Second lecture of Semester 2 (Sheikh Riyas, video 46). Having read the honey-cure ḥiwār of Unit 1 last class, this lesson draws out its grammar point — حُرُوفُ الجَرِّ (ḥurūf al-jarr, the prepositions/particles): what a ḥarf is, the ~20 prepositions Sībawayh counts, the one job they do (put the next noun in kasrah / majrūr), the many senses of مِنْ, and worked examples from the honey dialogue. It then opens the unit's second reading — زَيْنَبُ وَمَرْيَمُ (the diet dialogue) — with its vocabulary; that passage continues next class.
1 · A preliminary — the alif vs. the hamzah
Before the prepositions, one small point. Arabic has twenty-nine letters, and among them two are easy to confuse — the أَلِف (alif) and the هَمْزَة (hamzah):
- The hamzah takes a vowel (ḥarakah) — it is a هَمْزَة صَوْت ("a hamzah of sound"). It can carry فَتْحَة (fatḥah = a), كَسْرَة (kasrah = i) or ضَمَّة (ḍammah = u): as in قَرَأَ (qaraʾa), where the hamzah bears the vowels.
- The alif is always in a state of sukūn — it never carries a vowel of its own. It is one of the حُرُوفُ المَدّ (ḥurūf al-madd, the long vowels) — a silent, "blessed" letter.
- A word cannot begin with a (silent) alif — you cannot start a word on a vowelless letter. What looks like an initial alif is really a hamzah carrying a vowel. Occasionally, as an exception, a helping alif is written at that spot just for reading.
[!note] The gist: the alif is a silent long-vowel letter; the hamzah is a voiced consonant that takes vowels; a word begins on the vowel-bearing hamzah, not on a bare alif.
2 · Words are of three kinds; today's kind is the particle
In Arabic every word is one of three kinds:
| Kind | Arabic | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | اِسْم (ism) | a name/noun |
| Verb | فِعْل (fiʿl) | a verb |
| Particle | حَرْف (ḥarf) | a particle — today's topic |
حُرُوفُ الجَرِّ (ḥurūf al-jarr) belong to the third kind, the ḥarf. And the ḥarf itself comes in two categories:
- حُرُوفُ المَبَانِي (ḥurūf al-mabānī) — the "building letters": alif, bāʾ, tāʾ… — the letters of the alphabet, the blocks out of which words are built.
- حُرُوفُ المَعَانِي (ḥurūf al-maʿānī) — the "meaning letters / particles" — and this is exactly what ḥurūf al-jarr are.
3 · How many? Sībawayh counts about twenty
According to Imam Sībawayh — a great scholar of Arabic grammar (naḥw) — there are about twenty ḥurūf al-jarr in the language. Arabic has a vast vocabulary of ordinary words, but of these prepositions there are only about a score.
A ḥarf al-jarr has no meaning on its own. Written alone, min by itself carries no meaning; a particle acquires meaning only when it is joined to verbs and nouns. So don't fix a single fixed "dictionary" meaning on a particle in isolation.
4 · The core prepositions and their basic senses
The ones drilled this lesson:
| Arabic | Translit | Basic sense | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| مِنْ | min | from | used in ~13 senses (see §6) |
| فِي | fī | in | of place or time |
| إِلَى | ilā | to | has further senses too |
| عَلَى | ʿalā | on | carries about five meanings |
| عَنْ | ʿan | about / away from | further senses too |
| بِـ | bi- | by / with | single-letter particle |
| لِـ | li- | for | single-letter particle |
- فِي points to a time or a place: فِي الصَّبَاحِ (fī ṣ-ṣabāḥi) = "in the morning" [time]; فِي السُّوقِ (fī s-sūqi) = "in the market" [place].
- بِـ and لِـ are single-letter particles that attach to the following word. bi- = "by / with" (in whatever sense "by/with" is meant); li- = "for."
5 · The one job of a ḥarf al-jarr — the majrūr / kasrah rule
[!note] The whole "duty" of a ḥarf al-jarr: when the particle comes before a noun, it makes that noun take a كَسْرَة (kasrah) — i.e. it renders it majrūr. That is its entire job, nothing more.
For example in فِي البَطْنِ (fī l-baṭni) the فِي has put the following noun البَطْن (al-baṭn) into the kasrah state (al-baṭni). Every preposition does the same to the noun it governs.
6 · مِنْ carries many senses (~13)
The basic meaning of مِنْ is "from" — but the Sheikh notes min is used in about thirteen senses. The ones this lesson touches:
| Sense | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| "from" (starting point) | ذَهَبْتُ مِنْ كولومبو (dhahabtu min Kūlūmbū) | I went from Colombo |
| clarification (تَبْيِين tabyīn) | شَرِبْتُ كُوباً مِنَ المَاءِ (sharibtu kūban min al-māʾ) | I drank a cup of water |
| "some / a part of" (بَعْض baʿḍ) | تَنَاوَلْتُ مِنَ العَسَلِ (tanāwaltu min al-ʿasal) | I ate some of the honey |
| "some / a portion" | شَرِبْتُ مِنَ المَاءِ (sharibtu min al-māʾ) | I drank some water (قَلِيلاً, a little) |
| "from" (out of sleep) | أَسْتَيْقِظُ مِنَ النَّوْمِ مُبَكِّراً (astayqiẓu min an-nawmi mubakkiran) | I wake from sleep early |
| comparison | أَنَا أَكْبَرُ مِنْكَ (anā akbaru minka) | I am older/bigger than you |
- Tabyīn (clarification): sharibtu kūban ("I drank a cup") is ambiguous — a cup of what? Add مِنَ المَاءِ and min clarifies the vague word before it: "a cup of water."
- Baʿḍ (partitive): تَنَاوَلْتُ العَسَلَ = "I ate the honey (all of it)," but تَنَاوَلْتُ مِنَ العَسَلِ = "I ate some of the honey" — a portion, not the whole.
- Comparison: أَنْتَ أَصْغَرُ مِنِّي (anta aṣgharu minnī) = "you are younger than me"; الصَّلَاةُ خَيْرٌ مِنْ … (aṣ-ṣalātu khayrun min…) = "prayer is better than…"
[!note] Why this matters: the different meanings a particle like min carries show up a great deal in the science of ḥadīth, and the meaning-differences of particles matter even in tafsīr. We'll learn each particle's senses little by little, lesson by lesson.
7 · Worked examples from the honey ḥiwār
Each of these is a sentence from Unit 1's honey dialogue, showing a preposition at work:
| Sentence | Meaning | The particle at work |
|---|---|---|
| أَشْعُرُ بِأَلَمٍ (ashʿuru bi-alamin) | I feel pain | شَعَرَ ("felt") always takes بِـ |
| أَشْعُرُ بِآلَامٍ (ashʿuru bi-ālāmin) | I feel pains | same bi- (آلام = pl. of أَلَم) |
| الأَلَمُ فِي البَطْنِ (al-alamu fī l-baṭni) | the pain is in the stomach | فِي for place → al-baṭni in kasrah |
| ذَهَبْتُ إِلَى الطَّبِيبِ (dhahabtu ilā ṭ-ṭabīb) | I went to the doctor | إِلَى = "to" |
| تَنَاوَلْتُ مِنَ العَسَلِ (tanāwaltu min al-ʿasal) | I ate some of the honey | مِنْ = partitive (baʿḍ) |
| فِي العَسَلِ شِفَاءٌ لِلنَّاسِ (fī l-ʿasali shifāʾun li-n-nās) | in honey there is a cure for the people | فِي + لِـ ("for") |
| هُنَاكَ سُوقٌ لِبَيْعِ العَسَلِ (hunāka sūqun li-bayʿi l-ʿasal) | there is a market for selling honey | لِـ = "for" |
| العَسَلُ عَلَى الطَّاوِلَةِ (al-ʿasalu ʿalā ṭ-ṭāwilah) | the honey is on the table | عَلَى = "on" |
| السُّوقُ بَعِيدٌ عَنِ البَيْتِ (as-sūqu baʿīdun ʿan al-bayt) | the market is far from the house | عَنْ = "away from" |
بَعِيد always takes عَنْ. Fix this in mind: whenever بَعِيد (baʿīd, "far/distant") appears, عَنْ must come with it — "far from." Without ʿan, baʿīd cannot stand.
8 · Fixed particles to memorize (verb → its preposition)
| Verb | Takes | Example |
|---|---|---|
| شَعَرَ (shaʿara, felt) | بِـ | أَشْعُرُ بِأَلَمٍ |
| فَكَّرَ (fakkara, thought about) | بِـ | تُفَكِّرُ كَثِيراً بِهٰذِهِ المُشْكِلَةِ |
| ذَهَبَ (dhahaba, went) | إِلَى | ذَهَبْتُ إِلَى الطَّبِيبِ |
| اِشْتَكَى (ishtakā, complained) | مِنْ (thing complained about) | اِشْتَكَى مِنْ بَطْنِهِ |
| بَعِيد (baʿīd, far) | عَنْ | السُّوقُ بَعِيدٌ عَنِ البَيْتِ |
| اِخْتَلَفَ (ikhtalafa, differed) | عَنْ | تَخْتَلِفُ مُشْكِلَةُ مَرْيَمَ عَنْ مُشْكِلَةِ زَيْنَبَ |
- بِـ for the instrument/tool: whatever you do by means of something takes bi-, just like English "by" — بِالقَلَمِ (bi-l-qalam) = "with the pen"; "I go to work by [car]" = bi-.
- The Sheikh's warning: don't build Arabic by mapping Tamil word-for-word — these particles have their own settled usage in Arabic.
9 · The new reading — زَيْنَبُ وَمَرْيَمُ صَدِيقَتَانِ
The lecture then opens the unit's second dialogue: زَيْنَبُ وَمَرْيَمُ صَدِيقَتَانِ (Zaynab wa-Maryam ṣadīqatān) — "Zaynab and Maryam are two [female] friends." Two friends with mirror-image diet problems: Zaynab is too thin and wants to gain weight; Maryam is too heavy and wants to lose it — and neither can manage it.
- تَتَشَابَهَانِ فِي أَشْيَاءَ كَثِيرَةٍ (tatashābahāni fī ashyāʾa kathīrah) — "the two resemble each other in many things." (From تَشَابَهَ, "to resemble one another." The Sheikh anchors the root with the ḥadīth مَنْ تَشَبَّهَ بِقَوْمٍ فَهُوَ مِنْهُمْ — "whoever imitates a people is one of them" — and the Qurʾānic pair مُحْكَم muḥkam [clear] vs. مُتَشَابِه mutashābih [ambiguous/mutually-resembling].)
- تَسْكُنَانِ فِي بَيْتٍ وَاحِدٍ (taskunāni fī baytin wāḥid) — "they live in one house."
- وَلٰكِنَّهُمَا تَخْتَلِفَانِ (wa-lākinnahumā takhtalifān) — "but the two of them differ."
- زَيْنَبُ نَحِيفَةٌ جِدّاً (Zaynab naḥīfatun jiddan) — "Zaynab is very thin"; مَرْيَمُ سَمِينَةٌ (Maryam samīnah) — "Maryam is fat/heavy."
- Zaynab تُرِيدُ أَنْ تَكُونَ سَمِينَةً (turīdu an takūna samīnah) — "wants to become plump," وَلٰكِنَّهَا لَا تَسْتَطِيعُ (wa-lākinnahā lā tastaṭīʿ) — "but she is unable."
- زَيْنَبُ تُفَكِّرُ كَثِيراً بِهٰذِهِ المُشْكِلَةِ (Zaynab tufakkiru kathīran bi-hādhihi l-mushkilah) — "Zaynab thinks a lot about this problem."
- مَاذَا تَبْلُغُ وَزْنُهَا الآنَ؟ — خَمْسَةٌ وَخَمْسُونَ كِيلُو — "What does her weight reach now? — 55 kilos." She wants it to reach سَبْعِينَ كِيلُو (sabʿīna kīlū, 70 kilos).
- حَاوَلَتْ زَيْنَبُ وَلٰكِنْ لَمْ تَنْجَحْ (ḥāwalat Zaynab wa-lākin lam tanjaḥ) — "Zaynab tried but did not succeed."
- أَخَذَتْ زَيْنَبُ تَتَنَاوَلُ كَثِيراً مِنَ الطَّعَامِ — "Zaynab began to eat a lot of food." (See the akhadha note below; min here is tabyīn again — clarifying kathīran.)
- الرِّيَاضَةَ لَمْ تُمَارِسْ (ar-riyāḍata lam tumāris) — "she did not do exercise."
- Maryam's mirror problem: تَخْتَلِفُ مُشْكِلَةُ مَرْيَمَ عَنْ مُشْكِلَةِ زَيْنَبَ — "Maryam's problem differs from Zaynab's." Her weight is تِسْعُونَ كِيلُو (90 kilos); it must come down (يَنْقُصُ yanquṣu, decrease — vs. يَزِيدُ yazīdu, increase) to 70. She تَرَكَتْ (tarakat, gave up) the سُكَّرِيَّات (sweets) and نَشَوِيَّات (carbohydrates) — but هِيَ تُحِبُّ الأَكْلَ (hiya tuḥibbu l-akl), "she loves eating," so she too can't manage it.
Grammar notes drawn from this reading
- أَخَذَ + present verb = "began to." When أَخَذَ (akhadha, normally "he took") is followed by a present-tense verb, it means "he began to [do]": أَخَذَتْ زَيْنَبُ تَتَنَاوَلُ = "Zaynab began to eat."
- اِخْتَلَفَ takes عَنْ — "to differ from": takhtalifu … ʿan …
- فَكَّرَ takes بِـ — "to think about": tufakkiru … bi-…
- اِسْتَطَاعَ (istaṭāʿa, "to be able") is Qurʾānic — from Sūrat al-Kahf, al-Khiḍr's words إِنَّكَ لَنْ تَسْتَطِيعَ مَعِيَ صَبْراً ("you will not be able to have patience with me"). [The verse is cited loosely in the recording as the source-word for istaṭāʿa.]
New vocabulary (Zaynab & Maryam)
| Arabic | Translit | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| صَدِيقَتَانِ | ṣadīqatān | two (female) friends |
| تَشَابَهَ / تَتَشَابَهَانِ | tashābaha / tatashābahān | to resemble one another / they two resemble |
| تَخْتَلِفَانِ / اِخْتَلَفَ | takhtalifān / ikhtalafa | they two differ / to differ (+ عَنْ) |
| سَكَنَ / تَسْكُنَانِ | sakana / taskunān | to dwell / they two live |
| نَحِيفٌ (نَحِيفَة) | naḥīf(ah) | thin, slim |
| سَمِينٌ (سَمِينَة) | samīn(ah) | fat, heavy |
| أَرَادَ / تُرِيدُ | arāda / turīdu | to want |
| اِسْتَطَاعَ / تَسْتَطِيعُ | istaṭāʿa / tastaṭīʿ | to be able |
| فَكَّرَ / تُفَكِّرُ | fakkara / tufakkiru | to think (about, + بِـ) |
| فِكْرَة / مُفَكِّر | fikrah / mufakkir | an idea, thought / a thinker |
| مُشْكِلَة | mushkilah | problem |
| وَزْن | wazn | weight |
| بَلَغَ / تَبْلُغُ | balagha / tablughu | to reach (an amount) |
| وَصَلَ / يَصِلُ | waṣala / yaṣilu | to reach, arrive |
| يَجِبُ (أَنْ) | yajibu (an) | it is obligatory / must |
| حَاوَلَ | ḥāwala | to try |
| نَجَحَ | najaḥa | to succeed |
| أَخَذَ (+ present) | akhadha | to begin to (do) |
| مَارَسَ | mārasa | to practice / engage in |
| رِيَاضَة | riyāḍah | sport, exercise |
| تَرَكَ / تَرَكَتْ | taraka / tarakat | to leave, give up |
| نَقَصَ / يَنْقُصُ | naqaṣa / yanquṣu | to decrease |
| زَادَ / يَزِيدُ | zāda / yazīdu | to increase |
| سُكَّرِيَّات | sukkariyyāt | sugary things, sweets |
| نَشَوِيَّات | nashawiyyāt | carbohydrates, starchy things |
| أَحَبَّ / تُحِبُّ | aḥabba / tuḥibbu | to love |
| أَكْل | akl | eating, food |
| رَغْمَ ذٰلِكَ | raghma dhālika | in spite of that, despite that |
| كِيلُو | kīlū | kilo(gram) |
Food words the passage lists
| Arabic | Meaning | · | Arabic | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| لَحْم laḥm | meat | · | جُبْن jubn | cheese |
| خُبْز khubz | bread | · | عَسَل ʿasal | honey |
| بَيْض bayḍ | egg | · | حَلْوَى ḥalwā | sweets |
| أَرُزّ / رُزّ ruzz | rice | · | مُرَبّى murabbā | jam |
| الحَلِيب al-ḥalīb | milk (تَشْرَبُ الحَلِيبَ, she drinks milk) | · | عَصِيرُ الفَوَاكِهِ ʿaṣīr al-fawākih | fruit juice |
Where the class stopped. This lecture finished the ḥurūf al-jarr grammar of the honey dialogue and opened the Zaynab & Maryam reading with its vocabulary. The Sheikh set the two exercise passages (fill in the correct particle; read the Zaynab/Maryam passages until they "stick") as homework — the full working-through of that dialogue continues next class.
Crib sheet. Cover the meaning column and recall. Only what lecture v46 taught — the ḥurūf al-jarr grammar of the honey dialogue + the opening of the Zaynab & Maryam reading.
The prepositions (ḥurūf al-jarr)
| Arabic | Translit | Basic sense |
|---|---|---|
| مِنْ | min | from (used in ~13 senses) |
| فِي | fī | in (place or time) |
| إِلَى | ilā | to |
| عَلَى | ʿalā | on (~5 senses) |
| عَنْ | ʿan | about / away from |
| بِـ | bi- | by / with (single-letter) |
| لِـ | li- | for (single-letter) |
Must recall
| Key item | Recall |
|---|---|
| The one job | a ḥarf al-jarr puts the following noun in kasrah (majrūr) — فِي البَطْنِ → al-baṭni |
| Word is 3 kinds | اِسْم (noun) · فِعْل (verb) · حَرْف (particle) — today = ḥarf |
| ḥarf splits into | حُرُوفُ المَبَانِي (building letters, the alphabet) vs حُرُوفُ المَعَانِي (= ḥurūf al-jarr) |
| Sībawayh's count | about 20 ḥurūf al-jarr in Arabic |
| No standalone meaning | a particle means nothing alone — only when joined to nouns/verbs |
| alif vs hamzah | hamzah takes a vowel (a/i/u); alif is always sukūn, a long vowel; a word can't start on a bare alif |
The senses of مِنْ
| Sense | Example |
|---|---|
| from (start point) | ذَهَبْتُ مِنْ كولومبو |
| clarify (تَبْيِين) | شَرِبْتُ كُوباً مِنَ المَاءِ — a cup of water |
| some / part (بَعْض) | تَنَاوَلْتُ مِنَ العَسَلِ — some of the honey |
| out of sleep | أَسْتَيْقِظُ مِنَ النَّوْمِ مُبَكِّراً |
| comparison | أَنَا أَكْبَرُ مِنْكَ — older than you |
Fixed verb → preposition
| Item | Recall |
|---|---|
| شَعَرَ (felt) | + بِـ — أَشْعُرُ بِأَلَمٍ |
| فَكَّرَ (thought about) | + بِـ — تُفَكِّرُ بِهٰذِهِ المُشْكِلَةِ |
| ذَهَبَ (went) | + إِلَى — ذَهَبْتُ إِلَى الطَّبِيبِ |
| اِشْتَكَى (complained) | + مِنْ — اِشْتَكَى مِنْ بَطْنِهِ |
| بَعِيد (far) | always + عَنْ — السُّوقُ بَعِيدٌ عَنِ البَيْتِ |
| اِخْتَلَفَ (differed) | + عَنْ — تَخْتَلِفُ … عَنْ … |
| بِـ = instrument | بِالقَلَمِ = with the pen; "by [car]" = بِـ |
Honey-dialogue example sentences
| Sentence | Meaning |
|---|---|
| أَشْعُرُ بِأَلَمٍ | I feel pain |
| الأَلَمُ فِي البَطْنِ | the pain is in the stomach |
| ذَهَبْتُ إِلَى الطَّبِيبِ | I went to the doctor |
| تَنَاوَلْتُ مِنَ العَسَلِ | I ate some of the honey |
| فِي العَسَلِ شِفَاءٌ لِلنَّاسِ | in honey is a cure for the people |
| هُنَاكَ سُوقٌ لِبَيْعِ العَسَلِ | there is a market for selling honey |
| العَسَلُ عَلَى الطَّاوِلَةِ | the honey is on the table |
| السُّوقُ بَعِيدٌ عَنِ البَيْتِ | the market is far from the house |
Zaynab & Maryam — key vocab
| Arabic | Meaning |
|---|---|
| صَدِيقَتَانِ | two (female) friends |
| تَتَشَابَهَانِ / تَخْتَلِفَانِ | they two resemble / they two differ |
| تَسْكُنَانِ فِي بَيْتٍ وَاحِدٍ | they two live in one house |
| نَحِيفٌ / سَمِينٌ | thin / fat |
| تُرِيدُ / لَا تَسْتَطِيعُ | she wants / she cannot |
| فَكَّرَ · فِكْرَة · مُفَكِّر | thought about · idea · thinker |
| مُشْكِلَة · وَزْن | problem · weight |
| يَجِبُ أَنْ … | it must / is obligatory that… |
| حَاوَلَ / نَجَحَ | to try / to succeed |
| أَخَذَ + present | began to (do) — أَخَذَتْ تَتَنَاوَلُ = began to eat |
| مَارَسَ · رِيَاضَة | to practice · sport/exercise |
| تَرَكَ | to give up, leave |
| يَنْقُصُ / يَزِيدُ | to decrease / increase |
| سُكَّرِيَّات / نَشَوِيَّات | sweets / carbohydrates |
| رَغْمَ ذٰلِكَ | in spite of that |
| foods | لَحْم meat · خُبْز bread · بَيْض egg · رُزّ rice · جُبْن cheese · حَلْوَى sweets · مُرَبّى jam · حَلِيب milk · عَصِيرُ الفَوَاكِهِ fruit juice |
Score 80% on the first try (12 / 14). Wrong answers let you retry to advance, but only the first pick is scored.