Arabic Basics

A guided series of lessons teaching Quranic Arabic fundamentals — pronouns, prepositions, verb forms, and more — using real Quran examples. No prior Arabic knowledge needed.

These lessons won't make you an Arabic expert — they're not even all the basics. Think of this as dipping your toes in the ocean. Just enough to start recognizing patterns when you read the Quran, and to make you curious to learn more.

The Arabic Alphabet & How to Read

الحُرُوف

Arabic is read right-to-left, letters connect to each other, and short vowels are shown as marks above and below letters. This lesson covers the fundamentals you need before diving into Quranic grammar.

7 min

The Definite Article (الـ) — Sun & Moon Letters

الـ التَّعْرِيف

The most common word in Arabic is 'al' — the definite article. But it doesn't always sound like 'al.' Sometimes the 'l' disappears and the next letter doubles. Here's how it works.

6 min

Pronouns — Detached & Attached

الضَّمَائِر

Arabic has two types of pronouns: standalone ones like 'he' (هُوَ) and ones that attach to the end of words, like 'his' (ـهُ). Once you recognize these, you'll suddenly understand a huge chunk of every ayah.

9 min

Prepositions & How They Attach

حُرُوف الجَرّ

Arabic prepositions are tiny but powerful. Words like بِ (with), مِنْ (from), and إِلَى (to) appear on almost every line of the Quran — and they often fuse directly onto the next word.

8 min

Conjunctions — Connecting the Quran's Sentences

حُرُوف العَطْف

The Quran flows beautifully from one idea to the next, and that flow comes from four tiny connecting words: وَ (and), فَ (so/then), ثُمَّ (then/after that), and أَوْ (or). Learn to spot them and the Quran's structure opens up.

6 min

Nouns & Adjectives

الأسْمَاء وَالصِّفَات

Arabic nouns carry more information than English ones — they tell you gender (masculine/feminine), number (one/two/many), and whether they're definite or indefinite, all in a single word.

8 min

The Possessive Chain (Idafa)

الإِضَافَة

When you see عِبَادُ اللَّهِ (servants of Allah) or رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ (Lord of the worlds), that's an idafa — Arabic's elegant way of showing possession. No word for 'of' needed.

7 min

Basic Verb Forms

الأفْعَال

Arabic verbs change their beginning and ending to tell you who's doing the action and when. With just a few patterns, you can decode whether something happened in the past, is happening now, or is a command.

10 min

Common Quranic Verb Patterns

أوْزَان الأفْعَال

Arabic verbs follow predictable patterns. The base pattern فَعَلَ (fa'ala) transforms into أَفْعَلَ (af'ala) for causative, تَفَعَّلَ (tafa''ala) for intensive action, and more. Recognizing these patterns is like having a decoder ring for the Quran.

9 min

Negation & Questions

النَّفْي وَالاسْتِفْهَام

Arabic has several ways to say 'no' and 'not' — each with its own nuance. لَا negates the present, مَا negates the past, لَمْ flips present tense to past negative, and لَنْ is an emphatic future denial. Plus, how the Quran asks questions.

8 min

Putting It All Together

التَّطْبِيق

You've learned pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, verbs, and more. Now let's break down a complete ayah word by word, using everything from the previous 10 lessons.

10 min