التَّعْرِيفُ بِالنَّفْسِ
Self Introduction

The complete material of book lesson 5: Ahmad introduces himself to his class — where he was born, where he lives, how old he is, what he does in his free time, which languages he speaks and what his goals are. Fifteen new verbs, the first preposition column in the verb table, and the second big grammar table of the book: the future tense with سَـ and سَوْفَ.

1. The dialogue
2. Vocabulary
3. Verbs
4. Expressions
5. Grammar I — the future tense
6. Grammar II — the sentence patterns of the dialogue
7. What the teacher tests
8. Role-play: introduce yourself

1 · The dialogue (p. 35)

A teacher asks Ahmad, a new student, to stand up and introduce himself to the class. The questions the teacher asks are exactly the ones your own teacher will ask you in the role-play — learn the answers as a template for yourself.

2 · Vocabulary (pp. 36–38)

About yourself: where you come from, where you live, your age, time, family, languages, goals. Several words you met in earlier tests now get their official entry (جَدِيدٌ، مَدِينَةٌ، لُغَةٌ). Diptote plurals (ḍamma, no tanwīn): سُعَدَاءُ، مَنَاطِقُ، مَرَاكِزُ.

About me (p. 36)

Goals (p. 38)

Synonym and antonym (p. 37)

You already know أَهْلٌ from أَهْلًا وَسَهْلًا. Its plural أَهَالٍ ends in kasra-tanwīn although it is a nominative — the last letter is a hidden ي, like ثَانِي in lesson 4. Turkish ahali (“the inhabitants”) is the same plural. The other synonym page (p. 39) is empty.

3 · Verbs (pp. 40–41)

Fifteen verbs — the biggest table so far. For the first time the narrow column الحَرْفُ (“the particle”) is filled: it shows the word that belongs with the verb. Learn it as part of the verb, like German sprechen mit or Turkish -de oturmak.

The participle page (p. 41) again lists only the English meanings. Turkish knows most of the maṣdars: istitaat اِسْتِطَاعَةٌ, vukuf وُقُوفٌ, tarif, likâ لِقَاءٌ, ikamet إِقَامَةٌ, buluğ بُلُوغٌ, ferağ فَرَاغٌ, muhabbet مَحَبَّةٌ, kıraat قِرَاءَةٌ, kaza قَضَاءٌ, tekellüm تَكَلُّمٌ, taallüm تَعَلُّمٌ.

The particle column الحَرْفُ

قَضَى has no preposition: the column shows its usual object, الوَقْتَ “the time”, in fatḥa. After every real preposition the noun takes kasra, as always.

4 · Expressions التَّعْبِيرُ (p. 42)

• مَوْلُودٌ “born” is a describing word, not a verb — أَنَا مَوْلُودٌ is literally “I [am] born”. Turkish Mevlid (the Prophet's birth) is the same root و ل د, also in وَالِدٌ father, وَلَدٌ child.
• بَعِيدٌ عَنْ takes عَنْ, قَرِيبٌ مِنْ takes مِنْ — learn them as pairs. In the dialogue both describe مَنْطِقَةٍ, so they are feminine: بَعِيدَةٍ عَنِ … وَقَرِيبَةٍ مِنْ …. Used as “near” on its own, it is قَرِيبًا مِنِّي with fatḥa-tanwīn.
• بِجِوَارِ = بِـ + جِوَارٌ “in the neighbourhood of” — Turkish civar. It is followed by a noun in kasra or an ending: بِجِوَارِكَ next to you.
• وَقْتُ الفَرَاغِ = “time of emptiness” — the maṣdar of فَرَغَ “to be empty”. German Freizeit, Turkish boş vakit: both say “empty / free time” too.

5 · Grammar I — the future tense السِّينُ وَسَوْفَ (p. 43)

The good news: there is nothing new to conjugate. Take the present tense of lesson 4 exactly as it is and put either سَـ (glued to the verb) or سَوْفَ (a separate word) in front. The book calls the first the near future and the second the far future.

The future of “I want to …” is already built into Ahmad's sentences: أُرِيدُ أَنْ أَبْدَأَ تِجَارَةً “I want to start a business” — said with سَـ it becomes a plan: سَأَبْدَأُ تِجَارَةً “I will start a business.” Note the ending: after أَنْ fatḥa (أَبْدَأَ), after سَـ the normal ḍamma (سَأَبْدَأُ).

6 · Grammar II — the sentence patterns of the dialogue

A self-introduction is a fixed set of questions and answers. Each pattern below is one block you can reuse with your own facts.

6.1 “Can you …?” — هَلْ تَسْتَطِيعُ أَنْ …

هَلْ تَسْتَطِيعُ أَنْ تَقِفَ وَتُعَرِّفَ بِنَفْسِكَ؟

The same shape as أُرِيدُ أَنْ … from lesson 3: a verb, أَنْ, and a second verb that ends in fatḥa. When two verbs follow أَنْ, both take fatḥa: تَقِفَ وَتُعَرِّفَ. In this lesson: أُحِبُّ أَنْ أَقْرَأَ, أُحِبُّ أَنْ أَقْضِيَ (the ي shows the fatḥa, like أَشْتَرِيَ), أُرِيدُ أَنْ أَتَعَلَّمَ, أُرِيدُ أَنْ أَبْدَأَ, سَعِيدٌ … وَأَنْ أَكُونَ بَيْنَكُمْ.

6.2 Where are you from? — مِنْ أَيِّ بَلَدٍ أَنْتَ؟

أَيٌّ “which” is followed by the noun it asks about, in kasra — the “X of Y” shape: أَيِّ بَلَدٍ “which of countries”. After مِنْ it is itself in kasra (أَيِّ). تَرَعْرَعْتُ is the past of تَرَعْرَعَ with the ending ـْتُ “I” — the book has not given the past-tense persons yet; recognise it and use it as a fixed phrase.

6.3 Where do you live? — three verbs for “live”

أُقِيمُ هُنَا فِي أَمْرِيكَا الآنَ، أَسْكُنُ فِي مَنْطِقَةٍ بَعِيدَةٍ عَنِ الجَامِعَةِ

Ahmad uses أُقِيمُ for the country where he is staying for now, and أَسْكُنُ for the area where his flat is. The describing words copy the feminine noun and its kasra: مَنْطِقَةٍ بَعِيدَةٍ … وَقَرِيبَةٍ.

6.4 How old are you? — كَمْ تَبْلُغُ مِنْ عُمْرِكَ؟

Turkish asks kaç yaşındasın, German wie alt bist du; Arabic asks how far you have “reached” along your lifespan. The answer repeats the verb in the “I” form: تَبْلُغُ → أَبْلُغُ, عُمْرِكَ → عُمْرِي. The number words themselves come later in the book — for your own age, ask your teacher for the number and drop it into the frame.

6.5 Many students live … — verb before or after the subject

Look at the verb: يَسْكُنُ in the question, يَسْكُنُونَ in the answer — both about students. The rule behind it: when the verb comes first, it stays singular (only the gender is shown: يَـ for men, تَـ for women); when the people are named before the verb, the verb takes the full plural ending. The teacher's test uses verb-first sentences on p. 40: يَتَعَلَّمُ طُلَّابُنَا “our students learn”, تُحِبُّ صَدِيقَتُكِ “your friend (f) loves”.

طُلَّابٌ آخَرُونَ: the describing word copies the plural of people with ـُونَ. آخَرُ itself is a diptote — no tanwīn on the singular.

6.6 How many languages? — كَمْ لُغَةً تَتَكَلَّمُ بِهَا؟

وَكَمْ لُغَةً تَتَكَلَّمُ بِهَا؟ — أَتَكَلَّمُ بِالعَرَبِيَّةِ وَالإِنْجِلِيزِيَّةِ

After كَمْ “how many” the noun is singular with fatḥa-tanwīn (لُغَةً, not لُغَاتٌ) — the shape you saw in lesson 4. بِهَا is the verb's particle بِـ plus ـهَا “it”, pointing back to لُغَة: “how many languages do you speak with?”

6.7 Arabic, English, French — the ending ـِيَّةٌ

العَرَبِيَّةُ · الإِنْجِلِيزِيَّةُ · الفَرَنْسِيَّةُ · السُّعُودِيَّةُ · الدَّوْلِيَّةُ

Turkish has the same ending as -î: Arabî, İslamî, dinî. Added to a name or noun it means “belonging to”: عَرَبِيَّةٌ Arab(ic), دَوْلِيَّةٌ international (L4). The language names are feminine because they describe اللُّغَةُ: the full form is اللُّغَةُ الفَرَنْسِيَّةُ “the French language”, and on its own الفَرَنْسِيَّةُ means the same. المَمْلَكَةُ العَرَبِيَّةُ السُّعُودِيَّةُ is one noun with two such describing words: “the Arabian Saudi kingdom” — in the dialogue shortened to السُّعُودِيَّةُ.

6.8 What are your goals? — plurals of things are “she”

مَا أَهْدَافُكَ الخَاصَّةُ؟ — لَدَيْكَ أَهْدَافٌ رَائِعَةٌ

أَهْدَافٌ “goals” is a plural, but the describing word is feminine singular: رَائِعَةٌ, الخَاصَّةُ. This is the rule for plurals of things (not people): they behave like “she”. You saw it in lesson 4 without the label: شُقَقٌ … فِيهَا “apartments … in her”. For people the plural stays plural: طُلَّابٌ آخَرُونَ.

أَهْدَافُكَ الخَاصَّةُ: “your goals” is definite (the ending ـكَ makes it so), so the describing word takes ال. Compare indefinite أَهْدَافٌ رَائِعَةٌ “wonderful goals”.

6.9 Chains of nouns — “X of Y of Z”

The lesson 4 rule, now with three links: only the last noun may carry ال; every noun after the first ends in kasra. In the dialogue عُلُومَ has fatḥa because it is the thing learned (أَتَعَلَّمَ عُلُومَ …), but دِينِ and الإِسْلَامِ keep their kasra whatever happens to the first word.

6.10 Endings on small words

بَيْنَنَا · بَيْنَكُمْ · مِنِّي · بِجِوَارِكَ · لَكُمْ · لَدَيْكَ

The possessive endings of lesson 2 sit on prepositions too: مَرْحَبًا بِكَ بَيْنَنَا “welcome among us”, أَنْ أَكُونَ بَيْنَكُمْ “to be among you”, شُكْرًا لَكُمْ “thanks to you (all)”. مِنْ + ـِي doubles its ن: مِنِّي.

7 · What the teacher tests (Student Test pp. 37–44)

7.1 Read and translate (p. 37) — a different dialogue

Unlike lesson 4, the test does not reprint the book dialogue. It is a new conversation on the same pattern: a professor and a student called Yasir, who is from Morocco and lives in Egypt. Read it aloud, translate it, then click to check.

Words in the test dialogue that are not in the book's tables:

Misprint: the test vowels “area” as مِنْطَقَةٍ; the book's spelling is مَنْطِقَةٌ (p. 36), used above. Note also that the test calls the speaker يَاسِرٌ with tanwīn, but in يَا يَاسِرُ the name loses it — as with يَا أَحْمَدُ.

7.2 Translate the future forms into English (p. 38)

Fourteen forms, one of each verb. Strip off سَـ, read the prefix and ending against the table in section 5, then look up the verb in section 3. Answer key:

Traps: سَتَتَكَلَّمُونَ has two تَـ in a row — the first is the “you” prefix, the second belongs to the verb (تَكَلَّمَ). سَيَقْضِيَانِ: the ي of يَقْضِي stays before ـَانِ. Forms with تَـ and no ending are “you (m)” or “she” — give both.

7.3 Conjugate thirteen verbs (p. 39)

Six columns, each a pronoun plus a tense: مُضَارِع = present, مُسْتَقْبَل = future. The test leaves out لَقِيَ and قَضَى. Answer key in three tables:

7.4 Translate the sentences into English (p. 40)

• Find the subject after the verb. Most of these sentences start with the verb (6.5): يَلْقَى أَخِي صَدِيقَهُ = meets — my brother — his friend. The subject is in ḍamma, the object in fatḥa: طُلَّابُنَا (subject, 13) vs. طُلَّابَكُمْ (object, 3).
• A feminine subject → تَـ on the verb: تَبْلُغُ أُخْتِي, تُحِبُّ صَدِيقَتُكِ, سَتَبْدَأُ مُعَلِّمَتُهُمُ. Here تَـ means “she”, not “you”.
• New words: أَبِي my father (the book's word is وَالِدِي), جِيرَانٌ neighbours (same root as بِجِوَارِ — Turkish civar), بِجِدٍّ seriously, diligently (Turkish ciddi), خَمْسَ سَنَوَاتٍ five years.
• Row 14: the test prints مُعَلِّمَتُهُمْ الدَّرْسَ; before ال the sukūn becomes the helping ḍamma, مُعَلِّمَتُهُمُ الدَّرْسَ — like وَعَلَيْكُمُ السَّلَامُ.

7.5 Translate the sentences into Arabic (p. 41)

Eight sentences, each with a present half and a future half. Model answers from the words of the book and the test; the words that neither has given yet are marked underneath.

• Pattern for all eight: put the people first and the verb takes its full ending (المُعَلِّمُونَ … يَتَكَلَّمُونَ, 6.5); for the future just add سَـ (section 5). فِي المُسْتَقْبَلِ “in the future” is from the test dialogue.
• Not yet in book or test — confirm with your teacher: 3 سَيُسَافِرُ “he will travel” (from السَّفَرُ in the test dialogue; with the known verb سَيَذْهَبُ إِلَى أَسْبَانِيَا “he will go” you are safe) · 4 أُخْرَى, the feminine of آخَرُ, needed because مَنْطِقَةٌ is feminine · 5 يَوْمَ الجُمُعَةِ “on Friday” (Turkish cuma) · 8 النَّاسُ “people” (Turkish nas).
• 6: الجُدُدُ is the plural of جَدِيدٌ from p. 36 — teachers are people, so the describing word goes plural (6.8).
• 8: بَلَدٍ مُسْلِمٍ uses the known word مُسْلِمٌ. The usual phrase is بَلَدٍ إِسْلَامِيٍّ “an Islamic country”, with the ـِيٌّ ending of 6.7 — ask which your teacher prefers.
• 1: صَغِيرَةٍ small (f) is from lesson 3; 7: أَدْرُسَ after أَنْ, أَفْتَحَ from the test dialogue.

7.6 Describe the picture (p. 42)

The picture: a young man in a room in Cairo, reading at a table by the window, mosques outside; in a thought bubble his family at a table in Paris. The prompt: He is Muhammad, he is living in Cairo but his family is from Paris. He grew up in France. He is in Egypt to study Arabic and has many goals in the future… A model description:

• Built from this lesson (مَوْلُودٌ فِي، بِجِوَارِ، لِـ، سَـ / سَوْفَ، أَهْدَافٌ كَثِيرَةٌ), lesson 4 (غُرْفَةٌ, and from its test كُرْسِيٌّ، يُفَكِّرُ فِي) and the L2 maṣdar دِرَاسَةٌ. لِدِرَاسَةِ = “for the purpose of studying” — the لِـ of p. 42 + maṣdar.
• تَرَعْرَعَ is the plain past “he grew up” — the form the verb table lists.
• Confirm with your teacher: the city and country names القَاهِرَةُ Cairo, بَارِيسُ Paris, فَرَنْسَا France (none in the book; بَارِيسَ takes fatḥa after مِنْ like مِصْرَ), and لَدَيْهِ “he has” (already marked in lesson 4).

7.7 Role-play (p. 43) and checklist (p. 44)

The test says: “Now role-play with your teacher and talk about your living situation, free time, background and goals!” — see section 8. The final checklist:

• Can read fluently short paragraphs with ḥarakāt → both dialogues, section 1 and 7.1
• Good understanding of sentences about self, others and especially family → section 6, 7.4
• Ability to talk about their life situation and background → 6.2–6.4, section 8
• Ability to use present and future tense → section 5, 7.2, 7.3, 7.5
• Has mastered previous topics such as الضَّمَائِرُ (pronouns) and أَسْمَاءُ الإِشَارَةِ (pointing words) → small words sheet

8 · Role-play: introduce yourself (p. 43)

Four topics: background, living situation, free time, goals. A skeleton in the order of the dialogue — fill the dots with what is true for you:

Not in the book yet — confirm the forms with your teacher: التُّرْكِيَّةُ Turkish and الأَلْمَانِيَّةُ German (built like الفَرَنْسِيَّةُ, 6.7), القُرْآنُ and الحَدِيثُ, and your country and city names. هَدَفِي أَنْ … “my goal is to …” combines هَدَفٌ + ـِي with the أَنْ of 6.1.

Questions the teacher is likely to ask, and the shape of the answer:

The teacher may also ask you to turn your goals into the future on the spot: أُرِيدُ أَنْ أَتَعَلَّمَ … → سَأَتَعَلَّمُ …, أُرِيدُ أَنْ أَقْرَأَ … → سَوْفَ أَقْرَأُ …. Watch the last vowel: fatḥa after أَنْ, ḍamma after سَـ / سَوْفَ.

Primary source

Study Book pp. 35–43 — dialogue (35), vocabulary (36, 38), synonym/antonym table (37; p. 39 is empty), verbs with the particle column (40), participle meanings (41), expressions (42) and the future-tense table (43). Student Test pp. 37–44 is exactly what the teacher will put in front of you.

Next

Lesson 6 — My Day (Study Book pp. 44–53).

The four forms of every verb so far, now including this lesson's fifteen, are on the verb sheet; the new small words (أَيٌّ، بَيْنَ، بَعِيدٌ عَنْ، بِجِوَارِ، سَوْفَ) are on the small words sheet.