Lesson 42 – الدَّرْسُ الثَّاني والأرْبَعونَ
Questioning Words (2 of 3) – أدَوَات الاسْتِفْهام (٢ من ٣)
The interrogative noun: كَمْ /Kam/
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- Kam is indeclinable with a sukūn case-ending (sukūn on last letter).
- Kam is used to ask about the number and quantity. This is different from its use in English, as “how many” is used to ask about a number while “how much” is used to ask about quantity. In Arabic, we ask about number and quantity using the same word “kam”.
- The noun following it determines whether we are asking about a number or quantity. Try to notice this from the following examples:
| Answer | Question | ||
| English | Arabic | English | Arabic |
| I have five books. | /maξī khamsatu kutub-in./ | How many book do you have? | /kam kitāban maξak-a?/ |
| There are four rooms in my flat. | /fī shaqqatī arbaξatu ghuraf-in./ | How many rooms are there in your flat? | /kam ghurfatan fī shaqqatik-a?/ |
| There are ten shirts in my clothes closet. | فِي خِزَانَةِ مَلابِسِي عَشْرَةُ قمْصَانٍ. /fī khizānati malābisī ashratu qumŝân-in./ | How many shirts in your clothes closet? | كَمْ قَمِيصًا فِي خِزَانَةِ مَلابِسِكَ؟ /kam qamiŝan fī khizānati malābisik-a?/ |
| The price of the bag is thirty pounds/it costs thirty pounds | ثَمَنُ الحَقِيبَةِ ثَلاثُونَ جُنَيْهًا. /thamanu al-haqībati thalāthūna ĵunayhan/ | How much does the bag cost? | /kam thamanu al-haqība-ti?/ |
| I am twenty-five years old. | عُمْرِي خَمْسَةٌ وَعِشْرُونَ عَامًا. /ξumrī khamsatun wa-ξishrūna ξāman./ | How old are you? | /kam ξumruk-a?/ |
| I have received much. | /akhadhtu kathīran ĵiddan./ | How much care have you received from your mother? | كَمْ أَخَذْتَ مِن حَنَانِ أُمِّكَ؟ /kam akhadhta min hanāni ummik-a?/ |
- From the examples above, you will notice the following:
- In some examples, “kam” asks about a number, which is clear from following noun which should be countable such as "كِتَاب، غُرْفَة، قَمِيص".
- In other examples, kam is used to ask about a quantity, and this is also clear from the following noun which should always be uncountable such as “حَنَان”.
- In the last three examples, “kam” asks about the quantity. The names indicating this are "ثَمَن، عُمْر، حَنَان".
- In this latter case when “kam” is used to ask about the quantity, the noun following it becomes in the nominative case with a đammah, not Fatħah, vowel-ending as in the following two examples:
| Translation | Transliteration | Example |
| How old are you? | Kam ξumru-ka? | |
| How much is your book? | Kam thamanu kitābaik-a? |
- On the other hand when we ask about a number the noun after “kam” always has a Fatħah vowel-ending, sometimes with a tanwīn, as in the following:
| Translation | Transliteration | Example |
| How many books? | Kam kitāban | |
| How many rooms? | Kam ghurfatan | |
| How many shirts? | Kam qamīŝan |
- It is also possible that it does not have a tanwīn with the final vowel-ending in case it is annexed to another noun, as in the following examples:
| Translation | Transliteration | Question |
| How many science books do you have? | /kam kitāba ξulūmin maξak-a?/ | |
| How many science students are there with you in the class? | /kam ŧâliba ξulūmin maξak-a fī al-faŝl-i?/ |
- Kam can also be used for exclamation about a large number, and in this case the noun following Kam is to be signed with Kasrah or preceded by the preposition Min, as follows:
| English | Arabic |
| Oh, how many dollars we spent!! | ياه!! كَمْ دُولارٍ أَنْفَقْنَا!!
|
| Oh, how many villages I visited!! |
- It is also convenient to mention here that Kam is commonly used after preposition (bi) to ask about price as follows:
| how much is this? |