From, in, on, to and about

A preposition (ḥarf al-jarr) says where something is, where it goes, or what it is about. Two of the first lesson's words, bi and li, can be prepositions written as part of the next word. Arabic also has a few that stand on their own as words, and this lesson teaches the five of those the Qur’ān uses most: min, fī, ʿalā, ilā and ʿan.

The new words

The word after a preposition

A preposition is followed by a noun, and that noun takes the ending of the genitive case. In the Qur’ān's spelling this is most often a short i at the end of the word: after min, al-baytu, "the house", becomes al-bayti.

This sentence was written for practice. Before al-, min takes a short vowel to join it, and is said mina: mina l-bayti, "from the house".

ʿAlā l-maktabi, "on the desk": al-maktabu ends in i after ʿalā.

With a pronoun

A preposition can take one of the last lesson's pronouns, written as one word with it.

ʿAlā and ilā change their last sound before a pronoun: ʿalā with hum, "them", is ʿalayhim, and ilā with ka, "you", is ilayka. The table shows both ways the Qur’ān writes them.

In a verse

You know one word of this verse whole: fīhi, "in it". In its last word you know the first two parts, li and al-, written lil-; the word they join comes later in the course.

Reading

الكلمات التي تعرفها كاملةً بعد هذا الدرس مُعلَّمة.

Recall

• What ending does a noun take after a preposition?
• How is min said before al-?
• What is ʿalā with the pronoun "them"?

Answers: the genitive, most often a short i; mina; ʿalayhim.

Next

The next lesson teaches the words for "no" and "not", "indeed", "except" and "that".