- Prepositions are very important words in any language.
- Today, we are going to learn the Arabic prepositions and their meanings.
- Arabic prepositions are Mabni nouns أسماء مبنية which means that they mostly have a fixed pronunciation regardless of their position in the sentence.
- These nouns also inflect the noun that follows them and cause it to end in a Kasrah.
- There are about twenty one prepositions mentioned by the famous Arab grammarian; Ibn Maalik in these two grammar verses:
هــاك حــروف الـجـــر و هــــي : مِـِن , إلى حتـّى , خلا , حاشا , عدا , في , عن , على
مـُـذ , مـُـنذ , رُبّ , اللام , كي , واو , و تا و الــكــاف , و الــبـــاء , و لعــل , و مـتـى
* Now, we are going to discuss the meanings and uses of some common ones:
1) مِــن = (from or some of or one of)
– This prepositions refers to initiating an action from some place or it can mean “some of“.
– It can also refer to the gender or species meaning “one of“.
Ex. – مشيتُ من بيتي إلى المدرسة. = I walked from my home to school.
– أنفقتُ مِـن مدخراتي.= I spent from (= some of) my savings.
– قابلتُ واحداً من الأسودِ = I met one of the lions.
2) إلى = (to or at)
– This preposition refers to the destination.
Ex. – وصلَ القطارُ إلى المحطةِ = The train arrived at (got to) the station.
3) عـَـن = (about)
– This preposition means about or away from something or someone.
Ex. – قرأتُ كتاباً عـن نجيب محفوظ = I read a book about Naguib Mahfouz.
– مشيتُ بعيداً عن الحشائش = I walked away from grass.
4) على = (on)
– This preposition refers to the top place of something and means on.
Ex. – الكتابُ على المكتبِ = The book is on the desk.
5) في = (in)
– This preposition refers to something happening inside.
Ex. – يوجد القليل من الطلابِ في الفصلِ = There are a few students in the classroom.
6) الباء = (by or with or in or at)
– This preposition can refer to the reason meaning “by” or it can mean “with“.
– It can also refer to the place meaning “in or at“.
Ex. – تنجحُ بالعملِ الجاد = You succeed by working hard.
– بالعلمِ تبنى العقول = With science, you build the minds.
– محمدٌ بالبيتِ = Mohammad is at home.
– يجتمع الأصدقاءُ بالنادي = The friends meet in the club.
(Note: Ibn Maalik has written all the Arabic Grammar in a thousand verses of poetry.)
To be continued
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Peace سلام /Salam/