You (dual) look - m or of?

Community-Created Courses Arabic
1

In http://www.memrise.com/course/44611/basic-arabic-vocabulary-1/39/, this phrase:

أَنْتُمَا تَنْظُرَانِ

Is translated as “you (dual) look”. Based on the conventions from the rest of that level, that means it’s the masculine form. However, from what I’ve learned of other verb forms so far in that course, usually a conjugation beginning with “ta-” is feminine, whereas with “ya-” is masculine. The “-ani” ending also seems more like feminine conjugations in other items in the course.

Is this an exception, and really masculine? Or is it an error in the course, and it should be “you (female dual) look”?

2

Usually what begin with “ya” is masculine for he/they “gha’ib al moudakar” (single dual or plural) and some others as well.
And the “ta” is usually for you “al moukhatab” and they (feminine plural).
and usually you (dual) is same for masculine and feminine.

You can check with a conjugation table and compare to see the difference it will make it easier for you to learn arabic conjugation :slight_smile:
conjugation table : http://acon.baykal.be/index.php?r3=ر&r2=ظ&r1=ن&type=I&pvowel=a&ivowel=u&display=western
I explained it badly but i hope my reply helped.
Good luck :slight_smile:

3

In other words, there is no separate feminine form for dual second person (usually) ?

4

Exactly, and to get more informations read this : http://allthearabicyouneverlearnedthefirsttimearound.com/p1/p1-ch5/the-dual-of-nouns-adjectives-pronouns-and-verbs/

Although هُما means “they” dual for both masculine and feminine,
there is a separate verb conjugation for the two genders. The suffix for
the masculine is just an alif. Thus هما درسا means “They (masc. dual)
studied.” “They (fem. dual) studied” is هما دَرَسَتا What we have done
in both conjugations is add an alif to the third person singular
conjugation for each gender so that دَرَسَ becomes درسا. and دَرَسَتْ
becomes دَرَسَتا

For انتما the conjugation is the same for both masculine and
feminine. We acid an alif to the second person masculine plural suffix.
Thus “You studied (dual, masc. and fem.)” is انتما درستا.

5

Hello,
أنتما تنظران
means: you (two people) are looking. this can be two men, or two women, or a man and a woman.
(antuma) is the subject, and (tandhurani) is the verb in the present tense.
for the “ta” and “ya” in the beginning of the verb in the present tense, these are called “حروف المضارعة”,
you add one of these letters at the beginning of the verb in the past tense, in order to express the same verb in the present.
these letters are regrouped in this word “أَنيت” or “نأيت”:
a
na
ya
ta

The verb “to look” in the past is : نَظَرَ
if I want to use this verb in the present, I add one of these letters at the beginning, right?
now, which letter do I choose?

if I am talking about myself, I use (a): أنا أنْظُرُ: I look
if more than one are talking about themselves, they use (na): نحن نَنْظُرُ we look
if one person (a king or an important person is talking about herself) she uses (na)
if I am talking to a man, I use (ta) أنتَ تَنْظُرُ You look (singular masc)
if I am talking to a woman, I use (ta) with the (ين: ياء المخاطبة) أنتِ تنظرِين you look (singular fem)
if I am talking to 2 people, I use (ta) and I add the (ani): أنتما تنظران you look
if I am talking to a group of men, I use (ta) and I add the (ouna) أنتم تنظرون you look
if I am talking to a group of women, I use (ta) and I add the (ن: نون النسوة) أنْتُنَّ تنظُرْنَ you look

If I am talking about people, it is the same thing, but I use (ya) in the place of (ta) for the masculine, and keep (ta) for the feminine.
he looks هو ينظر
she looks هي تنظر
هما ينظران they (2 men) look
هما تنظران they (2 women) look
هم ينظرون they (more than 2 men) look
هن تنظرن they (more than 2 women) look

the (ani) when talking to/about 2 people, has nothing to do with the gender: the “a” is called “the alif of two” ألف المُثَنَّى
it can be in the verb, but also in the noun, and “the alif” becomes “ya” depending on the grammar.

هما مُعَلِّمان (في حالة الرفع)…they (2 men) are teachers
لعِب الطفل مع المعلمَيْن (في حالة الجر) … the kid played with the 2 teachers
رأيتُ المعلمَيْن (في حالة النصب) … I saw the 2 teachers

the (ouna) is used to talk about more than 2 people, it is called (واو الجمع) (waw of the plural), which becomes (ي) depending on the grammar:
هم مُعَلِّمُون
رأيت المُعَلِّمِينَ
لعب الطفل مع المعلِّمِينَ

please be careful about:
المُعَلِّمَيْنِ and المُعَلِّمِينَ
the difference is in the (shakla) of the last letter of the singular (المعلم) and the (ين)

I hope that everything is clear now, if you still have difficulties, I would be glad to help.

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