Order of adjectives An adjective is a describing word which modifies the noun. English An adjective is positioned before the word it modifies, e.g. a blue bag or may occur after a verb, e.g. the bag is blue. The two main features of an adjective are clearly defined below: 1. Attributive: when the adjective is placed before the head noun and it attributes a quality or a characteristic to the noun. The short girl 2. Predicative: when the adjective is placed after a linking verb. The boy grew tall Words which can function in both attributive and predicative positions are referred to as the central adjectives. A big car The car is big In this example the meaning is consistent no matter where the adjective is positioned. However with certain words a change in the position of the adjective involves a change in meaning: My old friend The adjective old refers to the ‘one who has been a friend for a long period of time.’ My friend is old In this example, old implies that the friend is old in age. some words can only function in either one of these positions, and they are termed as the peripheral adjectives. The cat is asleep *The asleep cat Utter nonsense *The nonsense is utter ‘asleep’ can only be used as a predicative adjective, while ‘utter’ can only function attributively. The three levels of comparison 1- The lower degree expresses the inferiority of the subject matter using less and least: Sami is less ambitious than Ali. Sami is the least ambitious student in the class. 2- The positive degree expresses the same degree of the subject matter using as/as, so, and not as/so….as: Sami is as ambitious as Ali. Sami is so ambitious. Sami is not as ambitious as Ali. 3- The higher degree expresses comparison of the subject matter using -er/more and for superlative -est/most: Sami is more ambitious than Ali. Sami is cleverer than Ali. Sami is the cleverest student in the class. Sami is the most ambitious student in the class. There are certain adjectives that are irregular and do not follow a particular pattern, these include the following: good better the best bad worse the worst some adjectives cannot be graded and are therefore called ungradable, and are categorized into the following: Attributive-only adjectives (former, outright, chemical) Nationality adjectives in their primary sense (English, Pakistani, Scottish) Adjectives with an absolute meaning (alternative, average, equal) Arabic An adjective in Arabic is called na’at or sifa. There are two types of adjectives: 1 . َحقيقيHaqiqi: the ‘direct’ adjective post modifies the preceding noun. ع ِظي ًما َ أ َ ْج ًرا 2- سببي َ Sababi: the ‘indirect’ adjective premodifies a noun that is ْ َفصل coreferential with the head noun. ت آيَاته ِ ِكتَاب Comparison Comparisons of equality are expressed with the preposition كkaaf which gives the meaning of ‘like’ or ‘as’. The letter kaaf is prefixed to the thing or person compared with. ب ه َومنَ الناس َم ْن يَتخذُ من دُون ه اَّلل ِّ اَّلل أ َ ْندَادا يُحبُّونَ ُه ْم َك ُح The term إسم تفضيلism tafdheel is the noun of ‘higher value’ and is used to describe both the comparative and superlative forms in Arabic, whether denoting a positive or a negative meaning. 1- Comparative: The comparative adjectives generally agree with one common pattern: أ َ ْفعَ ُلafal-u . اس ِ اوا ُ لَ َخ ْل َّ ق ال ِ َّق الن ِ ت َو ْاْل َ ْر َ س َم ِ ض أ َ ْكبَ ُر ِم ْن َخ ْل 2- Superlative: it is similar to the structure of comparison but with adding al. اْلَ ِّج ْاْلَ ْك َِّب ْ يَ ْوُم A very important feature related to the study of adjectives is the agreement system. The adjective must be in complete agreement with the noun it qualifies with regard to four characteristics: 1- Definiteness (definite or indefinite articles) الرجل الطويل//رجل طويل 2- Gender (Male or female) ملكة عادلة//ملك عادل 3- Case (nominative, accusative or genitive) 4- Number (singular, dual or plural) كتابان كبيران//كتاب كبير//كتب كبيرة Syntactically, adjectives have no specific order in Arabic: التائبون العابدون الحامدون السائحون الراكعون الساجدون اآلمرون بالمعروف والناهون عن المنكر والحافظون لحدود هللا وبشر المؤمنين (التوبة )112 Gender English Gender is traditionally classed into three classifications: 1. Masculine: men, boys and male animals [higher]. 2. Feminine: women, girls, female animals [higher] and some specific inanimate objects (book, box). 3. Neuter: inanimate things, animals [lower], babies and animals whose sex we do not know. Nouns which have a distinct male and female form will take he/she/who. While the neuter gender noun will be replaced by it/which. There are certain exceptions related to the inanimate nouns: Travelling vehicles when regarded with affection or respect. E.g. ‘The ship struck an iceberg, which tore a huge hole in her side.’ Countries when referred to by name in some cases. E.g. ‘Scotland lost many of her bravest men in two great rebellions.’ Arabic Arabic is a gender specific language and all forms of nouns are classified by either one of the following genders: 1. Masculine 2. Feminine The female gender is a derivative from the masculine form and requires distinguishing factors that denotes its femininity. Hence, the female gender is divided into two classes: 1 . ُمؤنث َحقيْقيMo’annath haqiqi: the true feminine Nouns which are feminine by nature and include the following examples: أ ُ ْخت// ْإم َرأَة// نَاقَة 2- ُمؤنث غير َحقيْقي i) Nouns which follow a conventional rule of bearing any of t he three following signs at the end of the word. ة – اء – ى These three signs can apply to the true feminine as long as the word implies a feminine signification. E.g. ) ُمؤ منَة ii) Nouns which are feminine due to observation. These nouns are titled as شمس) ُمؤنث السماعية// دَار// )نَارand body parts which are in pairs: اذن// عين// كتف//يد When the verb precedes the noun it can be masculine or َ // الشمس َ but otherwise it is feminine. feminine: الشمس ْ طلَعَت ْ طلَ َع Personal pronouns English A pronoun replaces a noun for the sake of brevity. Personal pronouns are grouped according to the following categories: Person (1st –2nd – 3rd) Number (Singular – Plural) Gender (Male – Female – Neuter) Case (Subject – Object) Person Singular Plural subject object subject object 1st Masculine + Female I Me we us 2nd Masculine + Female You You You You 3rd Masculine he Him they them 3rd Feminine She her they them 3rd Neutral It It they them Arabic Personal pronouns are very distinctive as they are marked for features of person, gender, number and case. The detached personal pronouns can function in only two cases: ‘the رفعrafa nominative and نَصبnasb accusative.’ َ The number of categories of personal pronouns in Arabic is larger than in English. Person singular dual plural 1st Masculine + Female أَنا ن َْحن ن َْحن 2nd Masculine ت َ أ ْن أ ْنت َما أ ْنت ْم 2nd Feminine ت ِ أ ْن أ ْنت َما أ ْنتن 3 Masculine هو َ ه َما ه ْم 3rd Feminine ِهي ه َما هن rd Person accusative singular dual plural 1st Masculine اياي - ايانا 1st Female اياي 2nd Masculine اياك اياكما اياكم 2nd Feminine اياك اياكما اياكن 3 Masculine اياه اياهما اياهم 3rd Feminine اياها اياهما اياهن rd ايانا