Lesson 49– الدَّرْسُ التَّاسِعُ وَالأرْبَعُونَ

The Conditional Sentence -أُسْلُوب الشَّرْط

Introduction - مُقَدِّمَةٌ

  • This is lesson forty nine of our free Arabic language course. This Arabic course with images and audios will help you learn Arabic.
  • In this lesson we will study an important type of sentences in Arabic, which is “the conditional sentence” أُسْلُوبُ الشَّرْطِ.
  • The Arabic conditional sentence is made up of two clauses. The first clause is dependent on the second. The first action is the direct reason for the second. For example when we say:

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If you study well, you (will) succeed in the exam.

إنْ تَدْرُسْ جَيِّدًا، تَنْجَحْ فِي الامْتِحان.

  • We understand from the example above that the occurrence of the second action “succeed” depends on the first action “study”.
  • The conditional sentence in Arabic is made up of three parts:
    1. Conditional article.
    2. Conditional verb.
    3. Answer to the condition, which is the result depending on the condition.
  • We will learn the most important element in the conditional sentence that is the conditional article. We will also learn the two types of conditional articles:
  • The conditional articles that turn both the conditional verb and its answer into the jussive mood (in which the verb ends with a sukūn vowel-ending), as in the following two examples:

Picture

Translation

Conditional sentence

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If you sleep early, you (will) wake up early.

إنْ تَنَمْ مُبَكِّرًا، تَسْتَيْقِظْ مُبَكِّرًا.

//in tanam mubakkiran, tastayqiđh mubakkiran//

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Whenever you ask for help from your teacher, he will help you.

مَتَى تَطْلُب المُسَاعَدَة مِنْ أستاذِكَ، يُسَاعِدْكَ.

//matā taŧlub al-musāξadata min ustādhika, yusāξidka//

  • We will also study the conditional articles that do not turn the verbs of the conditional sentence into jussive, as in the following examples:

Translation

Conditional sentence

If angels come, devils (will) go.

إذا حضرتِ المَلائِكَة، ذهبتِ الشَّيَاطِين.

//Idhā ħadarat al-malā’ikatu, dhahabat ash-shayātīn//

If people know the consequence of injustice, no one will ever do injustice to another.

لَوْ يَعْرِفُ النَّاسُ عَاقِبَةَ الظُّلْمِ، ما ظَلَمَ وَاحِدٌ الآخَرَ.

//law yaξrifu an-nasu ξāqibata ađh-đhulmi, mā đhalama wāhidun al-ākhar-a//

  • N.B.: it is very important in this lesson to remember that if the past or present verb is ended with Sukūn, and preceded by a word that starts with the definition particle (al) this makes a case of two sukūn coming together, and this is not allowed in Arabic, so the first sukūn has to be changed into Fatħah, đammah, or Kasrah as the following examples:

From home

Mina-l-bayti

منَ البيتِ

Fatħah

They are the friends

Humu-l-asdiqā’u

همُ الأصدقاءُ

Đammah

The girl came

Ĵā’ati-l-bitu

جاءتِ البنتُ

Kasrah

  • So you may see many present verbs in this lesson in jussive case, and many verbs in past tense attached with feminine (tā’) but not ended with Sukūn as the rules, they will be sign ended with Kasrah because they are followed by the particle (al) as follows:

If people do their duties, the country (will) progresses and develops.

إنْ يَقُمِ النَّاسُ بِوَاجِبَاتِهِم، تتقَدَّمِ البَلدُ وتَتَطَوَّرْ.

/in yaqum in-nāsu bi-wāĵibātihim, tataqaddam il-baladu wa-tataŧawwar//

If angels come, devils (will) go.

 

إذا حَضَرَتِ المَلائِكَة، ذَهَبَتِ الشَّيَاطِين.

//Idhā ħadarat il-malā’ikatu, dhahabat ish-shayāŧīn//