Very informative indeed. In the vocabulary section the word jeddan, there is a mistake in the meaning, perhaps an oversight.

Thanks a lot Haroon10, you are right. We'll correct this very soon.

Shokran again.

Give the guys a break they are doing a great job.

Cheers
David

Marhaba,

Just wanted to say I recently discovered your podcasts and I have become a devoted follower. I have been sharing them with many friends who are learning Arabic. I was especially happy to see this episode as I will be traveling to as-Sham this summer and want to make sure I can find the AC if I need it!!!

You guys are doing great work! Shukran jazeelan!

the speaking practice exercise is very usefull-if possible you should add this to all your lessons as it helps a lot in getting from passive to active knowledge of this beautifull language- thanks lads

Hay plop, glad you’re finding the speaking practice exercise useful. Emily Oblong recently joined the ArabicPod team, part time, to create some of these. We also thought they would be useful

Thanks again for a great lesson! I'm Abhishek from India and I've been self-studying Arabic for about six months now. Being a language lover (I speak 10) I have a weakness for technicalities rather than the practical side. So now that I'm on board, I will be asking you tons of questions

Firstly, the formation of the imperative. In a textbook I read that the sound of the Alif at the start of the order largely depends on the middle vowel in present tense. so if its aktubu then it becomes uktub- write! But the book also said that if the vowel is either a or i- in both cases- the alif is pronounced as 'I'.e.g.- yaghsil- ighsil! That doesn't tally with the word for switch off in this lesson- 'Atfi'- which starts with A. Was the textbook wrong? When do you use alif with the A sound in imperatives?Or is this a very flexible system?

Continuing the discussion on imperatives...one of the things I love about Arabic is the structures and derived forms. In the audio transcript, you gave sha3'3'il as 'turn on'. In another lesson about the TV, you said '3'ayyir al qanah'. So does that mean that for Form II verbs, the imperative is 1 a 2 2 i 3 (1,2,3 refer to the 3 root letters) ?? And does this sh-3'-l come from the same root as mash3'ool, sho3'ol? Can you please give a grammar lesson soon on how to derive imperatives?
Fourthly, I thought ma was used to negate verbs in the past tense and la in the present tense. Why is ma used with 'ma 3andi manaa3' when it's in the present tense? And besides- :and isn't a verb at all- it's a preposition, right? So does that mean that ma, in a sense, negates prepositions?
Fifthly (phew, I'm not done yet, sorry!)... the phrase 'in shi't'- isn't this a form of the In Sha'a which we find in 'In Sha'a Allah!''? If God wishes...so maybe a better translation for in shi't would be if you 'wish'. Is 'sha'a 'used only in classical phrases like this or does it have common daily applications? And is it always in past tense (sha'a, shi't) Can you give some examples if it is used in present tense.
What is the plural of shubbaak? From which root is marwa7a derived (what does rawaHa mean- circulate??) Does mukayyif similarly come from k-y-f root we see in 'kayf'(how) I guess that talks about conditions too, right- and mukayyif means conditioner...
Sorry I'm blabbering away- I just find myself head over heels in love with Arabic and I have to give you the credit for that. This is the only place I can share these questions and suggestions...so I don't believe in being modest here
Thanks a ton and keep up the fabulous work. In fact I'm an RJ on my local university radio. We're now giving lessons on a regional language in India, Marathi- and I'm modeling the podcasts on your excellent formats! Shokran Jazeelan!

Ahlan panditji,
The book is right, but there is a bit missing. It is only the verbs that have a root of three letters that take the rule you mentioned, so the 7arakah (short vowel) of the letter in the middle decides how to pronounce the alef at the beginning of the imperative. So (jama3a جمَع) becomes (ijma3إجمع) starting with (i إ) because of the 7araka on the (m م)letter. The root of (A6fe2 أطفئ) is four-letters word (a6fa2a أطفأ) so that rule does not apply to it. We can always make a special lesson about it so everyone benefit from it.
Regarding to (maa 3endy ما عندي) , it is right what you said, (3end عند) is not a verb in Arabic although it means (have) in English. However, it is not a preposition, it is actually adverb (6'arf makaan ظرف مكان). This can take some time to explain, for the moment, always use either (ma 3endy ما عندي) or (laysa 3endy ليس عندي) when you want to say (I don't have).
The verb (shaa2 شاء) could mean (wish or want) and the present tense of it is (yashaa2 يشاء) like saying(هل تشاء أن تذهب الى الحديقة؟ Do you want to go to the garden?). It is used in classical Arabic and not usual to hear it in the street.
The plural of (Shubbaak) is (shabaabeek), the word (merwa7ah) is derived from (rawwa7a) which is to relax!! and yes, (mukayyef) means conditioner.
Welcome on board again and we hope you benefit from ArabicPod.