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basics · grammar

ال التَعريف

Definite and indefinite nouns

The difference between "a book" and "the book"

Keywords

  • functional

"A book" is any book. "The book" is the one we both know about. Arabic marks that difference with one thing: "ال" on the front of the noun, the definite article — "ال التَعريف".

Keywords

  • noun
  • noun
  • noun

On its own, a noun is indefinite. There is no word for "a" — nothing to add.

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