4.6: Grammar (1) المصدر
In this section, you will be able to:
- Learn about verbal nouns and how they are derived from verbs.
- Express purpose and result, and use a variety of connectors to make complex sentences.
Verbal Noun / Gerund (Masdar) المصدر
- المصدر literally means the source in the Arabic language, and مصادر is the plural form of it.
- المصادر are words that do not have the exact meaning equivalent for them in the English language, and we refer to them as verbal nouns.
- المصدر is a word that expresses the abstract idea of an action. It is almost similar to the idea of infinitive verbs in English, or the gerund form of the noun (the "ing" form.)
- In chapter two, you learned الدِّراسة which is a Masdar مصدر, and it could be translated to study, studying, or the abstract concept of studying.
- المصدر is a verbal noun that is derived from the same root as the verb to imply the activity or action.
- For three-letter verbs, there is no single pattern to create المصدر from a verb.
- المصدر should be definite and start with the definite article الـ.
- المصدر can be the first part of the Idafa الإضافة, and won't take the definite article then.
- المصدر behaves grammatically like a noun, so it can be a subject, object, etc of a sentence.
In this table, you will check the most common Masader مصادر that will be used in this chapter
| English | المصدر | English | الفعل | English | المصدر | English | الفعل |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celebrating | الاحْتِفال | I celebrate | أَحْتَفِلُ | Reading | القِراءَة | I read | أَقْرَأُ |
| Drinking | الشُّرْب | I drink | أشْرَبُ | Eating | الأَكْل | I eat | آكُلُ |
| Beginning | البِدايَة | I begin/ I start | أَبْدَأُ | Knowing | المَعْرِفَة | I know | أَعْرِفُ |
| Traveling | السّفَر | I travel | أُسافِرُ | Remembering | التَّذَكُر | I remember | أَتَذَكَّرُ |
| Living | العَيْش | I live | أَعيشُ | Understanding | الفِهْم | I understand | ُأَفْهَم |
| Getting down | النُّزول | I get down | أَنزلُ | Studying | الدِّراسَة | I study | ُأَدْرْس |
| Feeling | الشُّعور بِـ | I feel | أَشْعرُ بـ | Living | السَّكَن | I live, I reside | أَسْكُنُ |
| Playing | اللَعِبُ بـِ | I play | ألعَبُ بـِ | Running | الجَري | I run | أَجْري |
| Enjoying | الاِسْتِمْتاع بـِ | I enjoy | أستَمْتِعُ بِـ | Working | العَمل | I work | أعْمَلُ |
| Watching | المُشاهَدَة | I see | أُشاهِدُ | Talking | التَّكَلَّم | I talk | أَتَكلَّمُ |
| Practicing | المُمارَسَة | I practice | أُمارِسُ | Cooking | الطَّبْخ | I cook | أَطْبُخُ |
| Participating | المُشارَكَة | I participate | أُشارِكُ | Listening to | الاسْتِماع إلى | I listen to | أسْتَمِعُ إلى |
| Drawing | الرَّسم | I draw | أرْسُمُ | Going to | الذَّهاب | I go to | أذْهَبُ إلى |
| Singing | الغِناء | I sing | أُغنّي | Graduating | التَّخَرُّجُ | I graduate | أَتَخَرجُ |
| Riding | الرُّكوب | I ride | أركَبُ | Taking picture | التَّصْوير | I take picture | أُصوِّرُ |
| Skiing | التَّزلُجُ | I ski | أَتَزلحُ | Testing | الاِمْتحان | I take a test | أمتَحِنُ |
| Swimming | السِّباحَة | I swim | أَسْبَحُ | Dancing | الرّقْص | I dance | أَرْقُصُ |
| Sitting | الجُلوس | I sit | أَجْلُسُ | Obtaining | الحُصول عَلى | I get/ I obtain | أَحْصَلُ على |
| Smoking | التَّدْخين | I smoke | أُدَخِنُ | Helping | المُساعَدَة | I help | أُساعِدُ |
| Writing | الكِتابَة | I write | أَكْتُبُ | Sleeping | النَّوم | I sleep | أَنامُ |
Practices تدريبات
Expressing Purpose and Reason
In order to + Masdar or present tense لـِ + المصدر / الفعل المضارع
- لـِ means in English in "order to," or "the purpose of."
- To express the purpose or reason for something you are doing, you can use the letter لـ and connect it with either a verb or a Masdar.
- Both constructions give the same basic meaning.
- When لـِ is attached to المصدر the ألف in the definite article الـ should be dropped. Like these examples: لـِ + الدِّراسة= للدِّراسَة or لِـ + الحصول= لِلحصول
- Study the following table.
| English | لِـ + المصدر | English | لـِ + الفعل المضارع |
|---|---|---|---|
| We go to the library for writing the homework. | نذهب إلى المكتبة لكتابة الواجب | We go to the library to write the homework. | نذهب إلى المكتبة لنكتب الواجب |
| I travel to Egypt for studying Arabic. | أسافر إلى مصر لدراسة اللغة العربية | I travel to Egypt to study Arabic. | أسافر إلى مصر لأدرس اللغة العربية |
| My friend works in a company for obtaining money. | صاحبتي تعمل في شركة للحصول على فلوس | My friend works in a company to obtain money. | صاحبتي تعمل في شركة لتحصل على فلوس |
| They go to the library for studying. | يذهبون إلى المَكتَبَةِ للدِّراسَة | They go to the library to study. | يذهبون إلى المَكتبة ليدرسوا |
Using the Connector لِذلك
- To express the consequence or result, you can use the connector لذلك which literally means “for that reason.” It implies the equivalent of the connector “so” in English. It is only followed by a complete sentence as in the following examples.
- Study this table, and note the translation is exact.
| English | العربية |
|---|---|
| I do not have classes on Saturday, so I do not go to the university. | ليس عندي فصول يوم السبت ، لذلك لا أذهب إلى الجامعة |
| The weather is so hot in Florida in summer, so we will travel to it in winter. | الطقسُ حارٌ جِداً في وِلايَةِ فلوريدا في فصلِ الصَّيفِ، لِذّلِكَ سنُسافِرَ إليها في فصلِ الشّتاءِ |
| We do not like eating in restaurants, that’s why we cook at home. | لا نحب الأكل في المطاعم ، و لذلك نطبخ في البيت |
| I want traveling to the Middle East, for this reason I study Arabic. | أريد السفر إلى الشرق الأوسط ، لذلك أدرس اللغة العربية |
Practice تدريب
Choose the right connector لـِ or لِذلَكَ to combine the sentences:
Translate each of the following sentences in two ways, first using the verb and second using المصدر: