Madinah Book 1 Lesson 1: هَذَا, مَا and مَنْ explained, with answers
What lesson 1 of Madinah Book 1 teaches
Madinah Book 1 lesson 1 is short, but the rest of the book is built on it. It teaches four things: pointing at a thing or a person that is near with هَذَا, asking a yes/no question with أَ, asking “what is this?” with مَا, and “who is this?” with مَنْ. Around these four words, the book drills 23 nouns, all of them masculine.
This article goes through each point in the order of the lesson, with the book’s sentences exactly as printed, vowels included. It assumes you can already read Arabic letters, as the book itself does. If a sentence gives you trouble, find it in the examples: each one comes with its translation.
هَذَا: pointing at something near
هَذَا means “this” or “this one.” It points out something or someone, and you use it when three conditions are met: what you point at is near, its noun is masculine, and it is singular (just one).
هَذَا بَابٌ
This is a door.
هَذَا مَسْجِدٌ
This is a mosque.
هَذَا كِتَابٌ
This is a book.
هَذَا طَبِيبٌ
This is a doctor.
The last example shows that هَذَا points at a person just as well as at an object. Throughout the lesson the three conditions are always met: one thing at a time, close to you, with a masculine noun.
Why there is no verb “to be”
هَذَا بَيْتٌ means “This is a house.” Yet the Arabic sentence has only two words. In the present tense, Arabic uses no verb “to be”: the two words simply stand side by side, and the sentence is complete.
This is the first habit to build, because it holds for every sentence of the lesson: do not look for an Arabic word for “is.” “This is a pen” is just هَذَا قَلَمٌ in Arabic. When you translate into English, add “is” yourself.
Masculine and feminine: every Arabic noun has a gender
English has no grammatical gender for things, so this point is new for English speakers. In Arabic, every noun is either masculine or feminine, objects included, and you cannot guess it from the English word. بَابٌ (door), بَيْتٌ (house), مَسْجِدٌ (mosque), مِفْتَاحٌ (key) and كُرْسِيٌّ (chair) are all masculine in Arabic.
The gender matters because هَذَا is used with masculine nouns. In lesson 1 you do not have to choose yet: every noun of the lesson is masculine, which is why the book always says هَذَا. Still, learn each noun together with its gender from the start.
Asking a yes/no question with أَ
To ask a question that is answered with yes or no, you attach أَ to the start of the sentence. أَهَذَا بَيْتٌ؟ means “Is this a house?” أَ is written joined to the next word, with no space: أَهَذَا is one word.
The answer is نَعَمْ (yes) or لَا (no). After لَا you give the right answer: after “no,” the book always says what the thing really is.
أَهَذَا بَيْتٌ؟ نَعَمْ، هَذَا بَيْتٌ
Is this a house? Yes, this is a house.
أَهَذَا سَرِيرٌ؟ لَا، هَذَا كُرْسِيٌّ
Is this a bed? No, this is a chair.
أَهَذَا مِفْتَاحٌ؟ لَا، هَذَا قَلَمٌ
Is this a key? No, this is a pen.
أَهَذَا دِيكٌ؟ نَعَمْ
Is this a rooster? Yes.
The last example comes from one of the book’s reading exercises: when the answer is yes, نَعَمْ alone can be enough. When it is no, keep the habit of completing the answer.
مَا or مَنْ: a thing or a person
مَا هَذَا؟ means “What is this?”: it is used for things and for animals. مَنْ هَذَا؟ means “Who is this?”: for people only.
مَا هَذَا؟ هَذَا قَلَمٌ
What is this? This is a pen.
مَا هَذَا؟ هَذَا دِيكٌ
What is this? This is a rooster.
مَنْ هَذَا؟ هَذَا طَبِيبٌ
Who is this? This is a doctor.
مَنْ هَذَا؟ هَذَا مُدَرِّسٌ
Who is this? This is a teacher.
Animals are the case to remember: they are not people, so you say مَا هَذَا؟ for a camel or a rooster. The book writes it this way: وَمَا هَذَا؟ هَذَا جَمَلٌ, “And what is this? This is a camel.” Note that وَ (“and”) is joined to the next word, exactly like أَ.
Lesson 1 vocabulary
The lesson introduces 23 nouns, grouped here by theme, with the meaning we keep throughout the app:
- Things and places: بَابٌ (door), مَسْجِدٌ (mosque), بَيْتٌ (house), مِفْتَاحٌ (key), قَلَمٌ (pen, pencil), كِتَابٌ (book), كُرْسِيٌّ (chair), سَرِيرٌ (bed), مَكْتَبٌ (desk), قَمِيصٌ (shirt), نَجْمٌ (star), مِنْدِيلٌ (handkerchief).
- People: طَبِيبٌ (doctor), وَلَدٌ (boy), طَالِبٌ (student), رَجُلٌ (man), مُدَرِّسٌ (teacher).
- Animals: كَلْبٌ (dog), قِطٌّ (cat), حِمَارٌ (donkey), حِصَانٌ (horse), جَمَلٌ (camel), دِيكٌ (rooster).
- Small words: هَذَا (this), مَا (what), مَنْ (who), أَ (is it…?), وَ (and), نَعَمْ (yes), لَا (no).
The small mark at the end of these nouns, as on بٌ, is the tanwin: a doubled vowel at the end of a noun that adds an “n” sound. Read each noun with that final “n,” as it is written.
Common mistakes in lesson 1
- Ignoring gender: every noun has one, even a door or a key. Learn بَابٌ as a masculine noun from day one.
- Asking مَنْ هَذَا؟ about an animal: مَنْ is for people only. For a rooster, use مَا.
- Writing أَ apart from the next word: أَ is joined, so you write أَهَذَا.
- Answering لَا and stopping there: after لَا, give the right answer, as in لَا، هَذَا قَلَمٌ.
- Looking for a word for “is”: هَذَا and the noun follow each other directly.
Answers to the yes/no picture exercise
In the picture exercise, the book asks a question with أَ under each drawing. Here are the expected answers, with what the picture shows when the answer is no:
أَهَذَا بَيْتٌ؟ لَا، هَذَا مَسْجِدٌ
Is this a house? No, this is a mosque. (picture: a mosque)
أَهَذَا مِفْتَاحٌ؟ لَا، هَذَا قَلَمٌ
Is this a key? No, this is a pen. (picture: a pen)
أَهَذَا قَمِيصٌ؟ نَعَمْ، هَذَا قَمِيصٌ
Is this a shirt? Yes, this is a shirt.
أَهَذَا نَجْمٌ؟ نَعَمْ، هَذَا نَجْمٌ
Is this a star? Yes, this is a star.
Reviewing lesson 1 before lesson 2
To check that the lesson has sunk in, hide the translations and redo the book’s exchanges in full, question and answer: مَا هَذَا؟ هَذَا بَيْتٌ, then أَهَذَا كَلْبٌ؟ لَا، هَذَا قِطٌّ. If you can say why it is هَذَا, when to use مَا or مَنْ, and what comes after لَا, you are ready to move on.
Next: Madinah Book 1 lesson 2 adds ذَلِكَ for things that are far, and lesson 3 introduces the article ال with the sun and moon letters.
In Medina Way, an app to learn Arabic based on the Madinah method, the sentences of this lesson become short exercises: you rebuild the exchanges, type the words on an Arabic keyboard, put the vowels back, and the 23 nouns come back in spaced reviews.