Adverbs in Gulf Arabic

Adverbs in Gulf Arabic

This lesson is all about Adverbs.
Adverbs of manner
Adverbs of time طرف الزَّمانِ
Adverbs in +an
Adverbs of placeظرف المكان
Adverbs are used to express the degree, quantity, and quality of an adjective a verb, or another adverb. Adverbs in Arabic usually follow the word being described you will see how useful these words can be.
Arabic has two ways of forming adverbs
1- Proposition + noun
2- noun+ suffix an
Adverbs of manner
Adverbial expressions of manner are often expressed in Arabic by a
preposition + noun phrase. Learn the following common phrases:
raa7 bil-baaS ʻHe went by busʼراح بالباص
biT-Tayyaara by planeʼ بطيارة
bis-sayyaara by carʼ بسيارة
bi qiTaar بالقطار
In these, and similar phrases that indicate mode of transport, fi is an
alternative to bi:
kitab bi-sur3aكتب بسرعة ʻHe wrote quicklyʼ
bi-búTuʼ slowlyʼببطى
bi-suhuula بسهولةwith easeʼ
bi-Su3uubaبسعوبة with difficultyʼ
Note that, in the above phrases, there is no definite article il. In still
other cases, manner adverbs are rendered by a single word:
raa7 mashi. ʻHe went on foot.ʼ
shaalha zitaat. ʻHe removed it quickly.ʼ
Darabni chidhii. ʻHe hit me like this.ʼ
Adverbs of time طرف الزَّمانِ
In addition to the time expressions learnt in the units immediately
preceding this, the following are highly useful:
mitaمتى ʻwhenʼ
il-yoom اليوم ʻtodayʼ
fin-naháar ʻin the daytimeʼ
il-yoom اليوم is used to site a particular event at a particular time, for
example:
riHt ish-shúghul il-yoom.رحت الشغل اليوم
ʻI went to work today.ʼ

fin-nahaar في النهار(like bil-layl ʻat night-timeʼ) indicates activity over a particular
period of time (the part when there is daylight):
3indi shughul fin-nahaarعندي شغل في النهار .
ʻI have work during the daytime.ʼ
ʻDay shiftʼ in Arabic is in fact zaam in-nahaarزام النهار.
Note also: ams ʻyesterdayʼ and áwwal ams ʻthe day before yesterdayʼ.
Expressions for ʻnext/last week/monthʼ, etc. are formed using the
adjectives jaay ʻcomingʼ and maaDi ʻpastʼ, which agree with the nouns
they follow in the normal way:
is-subuu3 il-jaay/il-maaDi ʻnext/last weekʼ
ish-shahar il-jaay/il-máaDi ʻnext/last monthʼ
is-sana l-jaaya/l-maaDya ʻnext/last yearʼ
The days of the week are as follows:

Adverbs of time طرف الزَّمانِ

Very frequently, yoom(يوم) is omitted:
3indana mwwcid il-aarba3a fis-saa3a sitta u nuSS.
ʻWeʼve got an appointment on Wednesday at 6.30.ʼ
jaayجاي and maaDi ماضي(agreeing where necessary) are used for ʻnext/last
Sundayʼ, etc.:
shifnaahum il-a7ad il-maaDi.شفتهم الأخد الماضي
ʻWe saw them last Sunday.ʼ
zaarooha il-jum3a l-maaDya.زاروها الجمع الماضية
ʻThey visited her last Friday.ʼ
Note that, when saying what day it is, the phrase is:
il-yoom yoom il-khamiis.اليوم الخميس
Or il-yoom il-khamiis.
ʻToday is Thursday.ʼ

Adverbs in -an

Adverbs in +an
A great many of the adverbs that describe how or when an action is
done are formed in all dialects of Arabic (and Gulf Arabic is no exception)
by suffixing -an to nouns or adjectives: we have already met, for
example, shakhSiyyan ʻpersonallyʼ, derived from shakhSi ʻpersonalʼ
(which itself is derived from shakhS/ashkhaaS ʻpersonʼ) and mathalan
ʻfor exampleʼ, derived from mathal/amthaal ʻexampleʼ. We look here
at the use of some of the commonest of these adverbs in everyday
speech:
3aadatan: ʻusuallyʼ:
3aadatan maa tiziid yoomiyyat il-3aamil 3ala sitt
danaaniir.
A labourerʼs daily wage is not usually more than six dinars.ʼ

Tab3an: ʻnaturallyʼ:
… u Tab3an il yaahil maa yidiir baalah min haadha l-khaTar …
ʻ… and naturally, the child pays no attention to this danger …ʼ
taqriiban: ʻapproximately; more or lessʼ:
… fi dhiich is-saa3a, 3umri taqriiban thalaathta3shar sana …
ʻ… at that time, I was about 13 years old …ʼ
Sudfatan: ʻby chanceʼ:
ligaytah Sudfatan fish-shaari3.
ʻI met him by chance in the street.ʼ
ghaSban 3ala + pronoun: ʻunwillinglyʼ:
inDammayt fil-jaysh ghaSban 3alíyyi.
ʻI joined the army against my will.ʼ
abadan ʻnever; not at allʼ:
– mista3mil hal-aala min gábil?
– abadan.أبداً
– ʻHave you used this tool before?ʼ
– ʻNever.ʼ
A7yaanan: ʻsometimesʼ (syn. Ba3D il-a7yaan):
maa nshuufhum waayid, bas a7yaanan ya3ni.
ʻWe donʼt see them a lot, only occasionally.ʼ
raʼsan: ʻdirectlyʼ ( siida):
waSSilni ráʼsan il-bayt, وصَّلني رساً lo sima7t لوسمحت
ʻTake me straight home, would you?ʼ
I3tibaaran min:اعتباراً ʻwith effect fromʼ:
I3tibaaran min baachir, il-mudiir maa yisma7 likum tiTla3uun
fi faraaghkum.
ʻAs from tomorrow, the headmaster will not allow you to go out
during your free periods.ʼ
An alternative to i3tibaaran min … is min … raayi7, for example min
baachir raayi7 ʻfrom tomorrow onʼ and min is-sána l-jáaya raayi7
ʻfrom next year onʼ.
badalan min: ʻinstead ofʼ:
baTarrish wáa7id badalan min aruu7 il-ijtimaa3 nafsi.
ʻIʼll send someone instead of going to the meeting myself.ʼ
This, of course, is not an adverb but a conjunction but is derived from
a noun (bádal ʻalternativeʼ) by the addition of -an in the same way as
the adverbs.

Adverbs of place ظرف المكان
In answer to the question word weeyn? ʻwhere?ʼ, some of the most
common types of locational phrase are exemplified below:
Examples
fi (or bi)في، ب ʻinʼ, ʻinsideʼ, fil-bayt في البيتʻin the houseʼ;
ʻatʼ ʻat homeʼ
3alaعلى ʻonʼ 3alal-mayz ʻعلى الميزon the tableʼ
foog فوق ʻaboveʼ, ʻonʼ, foog il-arD ʻabove the groundʼ
ʻuponʼ
ta7t/تحت ʻunderʼ ta7t il-kursi ʻunder the chairʼ
giddáam/قدام ʻin front ofʼ giddaam ʻin front of the doorʼ
il-baab
mgaabil/مقابل ʻoppositeʼ mgaabil bayti ʻopposite my houseʼ
wara وراءʻbehindʼ waral-mal3ab وراء الملعبʻbehind the (football)
pitchʼ

In this lesson, you will learn about:
• expressions of place, e.g. ʻin the houseʼ, ʻnear the bankʼ


yanb/ينب ʻnext toʼ, yanb il-masyidجنب المسجد ʻnext to the mosque
yamm ʻbesideʼ
gariib min/قريب ʻnear toʼ gariib min il-bank ʻقريب من البكnear the bankʼ
ba3iid 3an/بعيد ʻfar fromʼ ba3iid 3anبعيد عن المدينة ʻfar from the townʼ
il-madiina