kutub ta3allum...). And I think you can also use تعليم instead of ta3allum.


> Cherine: I was trying to state the translation of "Arabic is a beautiful language" by using نكرة form of Arabic (عربيَّةٌ). I think it translates to: "Arabic - it is a beautiful language" (عربيةٌ هي لغةٌ جميلة).


When you speak about the Arabic language (or any other language) you can't use the indefinite. If I say إنجليزية it would sound like an adjective صفة بلا موصوف or نعت بلا منعوت . In other words, it won't be clear what is English, nor what are you talking about. But if you say الإنجليزية it would be understood, or at least assumed, that you're talking about the English language.
And again, عربية هي لغة جميلة is not a correct sentence. The simplest and best translation for your sentence is: العربيةُ لغةٌ جميلةٌ .
If you want a more elaborate one, then maybe you can go with: العربيةُ، إنها لغة جميلة .


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## asadxyz

cherine said:


> If you want a more elaborate one, then maybe you can go with: العربيةُ، إنها لغة جميلة .


 
Dear Cherine
العربيةُ،إنها لغة جميلة 
Shouldn't this sentence be ?
العربيةُ، أنها لغة جميلة


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## elroy

asadxyz said:


> Dear Cherine
> العربيةُ،إنها لغة جميلة
> Shouldn't this sentence be ?
> العربيةُ، أنها لغة جميلة


 No, إنها is correct.


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## ayed

*إن العربية لغة جملية *
*إن اللغة العربية لغة جملية*


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## asadxyz

elroy said:


> No, إنها is correct.


 
Thank you very much for reply.
Then what is the use of أنّ ??


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## cherine

Hello Asad,
Please check this thread for information about when to use inna and when to use anna.


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