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Ibn Khaldoun lost his parents and many of his teachers in an outbreak of plague in North Africa when he was 17. This affected him deeply; then he pursued a career in politics which gave him popularity among many North African rulers; but due to rivalries, it left him in prison then in exile. He was sent by different rulers to diplomatic missions to Andalusia and to different parts of Africa, especially to Berber tribes, as he had strong relationships with them. During one of his missions, he sought refuge with a Berber tribe; and for three years, he dedicated all his time to writing his Muqaddimah (مقدمة ابن خلدون) “Introduction” to his version of world history in which he introduced very important concepts in social sciences and related them to history, such as sociology and demography. It is also considered to be the first book in the philosophy of history.

Ibn Khaldoun visited Egypt where he became a judge and respected scholar, but he gave it up when his wife and children died on the trip to join him, and he decided to undertake Pilgrimage (الحج). After his return, he worked on his history books, and then he participated in a military campaign with the Egyptian army to stop a Tatar attack on Damascus. He negotiated with the Tatar ruler Timur and wrote him an account of the history of Maghrib. Later, he wrote an account of the history of Tatars and sent it to the ruler of Maghrib.

Ibn Khaldoun wrote his own autobiography in which he described his journeys to the East and West, under the title (التعريف بابن خلدون ورحلته غربا وشرقا) or “Introducing Ibn Khaldoun and his Journeys East and West”. He is regarded as the father of sociology (علم الاجتماع), as he discussed very important concepts like social conflict, generation, tribalism, etc. Ibn Khaldoun’s books were translated into Greek and then into French, and were received very well in the Western world.

(Adapted from Wikipedia)

(Source: http://www.muslimheritage.com/uploads/Ibn%20Khaldun%20Cover%20Image1.jpg)

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When talking about the past or the future, verb to be must appear in the sentence, e.g. “I was a student” is translated into (كنت طالبة); and “she was young” is translated into (كانت صغيرة). It should be noted that verb to be (كان) is an irregular verb, and we have to learn its conjugation.

منذ سنتين كنت طالبة في المدرسة الثانوية.

“Two years ago, I was a secondary school student.”

هذه السنة أنا في الصف الأول وفي السنة القادمة سأكون في الصف الثاني.

“This year, I am in the first grade; and next year I will be in the second grade.”

الطلاب سيكونون مستعدين للامتحان بعد أسبوع.

“Students will be ready for the examination after one week.”

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الطلاب يدرسون في الجامعة.

“Students (masc.) study at university.”

الطالبان يدرسان في الجامعة.

“Students (dual, masc.) study at university.”

الطالبات يدرسن في الجامعة.

“Students (fem.) study at university.”

الطالبتان تدرسان في الجامعة.

“Students (dual, fem.) study at university.”

However, if the verb comes before the subject, it only agrees with the subject in gender and it remains singular, e.g.

يدرس الطلاب في الجامعة.

“Students (masc.) study at university.”

يدرس الطالبان في الجامعة.

“Students (dual, masc.) study at university.”

تدرس الطالبات في الجامعة.

“Students (fem.) study at university.”

In sum, when the subject comes after the verb, it agrees with it in both gender and number; however, when it comes before it, it agrees with it in gender, but remains singular at all times. This rule is not affected by the tense of the sentence, i.e. it applies to any verb and subject regardless of the tense. Can you start the following sentences with the verb bearing this rule in mind?

الأولاد لعبوا الكرة في النادي.

البنات لعبن الكرة في النادي.

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تعمل المهندساتُ المصرياتُ في نفس الشركة.

“The Egyptian engineers work at the same company.”

المهندساتُ المصرياتُ مجتهداتٌ.

“The Egyptian engineers are hard-working.”

When the noun is used as an object, the case is accusative. Feminine plural nouns and adjectives are marked with (ـِ) if they are definite and (ـٍ) if they are indefinite, e.g.

قابلنا المهندساتِ المصرياتِ.

“We met the Egyptian engineers.”

كلّمتُ طالباتٍ عربياتٍ.

“I talked to Arab students.”

When the noun is used after a preposition or after the first word of an idafa construction, the case is genitive. Feminine plural nouns and adjectives are marked with (ـِ) if they are definite and (ـٍ) if they are indefinite, e.g.

تكلمت مع المهندساتِ المصرياتِ.

“I spoke with the Egyptian engineers.”

شركة المهندساتِ كبيرة.

“The company of the engineers is big.”

The special thing to be noted about feminine plurals is that they take the same marking for accusative and genitive cases, i.e. whether a feminine plural noun or adjective is accusative or genitive, they are marked with (ـِ) if they are definite and (ـٍ) if they are indefinite.

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يعمل المهندسون المصريون في نفس الشركة.

“The Egyptian engineers work at the same company.”

المهندسون المصريون مجتهدون.

“Egyptian engineers are hard-working.”

When the noun is used as an object, the case is accusative and the ending (ين) is used, e.g.

قابلنا المهندسين المصريين.

“We met the Egyptian engineers.”

When the noun is used after a preposition or after the first word of an idaafa construction, the case is genitive and the ending (ين) is used, e.g.

تكلمت مع المهندسين المصريين.

“I spoke with the Egyptian engineers.”

شركة المهندسين كبيرة.

“The company of the engineers is big.”

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درس الطالبان الجديدان في نفس الصف.

“Both new students studies at the same class.”

الكتابان الكبيران ثقيلان.

“The (2) big books are heavy.”

When the noun is used as an object, the case is accusative and the ending (ـَيْن) is used, e.g.

قرأت كتابين مفيدين.

“I read (2) useful books.”

قابلنا زميلتين قديمتين.

“We met (2) old colleagues.”

When the noun is used after a preposition or after the first word of an idafa construction, the case is genitive and the ending (ـَيْن) is used, e.g.

تكلمت مع صديقين جديدين.

“I spoke with (2) new friends.”

غرفة الطالبين واسعة.

“The room of the (2) students is spacious.”

It should be noted that the same applies to other dual forms that can be used with the nouns not only the adjectives, e.g. demonstratives and relative pronouns. Consider the use of the relative pronouns in the following sentences.

الطالبان الجديدان اللذان يدرسان في صفي لطيفان .

“The (2) new students who study at my class are nice.”

قابلت الطالبين الجديدين اللذين يدرسان في صفي.

“I met the (2) new students who study at my class.”

هاتان قصتان شيقتان.

“These are (2) interesting stories.”

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Post from: Arabic Blog

It should be noted, however, that most of these terms are not in use in everyday life. They are mainly used in writing, e.g. in advertisements or textbooks. People use the English terms in speaking, e.g. computer is (كمبيوتر) and hard disk is (هارد ديسك). It is interesting to note how these words are adapted to Arabic pronunciation and grammar. For example, computer becomes /combuter/ since Arabic does not have the sound /p/. Some English verbs in computer terminology get conjugates, e.g. save (سيفت) /sayevt/ ‘saved’, (تسيف) ‘tesayev/, ‘you save’. Many computer terms have entered young people’s every day language, even when not talking about computers, e.g. the word ‘online’ (أونلاين) is being used by young people about their daily life even when not talking about computer, in the sense ‘are you with me?’ or ‘can you understand me?’

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There are some changes done to certain country names when we form nationalities from them, e.g. country names that end in (ا) like (بَرِيطَانيا) ‘Britain’, (أَلْمَانيا) ‘Germany’, (أَنْدونِيسْيا) ‘Indonesia’, etc. In these names, the long (ا) disappears in the nationality, e.g.

Likewise, in country names that end in (ة), e.g. (مَالْطَة) ‘Malta’ and (السَعُوديَّة) ‘Saudi Arabia’, the final (ة) disappears in nationalities, e.g. (مَالْطَي) and (سَعُوديَّ).

Very few countries have more changes to their names when making the nationalities, e.g. (اِنْجِلْتِرا) becomes (إنْجلِيزِي), (أَفْغانِستَان) becomes (أَفْغانِي) and (النِّمْسا) becomes (نِمْساوي).

We should always remember that like any other adjectives, nationalities have to agree with nouns they describe in gender, number and case. Some nationalities have sound plural, e.g. (مِصْري) and (مِصْريون), while others have broken plurals, e.g. (إنْجلِيزِي) and (إنْجلِيز).

Consider the following examples:

لي أصدقاء مصريون وأصدقاء إنجليز.

“I have Egyptian and English friends.”

زوجته أمريكية.

“His wife is American.”

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