# Arabic grammar books/textbooks



## Jana337

*Moderator Note*: This thread is a combination of several previous threads dedicated to discussing Arabic grammar books/textbooks in paper format. Some posts have been deleted or edited to eliminate redundancy and reduce discontinuity. 

Please feel free to contribute to this thread by commenting on or asking questions about some of the books that have already been mentioned, or by giving your opinion (whether positive or negative) about others.

Please note that this thread is not about exclusively online resources (we have a sticky for those), but rather books available *in paper format*.

Thanks,
elroy and cherine

مرحبا

I am determined to get a grammar book (I am flexible between a reference book and a textbook, although I lean to the former).

Here's what I have gleaned from reading reviews:

Karin Ryding - A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic 
+ available as e-book 
- not much information about its quality

Adrian Gully, Mike G. Carter, Elsaid Badawi - Modern Written Arabic: A Comprehensive Grammar
+ almost uniform praise
- western grammar terms used 
- typos in the Arabic script
- too advanced for me

H. M. Nahmad, J. A. Haywood - A New Arabic Grammar of the Written Language 
- microscopic script, obscured voweling marks 
+ people who possess it rave about its clarity
+ a key to (excellent) exercises available

Eckehard Schulz - A Student Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (Paperback)
- not enough exercises
- too thin and possibly too basic (which may sound brash from me )

Could other learners please add their two cents (please avoid links to vendors, as usual)? As of now, the book by Nahmad and Haywood is my favorite. Are there other books that could be worth attention? I don't insist on a book written in English.

شكرا جزيلا

يتا


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## Josh_

Jana337 said:
			
		

> Karin Ryding -  A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic
> + available as e-book
> - not much information about its quality
> 
> 
> Eckehard Schulz     - A Student Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (Paperback)
> - not enough exercises
> - too thin and possibly too basic (which may sound brash from me )


I have both of these books and enjoy and use them extensively.

Karin Ryding's book is relatively new (Published in the latter half of 2005) and very comprehensive. The Arabic text is unpointed but the English transliteration is fully pronounced. For a comprehensive grammar I would highly recommend this book. Karin relies extensively on other sources and explains things very well. The grammar terminology is given in both English and Arabic. So far I have found very little typos in it.

Eckehard Schulz book is also good. I use it is I want to look up something really fast. Like the title says it is geared more towards the student so it is not comprehensive, but all basic grammar is covered. I like this book because the Arabic text is fully voweled (but there is no transliteration). I find that this helps me get a feel for the Arabic case system (moreso than having an unvoweled test with English fully voweled transliteration like Karin's book). I would highly recommend this book.

Also, if you speak German really well, Eckehard is a German professor who teaches Arabic from German, so he probably has a grammar written in German. Probably this one. I know that his textbook, "Standard Arabic: An elementary-intermediate course" was originally written in German and was translated into English. I don't know where you could get the German one (maybe from a German bookstore. I use this textbook as a supplement to my other textbook and am very pleased with it. Things are explained and there are numerous exercises and examples. Most of the examples are fully voweled, although the other texts are not.

I'm sure they are out there, but I am not aware of any other grammars in other languages, although I read somewhere about an Arabic textbook written in Bulagarian.



> Adrian Gully, Mike G. Carter, Elsaid Badawi - Modern Written Arabic: A Comprehensive Grammar
> + almost uniform praise
> - western grammar terms used
> - typos in the Arabic script
> - too advanced for me
> 
> H. M. Nahmad, J. A. Haywood      - A New Arabic Grammar of the Written Language
> - microscopic script, obscured voweling marks
> + people who possess it rave about its clarity
> + a key to (excellent) exercises available


 I actually considered these books also, but I decided on Karin's book, because, like you pointed out, one has many typos and the other has poor print quality. (It might not really matter much, but) Also, Karin's book is newer (and possibly more up to date), but I'm sure all these books are comparable in their explanation and completeness.

I have other Routledge Grammar series books (Hebrew and Hungarian) and have been pleased with those books, so if this is any indication than the grammar by Adrian Gully, Mike G. Carter, Elsaid Badawi might be good (excepting the typos). I have an Egyptian Arabic dictionary by Elsaid Badawi and am very, very pleased with it. It is actually my favorite book. So I respect him as a teacher.

If I think of anything else, or hear of anything else, I will mention it here.

Josh


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## Anatoli

*Teach Yourself Arabic*
After the 3rd lesson, no more transcription, too early in my opinion, there are sound recordings, though. Not enough of details about Arabic diacritic symbols. Poor explanation of grammar.
*Teach Yourself Gulf Arabic*
Too much romanisation, Arabic script is explained poorly. They should have provided the Arabic scripts for all dialogues/text, as in the next book (if there is no written form, should give at least the standard writing). Some comparison with standard Arabic would be good too, so that learners could know, which words/grammar points are dialectal.
*Colloquial Arabic of Egypt*
Concentrating on the Egyptian dialect, script is provided. Easy to follow.
Can't give more feedback, I only looked at a couple of lessons only, focussing on MSA at the moment. The author mentions that there could be different ways to write down the dialects, so they say it could also be written differently but it is in both Roman (main text and comments) and Arabic (at the back) script! The vocab uses both.
The authors of "Colloquial Arabic of Egypt" are Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar. It comes with CD's or cassettes.
*Mastering Arabic*
The book is very serious but sometimes too hard. Like "Teach Yourself Arabic", the move to pure Arabic script is too early, have to use the audio sometimes to figure out what is written. Vowel symbols are removed from texts once the words are introduced, making it really an effort to read sometimes. Script writing exercises are not explained (meaning and pronunciation) they look like a bunch of meaningless consonants - that's what Arabic script looks like to a foreigner who knows the letters but not the words and if vowels are not written.
The audio is good but there is no 100% match book vs recording. There is no index, so searching for info is difficult. Vocab is only English-Arabic, there is no Arabic-English.

*Basic Course in Moroccan Arabic with MP3 Files*
No Arabic script and only Moroccan dialect is explained. Hard to follow for a beginner but lots of audio, so you can master the pronunciation well.

All of the above books have one more flaw, grammar is explained poorly, IMHO, that's why I had to get a grammar book, can't comment on it yet.

Also: *"Ultimate Arabic"* I rate it as very good.  15 lessons in MSA, then 20 in dialects, compares MSA with dialects has both Arabic and Roman scripts, dialectal texts are all in romanisation. Haven't heard the audio but there is a CD package you can buy. The other textbooks' audio is too fast in my opinion. I had to convert to MP3 and listened to them in Media Player on slow speed.-

*Mastering Arabic* and *Ultimate Arabic* are great books (there are some minor flaws).


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## Layzie

_"The Arabic Alphabet: How to read and write it" _
This book is perfect for learning the alphabet. It goes about teaching you the letters in a different approach, the letter are organized by similar looking letters, and letters with similar forms. In two weeks I was able to recognize any letter in any form. 

_Your first 100 words in Arabic_

_Read and Speak Arabic for Beginners._

This two-book series does a superb job of introducing you to Arabic writing and very basic vocab. It contains flashcards, crosswords, matching, and dozens of such activities that keep it interesting.

_Teach yourself Arabic_
This is a decent grammar guide, it was already reviewed, Ill just add that the script-teaching is very bad.


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## Nick Murphy

The various books mentioned above (the "Teach Yourself" series and similar) don't tend to concentrate on teaching you the script as they tend to assume that you already know it.

Other books step in to try and fill this gap such as "Teach Yourself: Beginners' Arabic Script" (which is perhaps more technically complex) and the excellent "Mastering Arabic Script: A Guide to Handwriting" (ISBN: 1403941106) which teaches you how to write each letter properly.

By combining both books (as I have) you can quickly learn the script as well as building up some starting vocab and grammar. I'd reccomend both if you want an effective start!


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## abusaf

Hello
There is a book called "Arabic Course for English Speaking Students" by Dr. Abdur Rahman. This is the book (actually its 3 books), that is used in the Islamic University in Medinah, Saudi Arabia, for the thousands Non-Arabs who come there to study. 
It's in Arabic, but has a explanation in English at the end, and its the best book for grammar.

Some info on the book:

ISBN: 1872531539 
Author: Dr. V. Abdur Rahim 
Publisher: UK Islamic Academy 
Pages: 467 Binding: Paperback 

These three books are so good because they explain everything so simply. Most of the other books that explain Arabic grammar in detail are written for linguists. For example, I bought a book about Arabic grammar with some chapther titles such as: "Pragmatic Functions", "Relativization of Temporal Nouns", "Continuum of Hypotheticality". I mean, Im trying to understand the grammar, not go for a noble prize.

So I definately recommend for you to check out the books I mentioned. And I think if you live near a mosque most Islamic bookshops have this book. Or at least some do.


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## linguist786

Yes. I recommend the Madinah University ones too - they're great and I've got them too. (although I'm busy with exams so I haven't got a chance to really analyse them very well yet!)
If you speak Urdu - a small book called "Das sabaq" (ten lessons) is absolutely great to get started - but it's only for Urdu speakers lol. (If you're interested, PM me)


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## Anatoli

The best of those I used is "Ultimate Arabic", although it's not perfect. "Mastering Arabic" is also good. You probably want to try diferent books, I know it's expensive. "Teach Yourself Arabic" is much worse than the previous two.


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## MarcB

These books are used in the United Arab Emirates for Arabic lessons:

A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic by Hans Wehr (4th edition is best)
Al-Mawrid English to Arabic Dictionary
A Pocket English-Arabic; Arabic-English dictionary
A New Arabic Grammar of the Written Language by J.A. Haywood and H.M. Nahmad
See this free site: www.madinaharabic.com


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## panjabigator

I am looking for a good arabic text.  I already know how to read and write in Urdu, so I don't really need something that is focused on learning the script.  Maybe I would by a primer to cover that aspect.  Any suggestions?  I'll spend what I need too...buying books has become a horrible hobby of mine...the more I am in the hole the better!


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## goheels

Al-Kitaab fii ta'alum al-'arabiyya is pretty good.  It's by Kristen Brustad, Mahmoud al-Batal and Abbas al-Tonsi  and is printed by Georgetown.  It's the book that UNC, Middlebury and a few others use.

It's a little light on vocabulary which I don't really like.  But the advantages are numerous: only about 50 bucks but about 400 pages so very cheap (no color though) and the chapters follow a story which you keep track of via DVD's which accompany the book.  It also contains the same story in Egyptian colloquial.

I'd also recommend getting the answer key.  It doesn't have all of the answers (only about a third of the lessons) but has transcripts for the DVD as well.  

A grammar book or two is probably needed, such as by Ryding which I found to be pretty good so far.

Hans-Wehr is the preferred dictionary if you don't have one.  Unsurpassed is what I've heard of it.


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## panjabigator

Thanks all!


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## Jana337

MarcB said:
			
		

> A New Arabic Grammar of the Written Language by J.A. Haywood and H.M. Nahmad


For a learner, this grammar book is better than Ryding (which is invaluable as a reference, but it won't teach you because in the excellent examples - most of them geared towards politics - it uses advanced vocabulary). Haywood and Nahmad have stuff organized in succinct lessons with translation exercises (both directions), and you can get a key.

Jana


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## Thomas F. O'Gara

I'll throw my weight behind Heywood and Nahmad; it's the book I learned Arabic from.

I will put in a plug for a four volume set - "Arabic Language and Grammar" - written by Jochanan Kapliwatzki (I think that's the spelling) written in the 1930's. A lot of Arabic teachers even in the Middle East will tout this set (it's written in English), despite the fact that the author was Israeli (actually, an Austrian Jew who taught Arabic in Vienna and who emigrated to Palestine in the 1930's); the first edition I had was printed in Israel, and I've been told it's the only book ever printed in Israel with the word "Palestine" in it (in Arabic, of course). The book is currently in print only in India, of all places, so perhaps you'll be able to find it.

The explanations are thorough - almost too thorough! - and the topics are somewhat outdated, but not as much as you might think, and you can say something similar about Heywood, which was written in the 1950's too.  The books are filled with a lot of cultural asides on Arabic history as well, and by the time you get to volume 4 you're reading things in the Classical idiom, and not just Modern Standard Arabic.


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## englishman

I've been toying with the idea of learning Arabic for years, but I've never started as I've never seen a decent set of books. Does anyone know of any good, fairly formal, introductory Arabic texts that cover grammar in a traditional manner - most of the stuff I've seen seems to be aimed at people with an attention span of 5 minutes, and has looked painfully incomplete. 

And the other question, of course, is what kind of Arabic is it sensible to start with ? Egyptian ? Classical ? I really have no idea, so any sensible suggestions are gratefully accepted.


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## Thomas F. O'Gara

Englishman:

If you want a review of the grammar with extended exercises, you can't go wrong with "A New Arabic Grammar of the Written Language" by Haywood and Nahmad.  There is a separate key to the exercises available too.  It covers about everything on the written language.

Another choice that I like is "Arabic Language and Grammar", a four volume set by Jochanan Kapliwatzki.  It's become available recently from India, after being out of print for several years.

Both of these are strictly MSA, although Haywood includes some classical selections and a lot of the material in the last volume of Kapliwatzki is in the classical idiom.  There is nothing on dialects outside of a somewhat illuminating article in Haywood.

If you're looking for dialect material and you want a thorough working of the grammar, you can try T. F. Mitchell's exhaustive "An Introduction to Egyptian Colloquial Arabic".  It's a bit old - Mitchell wrote it for Shell Oil back when they had a large concession in Egypt - but it's still quite valid.  There's no Arabic script in this book, which stands to reason in a book written in the colloquial.  I've yet to see another dialect book that I'd recommend unequivocally.

You can work on both the colloquial and MSA at the same time.  While it may seem confusing at first, the grammar of any colloquial dialect is sufficiently different from MSA so that you won't confuse them, and in time you will find your study of the colloquial supported and strengthened by working on MSA.


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## englishman

Thomas F. O'Gara said:
			
		

> If you want a review of the grammar with extended exercises, you can't go wrong with "A New Arabic Grammar of the Written Language" by Haywood and Nahmad.  There is a separate key to the exercises available too.  It covers about everything on the written language.



This sounds like it may be what I'm looking for. Here's a quote from Amazon that I could have written myself:

"For those fed up learning a language my memorizing touristy phrases, or these new 'wonderfully cr@p' methods then check out this book. What appealed to me about Hayward & Nahamd was its grammar orientated approach to understanding Arabic. The book's approach reminded me my schooldays of learning Latin: declining nouns, conjugating verbs and translating texts"


			
				Thomas F. O'Gara said:
			
		

> There's no Arabic script in this book, which stands to reason in a book written in the colloquial.



I've no idea what you mean here - how can there be no Arabic script in an Arabic text ?

Thanks for the book tips.


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## MarcB

His tips are good. What he means is the Egyptian is transliterated only.


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## allblackfan333

To clarify that some more for you... the dialects are written in the MSA script when they are written at all, but since most written material is in MSA, many books regarding colloquial dialects will have little or no Arabic script.

also I would recommend Al-Kitaab Fii Ta'allum Al-'arabiyya from the Georgetown University press. I'm not very far into it but it seems to be a very good textbook and it comes with DVD supplements.


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## Anatoli

In the topic _*how to begin studying Arabic*_ I recommended this book:
Colloquial Arabic of Egypt
Concentrating on the Egyptian dialect, Arabic script is provided. Easy to follow.

Can't give more feedback, I only looked at a couple of lessons only, focussing on MSA at the moment. The author mentions that there could be different ways to write down the dialects, so they say it could also be written differently but it is in both Roman (main text and comments) and Arabic (at the back) script! The vocab uses both.

*Mastering Arabic* and *Ultimate Arabic* are also great books (there are some minor flaws).


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## Thomas F. O'Gara

Englishman, MarcB:

Regarding the use of Arabic writing in the colloquial, as Allblackfan333 mentioned in his notes, many, if not most, books on colloquial Arabic dialects will not include an Arabic script text, and just give a transliteration of the spoken language into some modified form of the Roman alphabet. The logic behind this is that using the Arabic alphabet can be misleading in writing dialect.

There are some books that do have Arabic script for the colloquial material, and Anatoli cites one in his blog above, although the book he cites - Colloquial Arabic of Egypt - is one that I'm not familiar with.

I do own one colloquial book that has Arabic script, an old 1970's item called "Vest Pocket Arabic", and I found the use of Arabic script somewhat misleading in determining the pronunciation, and had to rely on the tranliteration to work with the material. Actually, aside from that the book was quite handy as a source for Egyptian colloquialisms, and worth owning for that reason alone, although as a basic text for the Egyptian colloquial it has drawbacks.


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## goheels

> also I would recommend Al-Kitaab Fii Ta'allum Al-'arabiyya from the Georgetown University press. I'm not very far into it but it seems to be a very good textbook and it comes with DVD supplements.


 
My class also uses this book. It seems to be the book that most American universities use. It's mainly MSA. The book (haha) follows a story of Maha, Khaled, others and their families. The DVD contains dialogues and monologues of the characters. It also has the same monologues (the main ones) in Egyptian 'aamiiyah. You can buy the answer key for only a few dollars.


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## Anatoli

Thanks for putting this together, guys. 

Out of the textbooks I praised before I have almost finished with *Mastering Arabic*. I didn't study it thoroughly but worked through all the texts and exercises for understanding only. I struggled with a few exercises where hand-written Arabic is used.

I can also recommend *"An Introduction to Koranic and Classical Arabic"*. This book does what the title says - teaches the classical Arabic. I like the grammar focus. The Arabic text is intentionally unvocalised but the transliteration is available for new words and grammar notes. It could be a problem in exercises, since the correct endings is important for understanding.

Pity you have to buy separately "Key to Exercise".

"*Al-Kitaab..*." is very disappointing, despite the effort to create DVD's. You might be OK if you use it with a teacher. Just read some feedback on Internet, don't want to go into details...


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## Qcumber

In another thread, Josh ADKINS recommended me:

WRIGHT, W. (1896-1898)
Arabic grammar
reprint of the two volume under a single cover:
Dover (2005)
ISBN: 0-486-44129-6

I received it a couple of days ago.
This book is an excellent classical grammar, and ... quite inexpensive.


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## Anatoli

Has anyone used *"An Introduction to Koranic and Classical Arabic"*? I also wonder how good the Key to Exercise book is.


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## kifaru

Since I am taking an autodidactic approach to learning Arabic I'd like to offer a review of *"An Introduction to Modern Arabic"* by Farhat J. Ziadeh an R. Bayly Winder. For the most part this book is not suitable for a true beginner seeking to learn  to speak Arabic. The main weaknesses being the fact that the reader is forced to learn to read Arabic script as well as learn the grammmar and vocabulary simultaneously due to the lack of transliteration. The other problem is the pace that the vocabulary is introduced. From my perspective a major failing of many books teaching Arabic to English speakers is to  conflate the goals of teaching a person to _speak_ Arabic and teaching them to _read_ Arabic. Both  goals are admirable in themselves but needn't be confused.

The strong points of the book is it's very thorough explanations of grammar and the pace at which it lenghthens    sentences so that the reader is able to see how more complex sentences are constructed. Also the book takes care to explain the usage of diacritics and gives several examples. This is the sort of book I would expect to be used in a 2nd semester course as opposed to teaching a beginning course.


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## SofiaB

For colloquial/spoken Arabic I suggest the Fsi textbooks listed in resources 9i.You can find free whole texts to download in Moroccan,Egyptian,Syrian and Saudi. They give good explanations and many drills. One should be able to carry on a basic conversation after completion of these books. Try them you will like them and they bridge the gap between written and spoken.


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## Abu Rashid

merhabun bikum,

I have personally used a vast array of books during my 5-6 years of Arabic study, and I think all of them have been beneficial in different ways. I've gleaned different benefits from each book according to its style. But only one book did I ever complete and that was al-Kitab fi ta3aalim al-3arabiyyah (Georgetown). I think I stuck with it more due to the convenience of the visual aids (DVD's) rather than due to its superior teaching style. It really lacks grammar, which a lot of beginners appreciate, but no serious study of Arabic is going to be all that worthwhile if you don't focus a lot on grammar.

Another book I've seen which looks nice is Intermediate Arabic: An Integrated Approach (Yale Press), There's a beginners volume also.


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## imaan4success

When i first began studying arabic i used the madinah university arabic books. I have to say, that by the time i got past half of the second volume, i pretty much gave up. The books are good to an extent, but i gave up becuase i was no longer benefitting very much by the time i got to a certain point. I think these books are extremely over rated.

A lot people think they are good for two reasons:

1. They are popular.
2. Madinah University uses them.

So let me clarify the reality for us all. Popularity does not necessarily mean good.

Madinah University uses them, yes true, however the reality is some what different. What a lot of people don't realise is that Madinah university also use a lot of other material from other books, and students get to live an environment where they get arabic all the time and have to learn arabic to get by. Thus, this idea that, because 'madinah university use them, so it must be good' is utter nonesense.

It is however useful in giving you the basics of the language, and the basics of grammar. The benefits however finish there.

I guess a lot of grammar is not important. If your aim is to learn to speak and use the language, then you only need a basic level of grammar in order to achieve that. In that sense, the book is useful. However, it would have been better that the grammar was introduced more thoroughly in the first two volumes rather than just throw it all into the third volume.

In terms of vocabulary and more in depth coverage of the language, i think the kitabul-assassi books are still one of the best around. I learnt more arabic from just the fist volume of kitabul-assassi (it's in three volumes) than i did from two volumes of madinah university books. Kitabul-Assassi are the main text books they use in institutions in Egypt, Syria and many other arabic countries for teaching non-arabs arabic. They normally take 1 year to teach all three volumes. By the end of the year, students are capable of speaking arabic fluently. The grammar is also basic (which is enough, as your aim is to learn arabic and not become a grammarian) and is introduced in the second volume (again i think it should have been introduced from the beginning).

It is completely in arabic which forces you to think in arabic, something that i personally liked. All the vocabulary is translated in the back, from arabic into english and french. There is a good amount of practice texts and exercises to reinforce what you have learnt. Nearly all of the lessons are based on short stories or conversations which helps keep your interest. Each new lesson requires you to learn at least around 35-40 new words of vocabulary. I think the first volume alone introduces at well over 1500 words of vocabulary, which is probably more far more than all of the vocabulary found in the madinah university books.

In fact it seems that the madinah university books were partly inspired by the kitabul-assassi (there seems to be some similarity at the beginning of both books and in some aspects, and i say inspired by kitabul-assassi as it was written before the madinah university books as far as i am aware).

One of my friends used the kitabul-assassi books to study arabic here in Britain. He would spend an hour a day studying it with an arabic teacher. He only did the first two volumes, but was capable of speaking fluent arabic within less than a year. His teacher told him he no longer needed to study as he could speak very fluently and was now capable off finishing the texts of by himself, although there was no need to.

The Haywood and Nahmad book on grammar is very good also. It has a good range of vocabulary and the grammar is more than one needs to be able to understand how the language works.

Having said that, i know numerous people who learnt arabic without studying any grammar. They just learnt the language from kitabul-assassi, and can now converse fluently in arabic.

Combine A New Arabic Grammar by Haywood and Nahmad, with kitabul-assassi (normally £45 for all three volumes), and i think you have all you need in materials for learning arabic. The only other thing that is needed, is a good teacher. Or at least an arab to practise with. If not, you may want to invest an a software program designed to teach you how to speak arabic.


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## Taalib

Brustad, al-Batal and al-Tonsi's "Al-Kitaab" series (consisting of four books: an introduction to the alphabet, then a beginner, intermediate, and advanced volume) is far more heavily used than has been acknowledged. I began my Arabic training on them and they are good, if controversial, training wheels. If you have a solid teacher or tutor, pick this series and after a year or two you'll be flying. 

It should be said that the al-Kitaab series has become the dominant textbook for major American universities with US Title VI funding (that's jargon for specialized money from the Department of Education in the US to finance area studies centers, like Mideast institutes, at prominent universities in order to train students in regional languages, politics, and culture). As an educator, I can rattle off a long list of colleges that use them in their language courses: Georgetown, Harvard, Yale, U. of Texas, U. of Michigan, Tufts, NYU, Columbia... the list goes on.

It has also rapidly become the (if not one of the most) dominant textbook series for summer language institutes, not least because many of these institutes are tied to Title VI centers at American research universities through affiliations. Most US-based Arabic summer intensive language institutes utilize them (Middlebury, for instance), but in the last several years so too have a huge swathe of Mideast-based educational programs for Western students. Arabic institutes in Fez, Tangier, Tunis, Cairo, Beirut, Amman, Irbid, Sana'a, Damascus, and Kuwait City have adopted and utilized the book, not least because of the authors' tireless efforts to teach others how to adopt the "al-kitaab method" of teaching Arabic. In fact, the only major language program that draws Americans in packs that has refused to switch over is the Arabic Language Institute at American University of Cairo (ALI-AUC). In any case, I'd say the majority of graduate-level American students training in Arabic for academic or government positions in the US, right now, are using the textbook series in some way, either in university classrooms or in language training programs overseas.

I would recommend the series highly if these books are to be used in conjunction with a teacher or tutor in some kind of structured environment. Without it, they lose much of their effectiveness, because the books work by providing big-picture lessons and rely on an expert instructor to fill in the myriad blanks. The series emphasizes functional usage and wholistic proficiency rather than grammar-based techniques that emphasize "morphology," etc.; but it does have its fair share of boring grammatical lessons (imagine spending a week on broken plural diptotes... blegh). Thus old Arabic linguists (many of them classic orientalist-trained Arabists) despise it because it does not give systematic, deductive lessons on complex grammatical rules, structures, and so forth, like the way they learned 40 years ago. Yet conversational-minded teachers hate it because they think it incorporates too much grammar and not enough spoken and written context that would be useful to the average Westerner. Indeed, there is actually a huge debate right now over what direction this textbook series should take, now that in the US and in many US-affiliated language programs in the Mideast, it has become the only choice of teaching new students and thus will shape much of the next generation of Arabists in American institutions.

All of that said... it's a decent series and it will teach you much with a tutor or teacher by your side. But do keep in mind that Arabic educators in America will give very polarized opinions of the series, precisely because its increasing dominance has a "love it or hate it" appeal.


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## Anatoli

Anatoli said:


> Has anyone used *"An Introduction to Koranic and Classical Arabic"*? I also wonder how good the Key to Exercise book is.



I acquired the "Key to Exercises" brochure for this book. It has everything, I hoped to get with the answer book.
Author: W.M. Thackston.

The book combined with the answer to exercises works well for me. The author uses complex lingustic terminology the grammar of classical Arabic is explained well with good examples and exercises are well structured. Vocalisation is provided for the grammar points. All translations from Arabic and readings are provided with the romanised text and the answer (English translation).

What's not provided: translations and vocalisations of texts for the additional reading. I hope to be comfortable with reading those when I reach them. There is no audio. I use other books for that.

I find these books an excellent resource to get a good grounding in Classical Arabic. The texts and vocabulary are religious but the grammar can be used in MSA.


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## Lugubert

I was happy enough with Schultz, Krahl, Reuschel: _Standard Arabic. An elementary-intermediate course _for a reader.

A funny thing regardinng Haywood-Nahmad's grammar: We were given a slightly older text. The native speakers in my class thought it was very difficult, but I found it the easiest during the whole semester. But I had had a very thorough semester of Classical Arabic - 40 years ago! - and thought that it was much easier than Schulz' texts.

Once in a while I feel like rehearsing, and then I pick up Ziadeh - Winder.

For the older language, Wright's grammar goes into too much detail, but is invaluale for the fine points. I prefer Brockelmann: _Arabische Grammatik_. Much smaller, but still covers all the essentials and some more.


----------



## Taalib

I've bought many Arabic grammar reference books to keep up with my language practice recently, and I'd like to reiterate what an earlier post mentioned regarding Karin Ryding's _A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic_. It's a huge book, roughly 800 pages, and over the last two months I worked systematically through every page. It's a very modern reference book, designed for both elementary and advanced learners. Not only is it full of diverse Arabic examples, but--and this is key--the finer points of grammar and morphology are explained _without_ the frequent use of obscure terms that only academic linguists would recognize. For the most part, Dr. Ryding explains everything with the Western learner unaccustomed to complex linguistic terminology in mind.

I am in the process of working through several other books now. Hassanein's _MSA Grammar: A Concise Guide_ was published just months ago out of American University of Cairo and I'm curious to see whether this latest installment of their Arabic pedagogical barrage (including their CD-ROM programs, which have been a huge hit here in the US and which, I can attest, are great learning tools) can compete with the heavyweights stateside. I am also starting Alosh's _Using Arabic_ and Parkinson's _Using Arabic Synonyms _now, and if users here would like I can post impressions of them (both are relatively advanced books that require intermediate proficiency in MSA). Better yet, has anyone here used these books--and if so, how did you find them?


----------



## Qcumber

Taalib said:


> the finer points of grammar and morphology are explained _without_ the frequent use of obscure terms that only academic linguists would recognize. For the most part, Dr. Ryding explains everything with the Western learner unaccustomed to complex linguistic terminology in mind.


Could you please quote an example?


----------



## Taalib

Sure! I flipped through the book and here's a random example on the adverbial accusative of specification (التمييز). The following text is taken from Karin Ryding's _A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic_ (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 295:

"This form of adverbial accusative is used to label, identify, or specify something previously referred to in the sentence. It specifies the nature of what has been mentioned by answering the question 'in what way'? Often an equivalent English structure might include the terms 'as' or 'in terms of.' [four examples follow; one included]

هذا البلد الطيب أرضاً وناساً وثقافةً
_haadhaa l-balad-u l-Tayyib-u *'ardD-an wa-naas-an wa-thaqaafat-an*_
this good country [in terms of] land, people, and culture"


----------



## Qcumber

Taalib said:


> "This form of adverbial accusative is used to label, identify, or specify something previously referred to in the sentence. It specifies the nature of what has been mentioned by answering the question 'in what way'? Often an equivalent English structure might include the terms 'as' or 'in terms of.' [four examples follow; one included]
> 
> هذا البلد الطيب أرضاً وناساً وثقافةً
> _haadhaa l-balad-u l-Tayyib-u *'ardD-an wa-naas-an wa-thaqaafat-an*_
> this good country [in terms of] land, people, and culture"


Yes, it's quite good. I notice however the author does use the expression "adverbial accusative", which definitely belongs to linguistics, not to everyday speech. I wonder if it is ever possible to write a grammar book without using grammatical / linguistic terms.


----------



## omar al-mukhtar

Hello

I am considering the purchase of a book to help me learn my dialect. It is called _Spoken Libyan Arabic _by Eerik Dickinson and published by Dunwoody Press. Has anyone heard of this author or series? They have books covering all of the dialects. I am trying to find a review on the book but cannot find any. If anyone has heard of this author or series, I would appreciate some suggestions regarding this book.

Thanks in advance


----------



## MarcB

I have heard they are good,but only second hand. They have CD so don't get the cassettes, I heard the audio quality is not so good. That is all I know.


----------



## palomnik

One more book I'd recommend is _Writing Arabic:  A Practical Introduction to Ruq'ah Script _by T. F. Mitchell.  Some may complain about the typeset - it was done in picah on a typewriter, obviously - but I have never found a better book for learning Arabic handwriting.  I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned it yet.


----------



## Lugubert

Can't agree more. My indigenous classmates in our Swedish university all agreed that my handwriting was more Arabic than that of all but one of them (including the teacher).


----------



## Palcan

Hi,

I'm trying to find some phonology/phonetics books/articles on any arabic dialect in French (preferably) or english. 

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. 

Thanks
LE


----------



## MarcB

Since you have received no replays, I suggest you look at the resources, there is some info on dialects. It may help you. See this and this


----------



## Petter

Try Kees Versteegh (1997). The Arabic Language. Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press
Chapter 9 & 10 is a good introduction to the subject

Or you could have a look at this bibliography on Arabic phonology


----------



## asadxyz

Hi 
Is there any detailed book (dictionary type) which can tell how to use different arabic idioms and phrases correctly ?
Help is appreciated


----------



## MarcB

I don't know of any books, hopefully someone else does. I did a search "this forum only" for idiom(not idioms) and got 45 returns.
There are others posted here but not shown by the search.


----------



## Josh_

I'm not quite sure but I believe you might be interested in collocations -- those combinations of words that are used together to form a common expressions (such as 'to commit a crime' instead of 'to make a crime').  If thid is what you are interested in then there is a book called "Al-Hafiz Arabic Collocations Dictionary" (Arabic title: معجم الحافظ للمتصاحبات العربية ) by Dr. Al-Tahir A. Hafiz.  As well as providing common collocations many have short example sentences. 

If you are interested in the Egyptian dialect there is a book called "A Dictionary of Idioms: Egyptian Arabic-English" (Arabic title: معجم التعابير الاصطلاحية: عربي مصري-إنجليزي ) by Dr. Mohammad el-Batal.

As far as as a book on idioms in MSA and how they are used I am not sure of any.  In the Hans Wehr dictionary you will find many idioms listed under headwords that appear in the idiom.


----------



## Haroon

Josh_ said:


> there is a book called "Al-Hafiz Arabic Collocations Dictionary" (Arabic title: معجم الحافظ للمتصاحبات العربية ) by Dr. Al-Tahir A. Hafiz. As well as providing common collocations many have short example sentences.
> 
> If you are interested in the Egyptian dialect there is a book called "A Dictionary of Idioms: Egyptian Arabic-English" (Arabic title: معجم التعابير الاصطلاحية: عربي مصري-إنجليزي ) by Dr. Mohammad el-Batal.


 
Thanks for drawing the attention for such references


----------



## asadxyz

Josh_ said:


> I'm not quite sure but I believe you might be interested in collocations -- those combinations of words that are used together to form a common expressions (such as 'to commit a crime' instead of 'to make a crime'). If thid is what you are interested in then there is a book called "Al-Hafiz Arabic Collocations Dictionary" (Arabic title: معجم الحافظ للمتصاحبات العربية ) by Dr. Al-Tahir A. Hafiz. As well as providing common collocations many have short example sentences.
> 
> If you are interested in the Egyptian dialect there is a book called "A Dictionary of Idioms: Egyptian Arabic-English" (Arabic title: معجم التعابير الاصطلاحية: عربي مصري-إنجليزي ) by Dr. Mohammad el-Batal.
> 
> As far as as a book on idioms in MSA and how they are used I am not sure of any. In the Hans Wehr dictionary you will find many idioms listed under headwords that appear in the idiom.


Hi 
Thank you very much ,I will try to get hold this book if available.


----------



## Worthdale

Can anyone direct me to a clear simple book on sarf. Something that is as clear on sarf as nahw wadih is on grammar.


----------



## Abu Bishr

Hi Worthdale, and welcome to the forums.

If you are a al-Nahw al-Waadih fan then I can tell you that pretty much all of the Sarf is covered in it as well if you take into consideration both the primary and secondary versions together. You might not have been aware that there are two versions of the al-Nahw al-Waadih (primary & secondary) each of which consists of 3 parts. The second version covers the bulk of the Sarf. It's available on the net as well. I can try to find it for you if you're interested.


----------



## Worthdale

Thank you for the response, this is exactly what I am looking for.


----------



## Abu Bishr

Here you go. This is the link. The first hyperlink takes you to the topics of version one, and the second hyperlink takes you to the topics of version two. If needs be, I could isolate the Sarf topics for you.


----------



## londonmasri

I am just wondering if anyone has any experience of the kullu tamam/ kalimni arabi books by Samia Louis. 
Was thinking of buying these.
If anyone has any reviews I would be most grateful.

Gracias!


----------



## Interprete

Hello,

I am looking for a comprehensive reference grammar (not a textbook) for classical (not modern) Arabic.
I have heard of Wright's grammar but I am not sure if it is the most comprehensive one.
What I really want to avoid is to get stuck on grammar points that are not covered by my grammar book, which is why I'm looking for the most exhaustive one.

Any advice is more than welcome !

I speak English and French fluently, so if you know any good grammar book in french too, let me know!

Thank you so much


----------



## suma

Wright's is what you're looking for. So exhaustive it's sickening.


----------



## clevermizo

I just wanted to add to this thread that I am in love currently with a standard/fuS7a Arabic textbook that I'm using for the "advanced" level.

It's James Dickins & Janet Watson's "Standard Arabic" (Cambridge press) course. It's the continuation of the Eckehard Schulz course. 

This book is really fantastic for anyone who is motivated and stuck at an intermediate level. It's comprehensive. The excerpt materials are organized into themes about the antiquity, politics, religion, culture of the Arabic-speaking world, and come from journalistic literature, classical literature, modern literature, etc. It also gets you to write rhetorically and idiomatically, which is really important at the advanced level.

Also, it is _not_ a conversation course and makes no attempt to teach you conversational fuS7a. It is obviously intended to be used in a formal classroom setting with an instructor, but I've found it fine to use on my own. It's meant to be taught over 2 years.

I think the Eckehard Schulz book was mentioned in this thread as well - I've never looked at it. What I will tell you is that I'm mostly self-taught in Arabic, and I opened the Dickins/Watson book and found it completely at the level I needed it to be. 

(Also, for fun, pick up Janet Watson's Lexicon of Arabic Horse Terminology. )


----------



## TryingToSwallowHansWehr

Bumping this back into the present time: I am very interested in purchasing a copy of Karin Ryding's textbook. I already own the al-Kitaab series, Nahman and Schulz, but I am looking for a new textbook that is perhaps more accessible and with more detailed explanations, and I hear that Ryding fits the bill. Any comments?


----------



## MissLingO_o

I'm jealous!  can anyone give me a name of a nice book about Arabic phonetics/phonology?


----------



## Serafín33

As it's not directly related to what OP asked, you should have opened a new thread.

Watson's The Phonology and Morphology Arabic includes a nice description of the Arabic of El Cairo and Sanaa, even if it doesn't get into much detail as for the specific pronunciation of vowels.

Cowell's A Reference Grammar of Syrian Arabic has a nice treatment of Syrian Arabic's phonology.


----------



## Josh_

First off, I'd like to mention a few new books that I recently got. And then (in the post below) I will comment on a few books mentioned in the posts above.



"_Arabi Liblib," Egyptian Colloquial Arabic for the Advanced Learner: Adjectives adn Descriptions_ -- Kamal Al-Ekhnawy and Jamal Ali

This might very well be my new favorite book (for the time being, anyway). 

Firstly, it is the first of a three part series of books geared towards the advanced learner of Egyptian Arabic. It arose out of the idea that, "[o]ne of the most important measures of a language learner's or translator's lelve of ability is the extent of his or her knowledge of metaphors, idioms, and proverbs used by native speakers" (quoting from the introduction). It aims to fulfill that need (at least in part). 

The second book, seen below, was supposed to be released February 1st, 2011, but has been delayed for some reason. In fact the first book was supposed to be released October 15, 2010, but only became available a few weeks ago. I’ve had issues like this with other AUC Press publications.


At any rate, the first book, as can be seen from the title, focuses on adjectives and descriptions. The other books (not yet published at the time of this writing) focus on proverbs and common idioms, respectively. Also, as seen from the title, these books assume an advanced knowledge of Egyptian Arabic and (judging from the first book) a knowledge of Arabic script (I assume the forthcoming books will be the same), as all text is in Arabic script, except for a few words here and there in offered transliteration to avoid confusion.

As I said above this first book focuses on adjectives and descriptions -- particularly, colorful idiomatic adjectives and descriptive expressions (both literal and figurative) that you just would not get from a mainstream EA course or a dictionary. It lists the adjective or expression (in masculine, feminine, and plural forms (except when one or more forms do not exist) and an English equivalent (which is sometimes loose). It then gives a description of that adjective or expression written in the Egyptian dialect (so one can see how it could be defined/explained in EA) in Arabic script. Included in this description is whether the adjective or expression is meant literally or figuratively, and whether it gives off a positive or negative connotation. If the word or expression has both literal and figurative meanings both are described. Same goes for those words and expressions that can be used both positively and negatively. 

A couple of examples:


خَرمان
has a nicotine craving

المعنى الحرفي: شخص محتاج نيكوتين زي السجاير أو الشيشة.
 
jonesing; craving

المعنى المجازي: شخص محتاج حاجة وبيشبهها بالنيكوتين، والاستخدام ده غير شائع.

دمه خفيف - دمها خفيف - دمهم خفيف
funny, jovial, a fun, pleasant person

المعنى مجازي إيجابي: شخص خفيف الظل، بمعنى أنه لطيف وبيضحك اللي حواليه.
 

Over the next few weeks and months, as I go over through the book more, I will be posting some of what I find here on the forums in order to get the thoughts and opinions of those here.

"_Liblib_," by the way, is an idiomatic adjective meaning "fluent." So "_arabi liblib_" means "fluent Arabic." It can also be sued as an adverb -- "fluently."
-------


The next book is a new course on Egyptian Arabic:


“_Kalaam Gamiil: An Intensive Course in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, Volume I_” -- by Abbas al-Tonsi, Laila al-Sawi, Suzanne Massoud. 

I don’t have too much to say about this book. It is the first volume of a two part series. It is geared towards those who have reached a lower-intermediate level of MSA. The book is written in Arabic script, but some word lists (such as verb paradigms) are given in transliteration as well.

I have not gotten into it too much yet, but it seems like your standard EA course; perhaps similar to the "Kallimni Arabi" series, but of course different as different authors give different perspectives and have different ways of explaining things. One thing that I liked was at the beginning they systematically list the ways in which Egyptian deviates from MSA.


----------



## Josh_

Now that I mentioned those new books I got in the post above, I'd thought I'd say a few things about books mentioned in previous posts.



Taalib said:


> I am in the process of working through several other books now. Hassanein's _MSA Grammar: A Concise Guide_ was published just months ago out of American University of Cairo and I'm curious to see whether this latest installment of their Arabic pedagogical barrage (including their CD-ROM programs, which have been a huge hit here in the US and which, I can attest, are great learning tools) can compete with the heavyweights stateside.


 

"_MSA Grammar: A Concise Guide" -- _Azza Hassanein

I was recently at a bookstore, saw this book, and bought it on a whim. I'm not usually a fan of concise grammars, but this one is decent. It covers the basics. The author offers a brief explanation, and then gives a few examples. What I like is that she gives the Arabic grammatical term with a translation or equivalent English term.




> I am also starting Alosh's _Using Arabic_ and Parkinson's _Using Arabic Synonyms _now, and if users here would like I can post impressions of them (both are relatively advanced books that require intermediate proficiency in MSA). Better yet, has anyone here used these books--and if so, how did you find them?



"_Using Arabic Synonyms_" -- Dilworth Parkinson 

I've had this book for several years now. I like it a lot. It has helped me to increase my vocabulary. There have been times when I have sat for hours reading it.
To give a brief overview -- The book lists a head word (usually the most common or generic word of its synonym class) and then under he lists several synonyms or words with related meanings. Next to the words he offers many example sentences of the word in context (taken from various medi sources). He says in the introduction that he only offers a basic meaning in English, but that the student should be able to get the nuances, or make out how the word is used in context, by the many example sentences.

I just remembered that I gave a brief overview of this book here.


"_Using Arabic: A Guide to Contemporary Usage"_ -- Mahdi Alosh

I do not have this book and am now wondering why I've never bought it. I'll have to put it on my list of books to buy.




londonmasri said:


> I am just wondering if anyone has any experience of the kullu tamam/ kalimni arabi books by Samia Louis.





londonmasri said:


> Was thinking of buying these.
> If anyone has any reviews I would be most grateful.
> 
> Gracias!



"Kullu Tamām" -- Manfred Woidich and Rabha Heinen-Nasr

I actually commented on this book here. I'll import what I said with some modification:

I bought this book a few years back (which could possibly be considered a textbook) just to see how it measured up. It is published by AUC and is based off a Dutch version originating from the Department of Arabic Studies at the University of Amsterdam (which apparently has quite a program for the study of Egyptian colloquial). Anyway, it is a beginner course starting from scratch and is composed of 17 lessons. It is a little more in depth grammar-wise than the other courses mentioned (which I like), and probably goes over most, if not all, the relevant grammar of Egyptian. It also has many, many exercises for practice. It comes with a CD.

I should add that it is written in transliteration -- which I like since it can be used as a complete beginner's course -- that is, it can be used for someone who has no knowledge of Arabic at all, no MSA or Arabic script.

The same -- in that it is a complete beginner's course -- goes for "Colloquial Arabic of Egypt" -- Russell McGuirk, which was the first Arabic language learning book I ever bought way back when.

_
"Kallimni Arabi"_ -- Samia Louis
(Pictured: _"__Kallimni Arabi: An Intermediate Course in Spoken Egyptian Arabic"_ -- second in the progression, but first published.) 

This is a series of 5 books from beginner's level to advanced. I have all but the beginning course -- "Kallimni Arabi BiShweesh." This series is designed for those who already have a foundation in MSA. It is written completely in Arabic script (although the aforementioned beginner's level book may have some transliteration from what I've gathered). I have not gone through them extensively yet, but I they appear decent so far. I like the emphasis on function language. All the books come with CDs.





clevermizo said:


> I just wanted to add to this thread that I am in love currently with a standard/fuS7a Arabic textbook that I'm using for the "advanced" level.





clevermizo said:


> It's James Dickins & Janet Watson's "Standard Arabic" (Cambridge press) course. It's the continuation of the Eckehard Schulz course.


I have both of these books. I mentioned Schulz's book in post #2 of this thread. I also like Dickins' and Watson's book. It is geared towards the advenced level. What i like is the "Grammar/Stylistics" sections in which they translate various excerpts (from the various passages and articles they include in the book) into English. This is good for those interested in translation. 

Dickins is actually a professor of translation at the University of Durham in the UK. I also have, and recommend, his book on translation, _"Thinking Arabic Translation."_




> (Also, for fun, pick up Janet Watson's Lexicon of Arabic Horse Terminology. )


I'd like to get that one, but the price is horrendous. The cheapest I found it online was for $98. Some sites are selling it for as much as $300.


----------



## clevermizo

Josh_ said:


> I'd like to get that one, but the price is horrendous. The cheapest I found it online was for $98. Some sites are selling it for as much as $300.



I remember getting it for a cheap price but this was a few years ago now. That seller may have only had the one copy anyway. It's definitely worth it as a coffee-table book  .


----------



## Tracer

Sometimes, old is best.

For absolute beginners of *Egyptian Colloquial*, my all-time favorite is *Arabic In A Nutshell.*

Published back in the mid 1970’s, it’s a little hard to find anymore except through used book dealers. Modern students will consider another drawback to be that it doesn’t come with all the bells and whistles – tapes or CD or cassettes etc. Maybe newer editions provide these, but I think the book is actually no longer in print. 

However, it has several unusual features that I like for beginners:

1. Size. It doesn’t look or feel like a “textbook” or “schoolbook”. It’s a little bigger than a pocketbook but it’s easy to take everywhere with you. Paperback.

2. Clear, normal print. You can actually read it without a microscope or telescope. Nice dark printing too.

3. Cheap. Recent prices I’ve seen online are all under $10.

4. The lessons are all conversations between 2 or more people talking about everyday subjects. Lessons and dialogs are not large, but still, they’re “complete”. You actually feel you’ve accomplished something at the end of each lesson. Nice layout. Each lesson contains an easy to understand grammar section at the end explaining what was presented. 

For those who like to learn languages by memorizing patterns and short conversations, this book is ideal.

It has one extraordinary feature that I’ve never seen anywhere else:

6. Each conversation has:

a. a phonetic transcription of the conversation
b. The colloquial Egyptian written in Arabic script
c. A word for word translation into English (!)
d. An English rendition of the Arabic in everyday English

so that it looks like this:

*Ezzayak, ya Hosni. RayyiH fein?*

*إزيك يا حسني، رايح فين؟*​ 
_*How you, oh Hosni, going where?*_
*How are you Hosni? Where are you going?*

For a beginner, the word for words translation can be especially important since it shows how the language actually works (such as how Arabic doesn’t use is/are as English does).

Notes:

…could this be considered a self-study manual? Yes, except for the pronunciation. Somehow, the learner is going to have to hear how the Egyptian is really pronounced. Perhaps an acquaintance. – or a sojourn in Egypt. (I actually had a speaker tape the dialogs for me. No cost. I taped some English lessons for him !)
.
…this is definitely not an academic or scholarly work. But I think this is a strong point. So many beginners shy away from academic looking works that seem forbidding.

….it has pictures ! (or rather, drawings)

Since I’m a believer in “colloquial first, MSA later”, I highly recommend this book for the true beginner of Egyptian Arabic.
=================================


----------



## Su^

Josh_ said:


> I'm not quite sure but I believe you might be interested in collocations -- those combinations of words that are used together to form a common expressions (such as 'to commit a crime' instead of 'to make a crime').  If thid is what you are interested in then there is a book called "Al-Hafiz Arabic Collocations Dictionary" (Arabic title: معجم الحافظ للمتصاحبات العربية ) by Dr. Al-Tahir A. Hafiz.  As well as providing common collocations many have short example sentences.


Regarding Al-Hafiz Arabic Collocations Dictionary, when I google it, it says that the book is in Arabic-English - and I'm wondering to what extent that's true? Because I'm looking for a book that deals with Arabic idioms, but I need the explanations to be in English.


----------



## Anatoli

Hello,

One of my latest purchase in Arabic was *Easy Arabic Reader* by Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar. The online audio is superb, very good quality in terms of the speed and clarity. I can't judge about the _correctness_, although English names sounded English, not Arabic . You can't download the sounds.

All the stories (one storyline) are supplied with short vowels, some vocabulary and exercises in English. Since you can listen to the audio, vowelisation is not that necessary. I have read 7 stories and a review so far. Some stories are in cursive (hand-written), so you really need the audio.

The diffculty level is OK for me but I wish they could give some grammar as well. Overall it's a good buy.


----------



## paieye

I have struggled valiantly with 'Al Kitaab,' and have found it hopeless: disorganised, badly explained, vocabulary heavily biassed towards education-system and public life, &c.

I have found 'Ahlan Wa Sahlan' by Mahdi Alosh to be far more useful:  well-organised, intelligent explanations, daily-life vocabulary.


----------



## مانتس

Good afternoon, I just signed up for this forum, hope to get some good advice .
Has anyone looked into R.Buckley " modern literary arabic " ? I can not find any reviews on this book. I looked into Haywood and Nahmad and " Modern Standard Arabic " by Karin.C.Ryding. Thanks in advance for any help guys and girls .


----------



## mhrosoha

Assalaam Alaykum,

I am currently working through the book “A new Arabic Grammer of written language” written by Haywood and Nahmad. I am currently on chapter 29 (fa’il naqis). Alhumdulillah I have good grasp of the rules covered so far and I have learned pretty much all the vocabulary so far. I aim to complete this book within the next 3 or 4 months inshaAllah. What book should I study next? Should I study a book like tufatu sanniyah (commentary on al ajrumiah) or something else? Please advice 

Can someone also recommend what Arabic books can I start reading to strength my Arabic? I am currently reading “Stories of Prophets” by Hasan Al Nadwi. The book has vowels and is quite easy to read with help of dictionary.

Note: I am not a native Arab
JazakAllah Khair


----------



## Ashraf Mahmoud

Al-tuhfatu Al-sanniyah (commentary on al ajrumiah)
التحفة السنية بشرح المقدمة الأجرومية
It is a good Arabic grammar book.

Try also جامع الدروس العربية - الشيخ مصطفى الغلاييني
The book is three volumes. In my opinion it is the best Arabic Grammar book.

https://ia802504.us.archive.org/23/items/WAQ33751/01_33751.pdf

https://ia902504.us.archive.org/23/items/WAQ33751/02_33751.pdf

https://ia902504.us.archive.org/23/items/WAQ33751/03_33751.pdf


----------



## mhrosoha

JazakAllah brother for the advice and the link to pdf files. How would you compare studying an Advanced Arabic Grammar book written in English (such as the book “A Grammar of The Arabic Language” (Wright's Grammar)) as oppose to studying something like جامع الدروس العربية - الشيخ مصطفى الغلاييني.

Thanks for your time brother


----------



## Ashraf Mahmoud

I can not really compare جامع الدروس العربية - الشيخ مصطفى الغلاييني with any other book because I like this book so much.

Regarding  “A new Arabic Grammer of written language” written by Haywood and Nahmad, I think the following book is better:

"A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic" written by Karin C. Ryding (She is working for GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY) and the book from CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

http://www.cambridge.org/kw/academi...ence-grammar-modern-standard-arabic?format=HB


----------



## mhrosoha

Looking to teach my niece Arabic. She's 12 years old and learns Arabic at school as foreign language. She hasn't been given a text book and she seems to be struggling badly. What book can I potentially use to help her on a weekly basis?

Thanks


----------



## PlanC

Interprete said:


> I speak English and French fluently, so if you know any good grammar book in french too, let me know!


Bonjour *Interprete*,
Cette page web intitulée:  





> *Livres de grammaire arabe à télécharger*
> recueillit plusieurs ouvrages en Français sous forme pdf, je cite:
> "Nouvelle approche de l’enseignement de la grammaire arabe". Abdallah Nacereddine (170 pages).[PDF]
> "Nouvelle grammaire arabe" -A. Périer éd. 1911- PDF 24M (314 pages).[PDF]
> "Grammaire arabe" par Donat Vernier ed. 1891.[PDF]
> "Grammaire d'arabe régulier : morphologie, syntaxe, métrique" - Belkassem Ben Sedira (1898) - .[PDF]
> ...Etc.


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## Interprete

Merci mille fois !


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## fdb

The most comprehensive and most accurate grammar in any European language is Wright's _Arabic grammar_ (third edition 1896).
Henri Fleisch, _Traité de philologie arabe_ is also very good.


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## ajamiyya عجمية

While fdb is to be considered a reference source wrapped up in one person, I'll second and third the notion that Wright's Grammer is the most comprehensive, correct, exhaustive Arabic grammar reference ever to be written in a European language.  It was originally composed in German, then, translated into I don't rightly know how many languages, English being one of them.  

If you want to find rules which only the elite few have mastered, you will find them there.  Charts of masdars and how they are formed and which templates go with which verb types; it's all there.

Al-Shaamil fi qawa3id al-a3rabiyya is its name.


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## Interprete

Thank you!
I'm not sure I got you correctly, mutalima, are you talking about two different books? which one were you referring to when you wrote : "If you want to find rules which only the elite few have mastered, you will find them there. Charts of masdars and how they are formed and which templates go with which verb types; it's all there" ?

Thanks!


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## akhooha

As suma, fdb, and mutalima have pointed out, Wright's grammar is probably the best available in the English language. Both Volumes  I and II can be downloaded for free:
Volume I
Volume II


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## miket46

Marhaban,

I have been (learning / trying to learn) Arabic for many years and have accumulated a large range of Arabic textbooks and grammars.

No time now to detail my dislike of the two series that seem to have tied up the market, namely, the 'Mastering Arabic' books by Wightwick & Gaafar, and the 'Al-Kitaab' series. Their secret, I guess, is that they are visually appealing when you are browsing in a bookshop. Or you are forced to use them on a course.

For those who have bought AK vol 1, I would recommend highly a reader based on the same vocabulary. The introduction shows that the authors have carefully considered the purpose of their book. It was the first book that convinced me that I could read long-ish passages of mostly unvowelled Arabic without a huge effort.

'Read Arabic: An Arabic Reader for Arabic Students at All Levels' by Gunna Funder Hansen & Saliha Marie Fettah, University Press of Southern Denmark, 2007.

I just checked the details on Amazon UK and discovered that you can pick up a used copy of this 98-page book for only GBP 799! Best to go to the publisher's web site (www.universitypress.dk) and order it for DKK 128 (about GBP 12).

Of the books mentioned in previous postings, I would add my support for Haywood & Nahmad, Ziadeh & Winder, and Ryding's reference grammar.

However, the reason for my writing this post is to recommend a few other books that haven't been mentioned. They suffer the disadvantage of being out of print, or looking old-fashioned, or both. But they are among my favourites.

1. 'Arabic Grammar: A First Workbook' by G.M. Wickens, Cambridge U.P., 1984.
It's quite short (171 pages) and quite dense. For me, the best part is that it provides the explanatory and motivational background that is missing from most language text books. It doesn't try to pretend that learning Arabic is easy. The first two chapters are 'On learning languages in general' and 'The nature of Arabic and the character of this course'. Just as important is a Postscript that advises you how to proceed after finishing the book.

2. 'Practical Arabic' by G.C. Scott, Longmans, 1962.
This book introduces the root-based character of the language right from the start. A few roots are described, together with some basic patterns, then a few more roots, with more patterns, and so on. The book treats the literary language, but gives sensible advice about spoken usage.

3. 'Elementary Modern Standard Arabic', vol 1, by Abboud & McCarus, Cambridge U.P. 1983.
Just the sort of book you would pick up in a bookshop and put straight down again! It's visually unappealing, with Arabic typescript that's hard to read. The texts are pretty dry, with the usual 'I am an American student. I am studying Arabic in Beirut.' stuff. But the grammatical explanations are great and I like the drill-based exercises. It's a book to get when you have absorbed the script and have grown frustrated with being fed grammar in tiny chunks. It's a big, expensive book, but you can find it on archive sites on the web, together with the audio files (I read somewhere that it is out of copyright). But I ended up buying the paper version. There's also a second volume and a follow-up 'Intermediate  Modern Standard Arabic'.

Hope this helps or is of interest. Good luck to all learners.

MikeT


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## korowaty

Hello,
I'm looking for some tips or resources on Arabic syntax, especially about understanding subject,predicate and object in relative clauses. I've been studying Arabic for years  and I'm having a  problem recognizing the types of relative clauses and analyzing them. 

Thanks in advance.


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## Ghabi

Hello @korowaty and welcome to the forum. I think any comprehensive grammar of the language (like those mentioned in post#1) would deal with syntax, including relative clauses. But if you have any specific sentence in mind, you're of course welcome to open a thread for it on the forum.


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## Calvary Scars II/Aux. Out

I'm just going to add my 2 cents about Haywood and Nahmad's grammar having "microscopic script, obscured voweling marks":

I was actually hesitant to get this book myself because I'd heard the same thing. However, I heard that specifically the newer printings were the ones with microscopic tense and poor quality paper. I read that I should look for an old copy, as they were higher quality. So that's what I did. I got a copy from 1965 (2nd edition) which was still in quite good shape and I have to say I'm very pleased with it, not just with regards to content but also physical quality. The print is adequately sized, clear, and the pages are not onion skin thin. I'm not advanced enough of a learner to comment on whether or not it stands up to a more modern grammar like Ryding's, but with regards to the information floating around out there that it's physically impossible to read, I can say that at least for the 1965 printing, that isn't the case.


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## LiliaGaripovaRadikovna

What is the best Arabic student's book in English?


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