PART FOUR: On Grammar: the Ruminations of a Nerd

Hello, everyone!! I'm sorry I haven't written anything since my horribly angsty (thank you, Chris) first note. I've posted three parts tonight. I hope you're all enjoying your summers!! I'm thinking of you and California ;)

Kate

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July 8, 2008

Okay, this might seem weird, but I’m going to talk more about Arabic grammar. Yes, I did go to Castilleja. And, yes, I was that IHUM kid.

If you want to actually read something less boring, skip to the bottom…

I currently know 13/14 subject pronouns (depending on how you count). Since I last wrote, I learned two more! (Female plural “they”, female plural “you”). Although this means that I have to know more verb conjugations, it does make sense to have these gender differentiations. French operates very similarly with subject pronouns, nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc. And knowing this is somewhat comforting.

The farther I get with Arabic, the more I A) am very grateful for having learned an easier foreign language first (i.e. one that is closer to English), and B) realize how strange English grammar really is.

For example,

- to make a noun plural, you’ll probably add ‘s’ (cars, books, cups). BUT, you might all add ‘es’ (dresses, busses).
- HOWEVER, plural verbs don’t end in ‘s’ (they walk, they jump, we fly, you laugh).

And, C) understand the power of Ramzi’s verb chart.

Most verbs in Arabic are composed of 3 letter roots. For each 3-letter root, there are 10 possible “patterns,” each with a different (but related!) meaning. Form 1: to study, Form 2: to teach; Form 2: to change (something), Form 5: to change (reflexive, intransitive).

Okay, so this is probably really boring. BUT, it is really neat to me. And it makes Arabic a lot easier knowing that things are related to each other, so I don’t feel like I’m reinventing the wheel every single time I learn a new verb.

Totally unrelated, but probably a lot cooler (i.e. not about grammar):

- The words for “Arabic” and “Hebrew” have all the same letters and are spelled exactly the same way, except 2 of the letters are reversed. No comment.
- We beat the Portuguese School 9-1 in soccer and some other school in a speedy 33-minute 3-set volleyball blowout.
- I’ve now had TWO dreams in Arabic. They’ve both been intensely frustrating and strange.

Dream 1: Chris (a guy in my Arabic class) was trying to ask me a question, but I didn’t understand some of the words he was using. (This mimics real life, unfortunately.)

Dream 2: I had put my beach bag too close to the ocean, and waves were now starting to sweep its contents out to sea. I was trying to get Laura (a girl in my class) to help me find my two engagement rings – yes, there were two… - but I didn’t know the words for “bag” or “ring.” So I was just kind of pointing to the ocean and talking about how my marriages were being taken away from me. (I have recently learned the words for ocean, marriage, and “It was taken”. The resulting dream, however, was certainly a strange combination.)

Next time, I will write about 2 colorful characters at the Arabic school: (1) my future “husband” from Qatar – this according to his mother, and (2) Abdulkarem, the teacher who claims to be operating a black market petrol sale out of his room in Hepburn.