# I think it is interesting to meet different people and (to) listen to their problems.



## ihsaan

Hi,
I'm really struggling with using masdar in sentences, and I was wondering if someone could please help me out in terms of patching up my sorry sentence. 

I'm trying to express the sentence: "I think it is interesting to meet different people and (to) listen to their problems". 

أعتقد أنه ممتع لمقابلة مختلف الناس ولسماع بمشاكلهم

I'm unsure if my way of using the masdar here is correct. Also, it is okay to put "people" in the definite form here, seeing that I'm speaking about something in general?


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## clevermizo

I would restructure it a little:

أعتقد بأنّ مقابلة ناس مختلفين والاستماع الى مشاكلهم مثيرة للاهتمام جدا.

I think it sounds better with ناس مختلفين indefinite but I'm not sure. Note, that مقابلة is definite because it's the first member of the إضافة . So is استماع but that's not in an إضافة so it has the definite article الــ attached. Also I think مثير للاهتمام is a good translation of interesting (see this thread). ممتع to me sounds more like "entertaining" so maybe it implies listening to other people's problems is a sort of playful "sport" for you, rather than what you mean which is that it intrigues you or engages you.

As to talking about things in a general way, you're talking about _meeting different people_ in a general way, you're not talking about _different people _in a general way, if that makes sense. 

Anyway, we'll see what others think of my translation or if they have a better version.


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## mu3taz

Hi

another translation would be:

أعتقد أنه من الممتع مقابلة أشخاص مختلفين و الاستماع لمشاكلهم

does it seem better?


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## ihsaan

Thank you for your reply. You explanation about why "people" was not "definite" was really good. I didn't know that it is allowed to put a masdar like that after أن? I thought that to make an infinite, you either had to write "verb + an/anna + verb" (أحب أن آكل) or by putting "li-" in front of a masdar. 

I think you are right about restructuring my sentence. I think as a beginner I tend to think in English in stead of in Arabic, and so my sentences end up somewhat akward.


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## clevermizo

ihsaan said:


> Thank you for your reply. You explanation about why "people" was not "definite" was really good. I didn't know that it is allowed to put a masdar like that after أن? I thought that to make an infinite, you either had to write "verb + an/anna + verb" (أحب أن آكل) or by putting "li-" in front of a masdar.



I think you should just treat the masdar as a noun in general to know how it's used. There are some peculiarities in which it can act like a verb, but it's mostly just a noun.



> I think you are right about restructuring my sentence. I think as a beginner I tend to think in English in stead of in Arabic, and so my sentences end up somewhat akward.


Well I'm hardly an authority myself; let's see if others respond. Mu3taz above has given another suggestion. I guess ممتع is all right in this context after all?


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## salim_milas

in fact, it is by practicing a language that we can master it more and more!
My proposition, according to the context, is:
"I think it is interesting to meet different people and (to) listen to their problems". 
أعتقد أنّه من االأهمية بمكان أن نلتقي بأناس مختلفين و أن نعير الإهتمام لمشاكلهم


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## Finland

Hello!

Just a quick remark:



clevermizo said:


> أعتقد بأنّ مقابلة ناس مختلفين والاستماع الى مشاكلهم مثيرة للاهتمام جدا.


 
In my opinion it would sound more natural to say مثيرة جدا للاهتمام. What about others, do you agree?

S


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## ihsaan

clevermizo said:


> I think you should just treat the masdar as a noun in general to know how it's used. There are some peculiarities in which it can act like a verb, but it's mostly just a noun.



Well, it's often when it acts like a verb I'm having difficulties, especially when I have to combine verbs and masdars in a sentence Things tend to become jumbled up. 

Sorry to repeat myself, but is it allowed to put a masdar like that after أن?


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## ihsaan

mu3taz said:


> Hi
> 
> another translation would be:
> 
> أعتقد أنه من الممتع مقابلة أشخاص مختلفين و الاستماع لمشاكلهم
> 
> does it seem better?



Why is "meeting" not definite here, while "listening" is? (I saw something similar explained above, but I still don't understand how, according to the sentence Clevermizo gave,  the "meeting" is definite because of the idafa, when the word it links to isn't definite either.)


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## clevermizo

ihsaan said:


> Why is "meeting" not definite here, while "listening" is? (I saw something similar explained above, but I still don't understand how, according to the sentence Clevermizo gave,  the "meeting" is definite because of the idafa, when the word it links to isn't definite either.)



مقابلة _is_ definite (I think?) just like in my sentence, because it's the first member of an إضافة. My إضافة was مقابلة ناس مختلفين, and Mu3taz has مقابلة أشخاص مختلفين.

The idaafa means: The meeting of different people. However, the first member of an idaafa cannot take the definite article, so it must be مقابلة ناس/أشخاص مختلفين. Maybe it can also mean "a meeting of different people" - I'm not sure.


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## ihsaan

So, according to what you say, no matter if it is an definite or indefinite idafa, the first word still becomes definite?


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## clevermizo

ihsaan said:


> So, according to what you say, no matter if it is an definite or indefinite idafa, the first word still becomes definite?



This is actually what I'm not sure about. It might actually be ambiguous without further context. In this case I'd argue that مقابلة is definite.


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## ihsaan

I think you might be right. When I think about this, I believe I might've heard something about this previously, but it will be interesting to see what the others here say about this.


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## elroy

clevermizo said:


> I guess ممتع is all right in this context after all?


 I can't speak for Mu3taz, but he probably didn't pay attention to that particular part of the sentence.  I agree that مثير للاهتمام is much better than ممتع here. 





salim_milas said:


> أعتقد أنّه من االأهمية بمكان أن نلتقي بأناس مختلفين و أن نعير الإهتمام لمشاكلهم


 من الأهمية بمكان؟؟؟  That doesn't sound good to me.



Finland said:


> In my opinion it would sound more natural to say مثيرة جدا للاهتمام. What about others, do you agree?


 Agreed.



ihsaan said:


> Sorry to repeat myself, but is it allowed to put a masdar like that after أن?


 Yes.  I think the reason you're confused is that you're confusing أنْ with أنَّ.  You cannot use a maSdar after the former, but you can use one after the latter, which is a different word.



clevermizo said:


> This is actually what I'm not sure about. It might actually be ambiguous without further context. In this case I'd argue that مقابلة is definite.


 In Arabic grammar, the first element of an iDaafa is always definite, and the English translation will usually (always?) have a definite article or no article.  For "a meeting of different people," I would say something like مقابلة تشمل/شملت ناس مختلفين.


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## ihsaan

I didn't see your reply before. Thank you for clarifying


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## salim_milas

Hi,
من الأهمية بمكان؟؟؟ That doesn't sound good to me.
In fact, this expresion من الأهمية بمكان؟؟؟ means, in Arabic, "Very important"


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## elroy

salim_milas said:


> In fact, this expresion من الأهمية بمكان؟؟؟ means, in Arabic, "Very important"


 Thanks.   Live and learn.  That's not the same as "interesting," though.


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