Fundamentals of Grammar | Unit 1

Lesson Number: 2
Lesson title: 1.1 Properties of the Ism-Status (Doer and Detail)

Quick Review: Ism, Fil & Harf Definitions

Lesson Objective: Introduction to the Ism beyond its definition (Doer & Detail)
- / Ism has 4 Properties - Think of the 4 Properties like 4 Pillars of a building, (the Ism
has to have these 4 properties)

- The 4 Properties are: 1. Status 2. Number
3. Gender 4. Type
(Must remember these in order)
*ONLY give Arabic definitions as you study them (not yet)
- Today were going to learn some things about status

- (Write down) 1. I was eating too much chocolate
2. My teeth began aching
3. My dentist gave me a root canal

- Imagine this is a story, whos the main character in the story? I am.

- How do you know that I am the main character? Because
- I was mentioned in the first sentence, - My in the second sentence - My & Me in the
third sentence

- If you were to put a picture to these sentences, what would you see for the words I, My,
and Me? Myself. So I could think I, My and Me mean the same thing?

- Now if I was to move around the words I, my & me in places of the other. Would the
sentences make sense? For example if I said, Me was eating too much chocolate or I
dentist gave my a root canal No. it doesnt make sense

- The words I, My, and Me each have a certain role/status in the sentence, This is kind of
what Status is in English,

- Status is all about, what the word is doing in the sentence?

- In Arabic sentences the most important character is the one that does something, so
were going to try and figure out the most important character/the doer.

- Circle the doers in the above 3 sentences. (Ans. 1. I 2. Teeth 3 Dentist )

- Sometimes in a sentence you get extra information about what the doer did. For example
if I say I ate lunch yesterday outside quickly. I added all these (underlined) details . . .

Fundamentals of Grammar | Unit 1
- The first question is. Whos the doer of the action? I. (a doer is called a

)

- Second question is what the details of the action are.

- What did I eat? Lunch. - When did I eat it? Yesterday. - Where did I eat it? Outside.
- How did I eat it? Quickly *all these are details of the action in the sentence.

- Now listen carefully to this. There are 2 types of questions you need to ask. 1. To find
out who the doer

of the Fil is, and 2. To find out the details of the Fil

- The who question would give you the doer/

of the action
- The what, when, where, how etc. would give you the detail/s of the action

- Find and underline the details in sentences 1 & 3 (skip 2).
(Ans. 1. Too much chocolate 3. Me & root canal)

2 things you need to remember.
1. To find out the doer, you need to ask who did /is doing /is going to do the Fil.
2. To find the details, the second question will be about the Fil that happened.

- Last example, tell me the doer and the detail/s.
The students studied Arabic today in the classroom for 1 hour
- Whos the

/doer? Students.

- What are the details? Studied . . .? Nope! Not studied.
Studied is past tense. Therefore its a Fil so it doesnt have a status, as status is one of
the properties of an Ism not a Fil

- So what are the details?
Arabic. Now turn that into a question. What did they study? Arabic
Today. Turn that into a question. When did they study? Today
1 hour. Turn that into a question. How long did they study? 1 hour
In the Classroom. Turn that into a question. Where did they study? In the classroom
- *Notice that when you ask the questions to find the doer and details, the question has to
have the action word (Fil) in it.

- When I ask who the doer/

and what the details are, Im really asking

- Whos the doer/

of the Fil and - What are the details of the Fil

- Quick recap: Isms have how many properties? 4.
- What are they? Status, Number, Gender, Type
- Which of these 4 have we started studying? Status.
- How many kinds of status are there in total? 3
- We know a little bit about how many? 2.
- Which ones are they? Doer /

and Detail status