Arabic for Nerds

"Playing dominos gets you quick with Arabic numbers" | Andrew Cunningham | 9273 Roots #39 Banking expert Andrew Cunningham shares how playing dominos in Egypt built his Arabic skills, his love for Egyptian dialect, and the Sisters of Kana. yalla.li/qb4dc

Why is شَمْسٌ ("sun") Feminine? A Guide to Arabic Verb Agreement & Gender onfused why شمس (sun) takes a feminine verb? Learn the rules of Real vs. Figurative Gender (المؤنث المجازي vs الحقيقي) and master Arabic verb agreement. yalla.li/960nk

A CLASSIC | Gender matters When the internet went down on an airplane, a message appeared that raised grammatical questions. #Errabic yalla.li/1wtjw

How Do You Say the F-Word in Arabic? English uses one obscene word for everything, but Arabic splits the F-word into 2 worlds: the sanitized MSA (تبًا, اللعين) and the dialects (ن-ي-ك). So no surprise that Netflix subtitles delete ~50% of Arabic curses: yalla.li/6ab7x

Inside the Arabic Language Academy's Race to Finish Al-Mu’jam Al-Kabeer Inside Cairo's Arabic Language Academy: Ulric Shannon unpacks the 90-year mission to finish The Great Dictionary and its modern digital hurdles. yalla.li/y7l2c

A CLASSIC | How to Say You Did Something "Once" in Arabic: A Guide to the Noun of Frequency - اسم المرة Arabic has an elegant way to express how often an action occurs using the "noun of frequency" (اسم المرة), or فَعْلة. This article differentiates between the general absolu...

The Language of "Epic Fury" and Houthi Restraint | Media Arabic Booster 03/26 A sharp translation analysis of Arab media on US‑Israeli strikes: learn the Arabic vocabulary that framed early Houthi restraint and its later turn. yalla.li/i1rc4

A CLASSIC | The Meaning of Hussein: How Diminutives Work in Arabic Names Arabic diminutives (تَصْغِيرٌ) add a nuance of smallness or endearment, often making translation tricky. This article explains how names like Hussein (حُسَيْنٌ) are diminutives of Hasan (حَسَنٌ), meaning...

Remembering the Architect of Words: The Legacy of Dr. Abdul Ghani Abu Al-Azm Remembering Abdul Ghani Abu Al-Azm, the architect of the modern Arabic dictionary. His work on Al-Ghani Al-Zaher powers the translation tools we rely on. yalla.li/ma22w

"View Arabic as an identity you're adopting" | Sherif Elmetwally | 9273 Roots #38 In this 9273 Roots episode, developer Sherif Elmetwally discusses Parallel Arabic, an AI platform for acquiring dialects, and his Egyptian roots. yalla.li/7lxwd

@harkabir Thanks for telling me! Here is the link: arabic-for-nerds.com/grammar/nun-em…

@ArabicForNerds The link is missing GD

A CLASSIC | How to Use the Nun of Emphasis - نون التوكيد - in Arabic Arabic uses نُون التَّوْكِيد (Nun of Emphasis) to add strong emphasis to present tense and imperative verbs. This article explains how to form both the "light" Nun (ن with sukūn) and the more common "heavy...

The Mechanics of the Arabic Intensive Form: Cracking صِيغَةُ المُبَالَغَةِ Stop guessing root patterns. Uncover the precise classical rules behind صِيغَةُ المُبَالَغَةِ and bring absolute clarity to your Arabic morphology. yalla.li/uqaqw

A CLASSIC | Why is the Word for "War" (حَرْب) Feminine? Arabic Gender Exceptions Explained Identifying grammatical gender in Arabic can be tricky due to exceptions. This article clarifies feminine indicators (تاء تأنيث, ألف تأنيث ممدودة/مقصورة), then highlights common masculi...

A CLASSIC | License to Spell In intelligence, precision is paramount - even in spelling. A misplaced همزة can distort meaning and expose linguistic incompetence, as the CIA learned in an Arabic recruitment flyer. #Errabic yalla.li/t2t14

Lexicon of Crisis: US Tariffs and Tunisia's Institutional Atrophy | Media Arabic Booster 02/26 Deconstruct Arabic media reports on US tariffs and Tunisia's institutional decay. Explore advanced vocabulary and syntax to elevate your comprehension. yalla.li/8i51x

A CLASSIC | A Grammar Guide to Arabic Particles: When to Use إذا, إذْ, and إذًا The Arabic words إذا, إذْ, and إذًا look similar but have distinct uses. This guide clarifies إذا as a conditional conjunction for possible events, إذْ as a causal or temporal conjunction for past...

Reading the Unreadable: AI & Early Arab-American Stories Deciphering Ruq'ah script with AI: We ask the Khayrallah Center how project Fihris is recovering the history of early Arab immigrants to the Americas. yalla.li/xk5eu

A CLASSIC | The 10 Types of ما (ma) in Arabic: A Complete Guide The Arabic word ما (ma) is a powerful, versatile device. This article breaks down its ten different types, distinguishing whether it acts as an ism (noun) or harf (particle). Learn its uses in negation, questions...

Diplomatic Disconnect German Chancellor Merz visits Qatar, but the "Roundtable" banner suffers from "English-first" thinking, resulting in broken syntax and speling errors. yalla.li/x5acw