Madinah Book 1, lesson by lesson

Book 1 is the first of the Madinah books (Durus al-lugha al-ʿarabiyya), written by Dr V. Abdur Rahim to teach Arabic to people for whom it is not their language. It has 23 lessons: each one starts from a few sentences and draws a grammar point from them.

The book assumes you can already read the letters and the vowels. If not, start with the alphabet and the harakat.

The lessons

1. 1

   This is...

   هَذَا بَابٌ This is a door.

   Grammar: Demonstrative

   Lesson 1 explained

2. 2

   That is...

   هَذَا حِصَانٌ وَذَلِكَ حِمَارٌ This is a horse and that is a donkey.

   Grammar: Demonstrative

   Lesson 2 explained

3. 3

   The: ال

   الْقَلَمُ مَكْسُورٌ The pen is broken.

   Grammar: Indefinite noun, Definite noun, Moon lam, Sun lam

   Lesson 3 explained

4. 4

   Prepositions

   فِي الْبَيْتِ in the house

   Grammar: Prepositions, Diptote (no tanwin)

5. 5

   Muhammad’s book: the annexation

   كِتَابُ مُحَمَّدٍ Muhammad’s book

   Grammar: Annexation (idafa), Vocative, Connecting hamza (hamzat al-wasl)

6. 6–23

   In preparation

   Published one by one, after checking against the book.