Lesson 49: My Family

Step 1 of 5: Learn

Before the reading, three short points: how the suffixes sit on the family words you already know, the family words themselves with their plurals, and the little noun مَرَّةٌ a time, which Arabic uses where English says once, twice, often. Then read the passage aloud and name the owner behind every suffix.

Rule 1: 1. The suffixes on family words

Nothing new in the forms, only in the words. وَالِدٌ father and وَالِدَةٌ mother are ordinary nouns, so وَالِدِي, وَالِدَتِي; the dual اَلْوَالِدَانِ the parents becomes وَالِدَايَ my parents (nominative) and وَالِدَيَّ (genitive and accusative). Broken plurals take the suffixes like a singular: إِخْوَتِي my brothers, أَحْفَادُهُ his grandchildren; sound feminine plurals too: أَخَوَاتُكَ your sisters, بَنَاتُنَا our daughters. كُلٌّ takes them as well: كُلُّنَا all of us, كُلُّهُمْ all of them.

وَالِدَايَ يَسْكُنَانِ فِي الْقَرْيَةِ.
wālidāya yaskunāni fi-l-qaryati
My parents live in the village.
Dual + ـيَ, nominative.
ذَهَبْتُ مَعَ وَالِدَيَّ إِلَى الْمَدِينَةِ.
dhahabtu maʿa wālidayya ila-l-madīnati
I went with my parents to the city.
Dual oblique + ـيَ: ayya.
إِخْوَتِي كِبَارٌ وَأَخَوَاتِي صِغَارٌ.
ikhwatī kibārun wa-akhawātī ṣighārun
My brothers are grown up and my sisters are small.
أَحْفَادُ جَدِّي كَثِيرُونَ وَكُلُّهُمْ يُحِبُّونَهُ.
aḥfādu jaddī kathīrūna wa-kulluhum yuḥibbūnahu
My grandfather's grandchildren are many and all of them love him.
أَنَا حَفِيدَتُهُ الصَّغِيرَةُ.
anā ḥafīdatuhu-ṣ-ṣaghīratu
I am his youngest granddaughter.
The adjective takes the article after a suffixed noun.

Rule 2: 2. The words of the family

وَالِدٌ and وَالِدَةٌ are the formal words for father and mother; أَبٌ and أُمٌّ are the everyday ones. أَخٌ brother has two plurals: إِخْوَةٌ for brothers by blood and إِخْوَانٌ for brethren, companions; أُخْتٌ sister has the sound feminine plural أَخَوَاتٌ, in which the lost third root letter و returns. حَفِيدٌ grandson has the plural أَحْفَادٌ; حَفِيدَةٌ granddaughter, حَفِيدَاتٌ. Relationships are stated with an iḍāfa: جَدِّي وَالِدُ أَبِي my grandfather is my father's father.

جَدَّتِي وَالِدَةُ أُمِّي.
jaddatī wālidatu ummī
My grandmother is my mother's mother.
لِي أَخَوَانِ وَأُخْتَانِ.
lī akhawāni wa-ukhtāni
I have two brothers and two sisters.
The dual of أَخٌ is أَخَوَانِ.
أَوْلَادُ عَمِّي وَبَنَاتُ خَالَتِي أَقَارِبِي.
awlādu ʿammī wa-banātu khālatī aqāribī
My uncle's sons and my aunt's daughters are my relatives.
أَقَارِبُ is a diptote; with a suffix it is definite: أَقَارِبِي.
اَلشَّيْخُ جَدُّ هٰؤُلَاءِ الْأَوْلَادِ وَهُمْ أَحْفَادُهُ.
ash-shaykhu jaddu hāʾulāʾi-l-awlādi wa-hum aḥfāduhu
The old man is the grandfather of these children and they are his grandchildren.

Rule 3: 3. مَرَّةٌ: once, twice, often

مَرَّةٌ means a time, an occasion. To say how many times something happened, Arabic puts it in the accusative as an adverb: مَرَّةً once, مَرَّتَيْنِ twice (the dual in its oblique form), مِرَارًا many times, often. With numbers you will meet ثَلَاثَ مَرَّاتٍ three times; learn it for now as a phrase. كُلَّ مَرَّةٍ is every time and فِي كُلِّ مَرَّةٍ each time.

سَافَرَ عَمِّي إِلَى الْيَمَنِ مَرَّةً.
sāfara ʿammī ila-l-yamani marratan
My uncle travelled to Yemen once.
جَاءَتْ خَالَتِي إِلَيْنَا مَرَّتَيْنِ فِي هٰذَا الْأُسْبُوعِ.
jāʾat khālatī ilaynā marratayni fī hādha-l-usbūʿi
My aunt came to us twice this week.
رَأَيْتُ أَحْفَادَ جَدِّي مِرَارًا فِي بَيْتِهِ.
raʾaytu aḥfāda jaddī mirāran fī baytihi
I saw my grandfather's grandchildren many times in his house.
فِي كُلِّ مَرَّةٍ تَطْبُخُ جَدَّتِي طَعَامًا لَذِيذًا.
fī kulli marratin taṭbukhu jaddatī ṭaʿāman ladhīdhan
Each time my grandmother cooks delicious food.

Vocabulary

Why do words end with “-un”?

The -un ending is called tanween (nunation). It marks indefinite nouns — similar to “a/an” in English.

كِتَابٌ (kitaabun) = a bookvsكِتَاب (kitaab) = book (base word)

To find the base word, simply remove the final “-un” sound (the double-stacked damma بٌ on the last letter).

وَالِدٌ

wālidun

father

وَالِدَةٌ

wālidatun

mother

أَخٌ

akhun

brother

أُخْتٌ

ukhtun

sister

حَفِيدٌ

ḥafīdun

grandson

قَرِيبٌ

qarībun

relative

مَرَّةٌ

marratun

a time, an occasion

مِرَارًا

mirāran

often, many times

شَيْخٌ

shaykhun

old man; elder

مُهَنْدِسٌ

muhandisun

engineer

طَبِيبَةٌ

ṭabībatun

doctor (f.)

أُسْبُوعٌ

usbūʿun

week

طَعَامٌ

ṭaʿāmun

food

قِرَاءَةٌ

qirāʾatun

reading

سَافَرَ / يُسَافِرُ

sāfara / yusāfiru

to travel

طَبَخَ / يَطْبُخُ

ṭabakha / yaṭbukhu

to cook

Step 2 of 5: Read

My family

أُسْرَتِي

Tap any word to look it up.

Notes

Comprehension

1.What is the mother's profession?
2.How many brothers and sisters does Maryam have?
3.Where does the grandmother live?
4.How many times has the uncle travelled to Yemen?

In the Quran

لِٱبْنِهِۦ
Surah Luqman · 31:13
لِابْنِهِ: 'to his son'. The suffix ـهِ after the genitive kasra; the hamzat al-waṣl of اِبْن is elided after لِ.
- لِٱبْنِهِۦli-ib'nihito his son
Read in context
وَبِٱلْوَٰلِدَيْنِ إِحْسَـٰنًا ۚ
Surah Al-Isra · 17:23
وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا: the dual اَلْوَالِدَانِ 'the parents' in its oblique form after بِ.
- وَبِٱلْوَٰلِدَيْنِwabil-wālidayniand to the parents
- إِحْسَـٰنًا ۚiḥ'sānan(be) good
Read in context
مَّرَّةً أَوْ مَرَّتَيْنِ
Surah At-Tawbah · 9:126
مَرَّةً أَوْ مَرَّتَيْنِ: 'once or twice', the accusative of مَرَّةٌ used to count occasions, exactly as in this lesson.
- مَّرَّةًmarratanonce
- أَوْawor
- مَرَّتَيْنِmarrataynitwice
Read in context

Step 3 of 5: Practice

Exercises

Strict harakat

Exercise 1 of 60/0 correct

Conjugate

Attach 'my' to the dual اَلْوَالِدَانِ as the subject of a sentence: 'my parents'

اَلْوَالِدَانِ

Step 4 of 5: Quiz

Translate from Arabic to English

Type your translation, then check it. Spelling and vowel marks are graded leniently.

1.

وَالِدِي مُهَنْدِسٌ وَوَالِدَتِي طَبِيبَةٌ.

2.

جَدِّي وَالِدُ أَبِي وَأَنَا حَفِيدُهُ.

3.

سَافَرَتْ أَخَوَاتِي إِلَى مَكَّةَ مَرَّتَيْنِ.

4.

إِخْوَتُكَ فِي الْمَدْرَسَةِ وَأَخَوَاتُكَ فِي الْبَيْتِ.

5.

جَاءَ أَقَارِبُنَا إِلَيْنَا مِرَارًا فِي هٰذَا الْأُسْبُوعِ.

6.

أَحْفَادُ الشَّيْخِ كَثِيرُونَ وَكُلُّهُمْ فِي الْحَدِيقَةِ.

Translate from English to Arabic

Type your translation, then check it. Spelling and vowel marks are graded leniently.

1.

My parents live in a small village.

2.

I have two brothers and one sister.

3.

Our grandmother cooked delicious food for us once.

4.

His granddaughter is his wife's granddaughter too.

5.

I went with my parents to my uncle's house.

6.

Each time my aunt comes to us with a gift.

Quiz: Test Your Knowledge

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