Al-Kitaab Lesson 9 Grammar

How do you turn a cardinal number into an ordinal number?

ordinal numbers are formed by taking the tri-consonant root (فعل) of the name of the cardinal number, and turning it into a form I active participle (فاعِل)

I can

استطيع

I come back

اعؤد

How to distinguish the main verb of a clause or sentence from a dependent or subordinate verb.

Formal Arabic: Add suffix, add damma on the last letter of the verb.

If the verb is proceeded by أن or -لِ then you would add a fatha on the last letter instead of a damma.

If it is a verb that ends with a ن due to it being a verb of form انتِ, انتم, هم then you would add a fatha on top of the ن.

If the verb is proceeded by أن or -لِ AND there is a ن at the end of it due to the three special forms, then you would drop the ن, if after dropping the ن, the verb ends with a و then you would also add an alif.

Spoken Arabic: Add prefix -ب