Category: intermediate

The intermediate category is for learners with a vocabulary of a few hundred words and who can read whole sentences in Arabic script.

beginning, intermediate, Uncategorized, videos

Dr. Bulbul’s Videos

In February 2022, Dr. Bulbul began posting very short videos in simple Arabic to TikTok and YouTube. Each video has a page on this site with a transcription and translation. Happy learning! Clip 0007: أتَناوَل الإفطار ‘I’m eating breakfast’ Clip 0006: عندي سبع تفّاحات ‘I have seven apples’ Clip 0005: كلب أحمر، قطة… حمراء Clip …

beginning, intermediate

Some basic expressions for Ramadan

In this article we’ll be looking some basic words and expressions concerning Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. Happy Ramadan! There are a couple of common expressions to wish someone a happy Ramadan, the first of which is this: رَمَضان كرِيم. ramaḍan kariim. literally: ‘Ramadan is nobel/generous.’ The usual reply to this expression is: اللهُ …

beginning, for Dr. Bulbul's students, intermediate

Supplementary Readings for Arabic 1-4

Occasionally an Arabic class will go more quickly through the course material and planned. This page provides a list of supplemental readings and materials that can be used. Arabic 1 An untitled story in which two children take a walk and see a chick. here here here here

beginning, intermediate

The principal moods of the Arabic verb: Indicative, subjunctive, jussive, and imperative

In this article we will take a short look at the main moods of the Standard Arabic verb: indicative, subjunctive, jussive, and imperative. We won’t go into excessive detail, just the contexts that beginning and intermediate learners of Arabic are likely to encounter. This is also the reason we won’t discuss the short and long …

beginning, Duolingo, general interest, intermediate, reviews

Duolingo Arabic is coming: What should we expect?

Update! The Duolingo Arabic course was released out of beta in early July 2019. If you would like to use this course, check out Dr. Bulbul’s Guide to Duolingo Arabic. Duolingo is a wildly popular website and app for learning foreign foreign languages. English-speakers are currently able to learn over 25 languages on the platform, …

beginning, intermediate

“Seven Brothers” song: Learn ordinal numbers and professions

In this post we will look at a children’s song خالي عنده سبع أولاد (pronounced khaalii ʕind-uh sabʕ ’awlaad in Standard Arabic) ‘My Uncle Has Seven Sons’, sung to the tune of ‘Skip To My Lou’. This song will help you learn the first seven ordinal numbers (i.e., ‘first’, ‘second’, … ‘seventh’), as well as …

advanced, beginning, intermediate

Learn 10 professions with a Zakaria children’s video

On the “Learn with Zakaria – تَعَلَّمْ مَعَ زَكَرِيّا” channel on YouTube there are quite a few short instructional videos for children that can teach you some basic vocabulary. In this post I’ll talk a bit about the video about professions. If you’re a beginner, you’ll probably just want to do the first part of …

advanced, beginning, intermediate

Online Arabic dictionaries

I am often asked what Arabic dictionaries I can recommend. In this article I will discuss four Arabic–English and/or English–Arabic online dictionaries, highlighting their advantages and drawbacks. Oxford Dictionaries Premium This is by far my fav♥rite online bilingual dictionary for Arabic and English. It is a paid subscription, but it only costs about $20 per …

beginning, intermediate

Al-Manhal’s children’s book, set 1, book 3: يَحْيا الْعَدْل

The third book in Al-Manhal’s set of stories for children learning Arabic is called يحيا العدل yaḥyaa l-ʕadl ‘long live fairness!’. This is a fairly simple book. Since the main characters in it are a pair of cats, you will encounter a number of dual forms, such as القطّتان ’al-qiṭṭataan ‘the two cats’, which is …