We learned previously that an Arabic sentence beginning with a preposition usually translates into an English sentence starting with There is/are. This does not apply to the preposition لِ .
The noun after the ل is definite, followed by an indefinite noun. Examples:
| English | Arabic |
|---|---|
| Fatima has a sister | لفاطمةَ أختٌ |
| The teacher has a car | للمدرسِ سيارةٌ |
فاطمة above, and below, ends in a ــَـ instead of ــِـ. This is the case with all feminine names; save VERY few exceptions, like هِنْد
We can add an adjective to any of the nouns:
| English | Arabic |
|---|---|
| Fatima has a beautiful sister | لفاطمةَ أختٌ جميلةٌ |
| The teacher has a new car | للمدرسِ سيارةٌ جديدةٌ |
| The new teacher has a beautiful car | للمدرسِ الجديدِ سيارةٌ جميلةٌ |
Now look at the following examples with nouns in dual and plural:
| English | Arabic |
|---|---|
| The man has two children | للرجلِ ولدانِ |
| The students have many books | للطالباتِ كُتُبٌ كثيرةٌ |