Lesson 79 – الدَّرْسُ التَّاسِعُ والسَّبْعونَ
The followers (2) The adjective - التَّــوَابِع(٢)العَطْفُ وَحُروفُهُ
The coordinating particles (fa and thumma)– حروف العطف (أَوْ ، أَمْ)
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- In this part we will learn two more coordinating particles, which are (أوْ) and (أمْ), In-Shaa’-Allaah (God willing).
- Each of (أوْ) and (أمْ) is used to choose between two possibilities, with the meaning of the English linking word (or). Therefore the meaning of the sentence is to be related to just one of the two words linked by (أوْ) and (أمْ), not to both of them (unlike what happens with the particle (وَ). Consider the following examples:
| Picture | English | Arabic |
|
| I will read a book or a story | |
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| In summer I will help my father or I will travel to my grandfather |
- The difference between the particle (أمْ) and the particle (أنْ) is that (أمْ) is used in the question sentence, and after the (hamzah) of similitude (i.e. the hamzah which makes the two possibilities equal, and comes originally after the noun سَوَاءٌ which means similar, or equal) Consider the following examples:
| Reason of using (أمْ) | English | Arabic |
| Question | Are you a student or a teacher? | |
| Question | Did you understand, or the lesson was difficult? | |
| Question | Did you listen to the news, or the TV was turned off. | |
| Question | Did Tarik come or Saeed | |
| After the hamzah of similitude | I do not drink lemon juice, either it is sweet or acidulous | |
| After the hamzah of similitude | Either the shirt is expensive or cheap, I will buy it. | |
| After the hamzah of similitude | Either you go to the market or don’t, you will not find apples today | سواءٌ أذَهَبْتَ إلى السوق أمْ لَمْ تذْهَبْ لَنْ تَجِدْ تِفَّاحا الْيومَ |
- If there is neither a question nor a hamzah of similitude, it is obligatory to use (أوْ). Therefore (أوْ) will be used for the most meanings of the English word (or) which links between two possibilities, as follows:
| Example | Meaning of (أوْ) | |
| English | Arabic | |
| Take the red pen or the green pen | Choice | |
| Travel today or tomorrow | ||
| Don’t write your name, nor your father’s | Nor | |
| I do not know whether this is a boy or a girl | Doubt | |
| The Arabic word can be a noun, a verb, or a particle | Division | |
- As you may notice, each of (أوْ) and (أمْ) can join two nouns, two verbs, or two sentences. In all cases the following word (or words) is supposed to be in the same grammatical case of the preceding word.
- It is worth mentioning here that in Arabic we have to repeat the coordinating particle if there are more than two coordinated words as in the following examples:
| English | Arabic |
| I saw Muhammad, Ahmed, and Ali | |
| I will drink a tea, a coffee, or a juice. |