the nuts & bolts of arabic- english translation almanna the nuts and bolts of arabic-english...

i

The Nuts & Bolts of Arabic-

English Translation

Ali Almanna

ii

This e-version is printed for teaching and proofreading purposes

only. The book has not been published yet by any publisher.

© Ali Almanna. 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without

written permission of the authors.

Cover designed by Sara Al Fakhri

Typeset by Al-Janub Typesetters, Iraq, Basra

Cover painting: Lateef Alsamhan

iii

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Pre-translation techniques

Syntactic parsing 6

Pre-transferring adjustment 10

Revision 13

1

5

Chapter 2 Narrating events in the past

Verbs: finite & non-finite verbs 16

Collocation 20

Cognate accusative 22

Negative in the past 25 ما ,لم

Negative in the past + ability 27

Class shift & unit shift 28

Causation & transitivity 32

Adverbs of manner 37

Interrogative sentences in the past 42

Passive voice in the past 44

Revision 49

15

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Translating tenses and aspects

Tenses versus aspects 54

Past tenses 55

Present tenses 66

Future tenses 75

Revision 82

Translating modes of narration

Types of sentences 87

The main changes & translation 88

Reporting verbs in the news media 92

Modes of narration in literary texts 102

Revision 108

53

86

Chapter 5 Translating articles, expressions of

quantity and partitives

Articles 112

111

iv

a/an, Ø & nunation 112

the, Ø & 114 أل

Expressions of quantity 120

Partitives 123

Revision 128

Chapter 6 Translating modality

Modality 132

Types of modality 133

Translating modality 134

Modality: different functions 135

Revision 143

131

Chapter 7 Translating connectors

Conjuncts introduced 148

Addition 150

Contrast 153

Reason 157

Purpose 159

Result 162

Time clause 164

Conditional clause 168

Focusing, linking & contrasting 172

It is + adjective/past participle + that 175

Back to simple sentences 179

Revision 186

147

Chapter 8 Discourse markers

Summarizing & rounding off 190

Numbering & ordering points 191

Reformulation 191

Replacement & correction 193

Comparison: similarity 194

Comparison: dissimilarity 195

Exemplifying & narrowing down 196

Elaborating 198

Ignoring & discounting 198

Emphasizing 199

189

v

Order of importance 200

Particularizing 200

Generalizing 201

Balancing contrasting points 201

Attitude markers 203

Revision 206

References 207

Introduction

The Nuts and Bolts of Arabic-English Translation is an academic textbook.

The book is designed primarily for those whose mother tongue is either

Arabic or English and who have some knowledge of both linguistics and

translation. This book is aimed primarily at undergraduate students of

translation along with their instructors throughout the world in view of the

growing number of universities in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and the

Arab world that are now offering such courses in translation. The book aims

at:

! raising awareness of the pitfalls specific to translation and

! developing and honing translators’ competences, in particular

linguistic, translational, contrastive and evaluative competence.

The ‘core’ language of this publication is English in order to appeal to a wider

audience. Traditionally, the golden rule has been that one should translate

only into one’s native language. However, for various reasons this rigid

position is no longer being applied and translators are increasingly

encouraged to work in both directions.

The book does not confine itself to one direction, but focuses on translation in

both directions: translating from Arabic into English and vice versa. It

features authentic materials taken from a wide range of sources, including:

! media

! business

! religious texts

! literature

! legal texts

KEY FEATURES OF THE BOOK

! It highlights the main similarities and differences between Arabic and

English.

! It provides the readers with different types of assignments to develop

and hone their competences (be they linguistic, translational,

contrastive or evaluative).

! It provides the students and instructors with a great number of

supporting exercises and assignments that can be used for a range of

purposes.

Introduction 2

! It provides translation students with limited previous experience of

translation with materials to help them reach an acceptable

professional level of translation competence.

! It highlights the importance of some pre-translation techniques, such

as syntactic parsing and pre-transferring adjustment.

! Each chapter closes with a wide-ranging selection of questions and

exercises.

OBJECTIVES OF THE BOOK

The overall aim of the book is to develop a professional translation

competence in all essential areas in students and trainees, whether their

mother tongue is Arabic or English, by providing a suitably wide range of

bidirectional (i.e. Arabic>English and English>Arabic) practice materials for

them and their teachers/trainers. Such competence is to be developed from the

basis of a contrastive study of this language pair, but is to embrace not just

contrasting grammar but also such matters as awareness of collocations,

stylistics and cohesive devices and the identification of text types. The

intention behind this very practical course is to gradually build up familiarity

with the linguistic and stylistic norms of the target language, whether English

or Arabic, through examples and practical tests that also demonstrate and

highlight the professional skill of translation annotation. Being a practical

course, the book seeks to develop the application of intelligent translation

procedures, with reference as necessary to the theories underpinning them.

MAIN ELEMENTS OF METHODOLOGY

With all this in mind, the first chapter emphasizes and illustrates certain pre-

translation techniques as a necessary starting point for translation training.

These are syntactic parsing (analysing the units of the source text) and pre-

transferring adjustment (the exercise of re-writing a whole source text, or

elements within it, intralingually – that is, in its original language), techniques

that are seen as enabling would-be translators to gain a better insight into their

source texts and thus helping them plan suitable and effective translation

procedures. The general pedagogical approach here is to provide students and

their instructors or trainers with sufficient closely-examined examples of short

source texts in both languages, systematically building up understanding of

(and the ability to recognize) simple, compound and complex sentences,

dependent clauses and other such elements of text. The problems caused by

failure to clearly identify the subject of a sentence are also illustrated. All

such explanations and elucidations are highlighted for greater ease of study

Ali Almanna The Nuts and Bolts of Arabic-English Translation 3

and reference, and at the end of the chapter revision materials are offered

(source texts in both languages) in order that students may check and

consolidate their understanding of the chapter’s main points (with help and

feedback of course from those training them).

The succeeding chapters continue in the same way, tackling in sequence

translation issues arising from such areas of language as narration in the past,

tense and aspect, articles, quantifiers, modality and connectors (and cross-

referencing as necessary for greater ease of study), before finally presenting

for examination and practice a range of different text types. In addition to

providing a wealth of annotated examples for study, these chapters aim

constantly to build up the students’ lexical and collocational stock as well as

grammar knowledge, and also to give reasonably challenging translation and

short essay-writing assignments, often with suggestions for background

factual or cultural research. Each distinct section of a chapter is followed by

an assignment, and these are sufficiently varied in type to obviate boredom or

predictability.

The general and pervasive aim, then, is to encourage and train students to be

creative in their thinking and overall approach, to analyse texts and always

pay attention to detail, to be active and regular researchers and to regularly

hone their own skills as writers and re-writers. Such habits are bound to make

them both more confident and more competent as translators.

ASPECTS OF DIFFERENCE

There are a number of books available that explain the principles of

translation with a focus on contrastive grammar, such as

! Aziz, Y. (1989). A Contrastive Grammar of English and Arabic.

Iraq: Mosul University Press.

! Khalil, A. (1999). A Contrastive Grammar of English and Arabic.

Jordan: Jordan Book Centre Company Limited.

! Husni, R. and Newman, D. (2013). The A-Z of Arabic-English-

Arabic Translation. London: Saqi Books.

However, they use short examples focusing on the similarities and differences

between the two languages rather than on the mechanics of translating.

In this book, however, the trainees, in addition to developing a contrastive

competence by being fully aware of the differences between Arabic and

English, will learn how to analyse the text syntactically and adjust it prior to

translating it, thus obtaining a better insight into the source text.

Introduction 4

Further, unlike the aforementioned books, this book is designed in a way that

helps the trainees build their own vocabulary. A great number of verbs, nouns,

adjectives, adverbs and idiomatic expressions used in different genres and text

types have been used in this book.

Trainees receive clear guidance to enable them to re-write the source texts

used in the book and thus to improve their writing skills, thus becoming fully

aware of the different styles that may be used in certain registers and text

types.

Each sentence or text is followed by certain annotations to help the trainees

identify the differences between particular structures, levels of meaning, and

different styles while at the same time conceptualizing certain socio-cultural

experiences.

To sum up, unlike the other contrastive books on the market, this book does

not confine itself to showing the differences between the two interfacing

languages in terms of grammar only, but gently extends to the discussion of

such issues as cohesion, stylistics, text-typology, translation procedures, and,

to a certain degree, translation theories.

Chapter 1

Pre-translation techniques

Syntactic parsing

Pre-transferring adjustment

Revision

Before you start, test your students: go to page 13

Chapter one: Pre-translation techniques

6

In this chapter, an attempt will be made to highlight the importance of some

pre-translation techniques to the actual work of translators. The view is taken

here that acquiring these skills will lead to translation competence that each

and every translator should have. Two main techniques, viz. syntactic parsing

and pre-transferring adjustment, will be presented and discussed here and

throughout the whole book.

1 Syntactic parsing

Syntactic parsing here refers to the act of analysing the units of the original

text (be they sentences, clauses, phrases and the like). Before embarking on

translating any sentence/paragraph/text, the translators need to identify

(depending on their level, and the level of the text, of course):

! the type of each sentence (simple, compound, complex or compound

complex/nominal versus verbal)

! the subject of each clause/sentence (one word or a group of words)

! the tense of each clause/sentence (past, present or future)

! the aspect of each clause/sentence (simple, progressive, perfect or

progressive perfect)

! the voice of each clause/sentence (active or passive)

! the adverbs used in each clause/sentence

! more details

To begin with, let us consider the following simple sentences:

ذهبت إلى المدرسة أمس مع أبي بالسيارة. .1

! The sentence is simple (one subject + one verb +tense/aspect). The subject

is أنا expressed by the letter ت attached to the verb ذهب ‘to go’ and the tense

is past indicated by the time marker أمس.

سأذهب إلى المدرسة غدا مع أخي. .2

! The sentence is simple (one subject + one verb + tense/aspect).The subject

is أنا expressed by the letter أ attached to the verb ذهب ‘to go’ and the tense

is future indicated by the letter ســ and time marker غدا.

لوحدي. عادة ما أذهب إلى المدرسة بسيارتي .3


is أنا expressed by the letter أ attached to the verb ذهب ‘to go’ and the tense


is a simple present tense as the emphasis on the frequency of the action as a

matter of routine is indicated by اعادةم ‘usually’.

قد أذهب إلى المدرسة غدا مع صديقي. .4


isأنا expressed bythe letter أ attached to the verb ذهب ‘to go’ and the tense

is future indicated by the time marker دا غ + possibility/likelihood indicated

by قد.

To elaborate, let us syntactically analyse the following complex sentences:

، جاء صديقي ليزورني. البارحة بينما كنت أشاهد التلفاز .5

The sentence is complex. This means that there are two clauses (subjects + verbs +

tenses/aspects) conjoined by a connector, such as ‘while’. The first subject is ’I‘ أنا

and the tense is past indicated by the verb نكا and time marker البارحة. The emphasis,

i.e. the aspect, is on the continuity of the described action )مشاهدة/ in a specified (شاهد

period in the past. The voice is active. The second subject is صديقي‘my friend’ and

the tense is past. The emphasis is on the completion of the action.

6. In order to apply for this job, you must speak two languages, but you

don’t have to have a degree in international relations.

! The sentence is a compound sentence. This means that there are two clauses

conjoined by a coordinating conjunct, such as ‘but’ with two subjects/verbs

+ tenses/aspects. In the first clause, the subject is ‘you’ and the tense is

present + necessity indicated by the modal verb ‘must’. In the second

clause, the subject is ‘you’ + a modalized phrase ‘do not have to’ that

indicates that obligation/necessity is removed (for more details on modality,

see Chapter 6 in this book).

Now, let us translate the following two texts. Before translating them, let us

try to identify the types of sentences used in each text, the subject of each

clause/sentence, the tense and aspect of each clause/sentence, and so forth:

قررت األسبوع الماضي أن أتقاعد من عملي في أقرب فرصة ممكنة. سأقدم على وظيفة .7جديدة في األيام المقبلة كي أحسن من أوضاعي االجتماعية. أو ربما أسافر إلى أوروبا لفتح

مشروع صغير.


8

! Here, there are three sentences. The first one is simple. The subject is

to decide’ and the tense‘ قرر attached to the verb ت expressed by the letterأنا

is past indicated by the time marker األسبوعالماضي ‘last week’. The second

sentence is simple. The subject is أنا expressed by the letter أ attached to the

verb مقد ‘to apply’ and the tense is future indicated by the letter سـ and time

marker األيامالمقبلة‘next days’. The third sentence is simple. The subject is أنا

expressed by the letter أattached to the verb سافر ‘to travel’ and the tense is

future + likelihood indicated by the word رب ما ‘perhaps’.

8. It was stated in a report by Lloyds bank, one of the largest banks in

the UK, that the world demand for oil would increase only slightly

during the two coming years. This is because of the weakness of the

expected upturn and the measures that have actually been taken to

conserve and economize on energy.

! Here, there are two sentences. To begin with the first one, it is a complex

one consisting of two dependent clauses. The main clause is

It [subject] was stated [main verb in the simple past tense + passive] in a

report by Lloyds bank, one of the largest banks in the UK

and the second clause begins with ‘that’

that [connector] the world demand for oil [subject (many words)] would

increase [helping verb indicating futurity + main verb] only slightly during

the two coming years.

! As for the second sentence, it is also complex consisting of two dependent

clauses. The main clause is

This [subject] is [main verb/simple present tense] because of [connector

followed by a phrase] the weakness of the expected upturn and the measures

and the second clause begins with ‘that’

that [relative pronoun + no subject] have actually been taken [main verb +

passive] to [connector (purpose)] conserve and economize on energy.

To show how failing to determine the subject of the sentence may lead to an

inaccurate translation, the following example along with three selected

translations (TT) offered by three BA translation students may be discussed:

ال أخي وال أختي. مساء لم يزرني أمس .9

! The sentence here is simple (one subject + one verb + tense/aspect). The


subject is أخيوأختي‘my brother and sister’. The tense is past indicated by

the particle لم and time marker أمس, and the emphasis (aspect) is on the

completion of the action, which is in the negative form.

TT 1:

I did not visit neither my brother nor my sister yesterday evening.

! Here, the translation trainee has been confused and, accordingly, changed

the subject of the sentence into ‘I’, thus producing an inaccurate translation.

! Further, she has used the negative form with ‘neither … nor’, thereby

producing an ungrammatical structure.

TT 2:

Neither my brother nor my sister visited me yesterday in the evening.

! Here, the translation trainee has succeeded in figuring out the subject of the

sentence and the other important elements, such as the tense, aspect,

negation, etc. thus producing an accurate translation.

TT 3:

My brother and sister could not visit me yesterday evening.

! Here, the translation trainee has succeeded in figuring out the subject of the

sentence ‘my brother and sister’. However, she has opted for the modal

verb ‘could’ in the negative form, thus emphasizing the doers’ inability to

visit somebody. Had she given undivided attention to other elements, in

particular the particle لم which is used in Arabic to indicate both past and

negation, she could have suggested a rendering such as:

My brother and sister did not visit me yesterday evening.

Neither my brother nor my sister visited me yesterday evening.

Or, one may go for a passive voice, as in:

I was not visited yesterday evening by my brother and sister.


10

2 Pre-transferring adjustment

Pre-transferring adjustment is a pre-translation technique which refers to the

exercise of re-writing the original word/ expression/ phrase/ clause/ sentence/

text intralingually, that is, re-writing it in the original language. So, it is

similar to Jakobson’s (1959/1992) intralingual translation. The difference

between them is that pre-transferring adjustment suggested here is a step

taken by the translators while translating the text and, hopefully, a skill

developed over time, while Jakobson’s intralingual translation is a type of

translation, i.e. a product.

Before transferring the analysed materials, translators are most often required

to make some adjustments to the source text at its lexical level, syntactic level

or textual level (Almanna and Lazim 2014: 259). Re-writing the original

sentence without affecting the author’s intention or text-type focus will

definitely allow translators to exercise greater freedom of choice in rendering

the extract at hand and let them remove the syntactico-semantic and socio-

cultural constraints driven by the source text (Ibid). This fits hand in glove

with Wilss’ view that languages are “syntactically, lexically and socio-

culturally non-isomorphic” (1982: 160). Therefore, such a pre-transferring

adjustment is a preliminary step that can be taken by translators to obtain a

better insight into the source text.

As hinted above, translators can make some pre-transferring adjustments at

different levels to solve wide-ranging problems, such as:

! to pinpoint the implicit relationship between sentences.

! to surmount the lexical, syntactic, pragmatic, cultural, etc. constraints

imposed by the source text.

! to find out the meaning of a lexical item which is not referred to in

available dictionaries, either because of its archaism, neologism, and

the like.

! to copy with figurative language.

Such a step is useful for the translation trainees, and in particular for those

who have already developed a certain degree of ‘communicative’ and

‘linguistic competence’ as well as ‘contrastive knowledge’ (Bell 1991: 36-

42). They will be able to adjust the lexical items, structures and cohesive

devices easily without affecting the author’s intention and text-type focus.

However, translation trainees need to pay extra attention to technical


terms/expressions and certain text types. As an illustration, the following

examples may be considered:

سفري إلى لندن إلكمال فكرةالبارحة، قبل أن أخلد إلى النوم، تناقشت مع والدتي فيما يخص .11 دراستي.

! Here, we need to make some pre-transferring adjustments prior to

embarking on the actual act of translating the text. Here, the clause وقبلأن

إلىالنوم simply means أخلد أن أناموقبل , i.e. ‘before going to bed’ or ‘before

falling asleep’ and فكرةتناقشت معوالدتيفيمايخص simply means معوالدتيناقشت

.فكرة

! When translating إلىالنومقبلأنأخلد into ‘before’ followed by a clause, i.e.

subject and verb/tense, as in ‘before I went to bed’, then the sentence will

be complex.

and so forth can ,بشأن ,بخصوص ,فيمايتعل قبـ or its synonyms, such as فيمايخص !

be translated into ‘on’, ‘concerning’, ‘regarding’, and the like, but here the

verb ‘to discuss’ can stand on its own as people normally discuss

something with other people.

ج فيالقانونحتىفتح ه دراست إلىلندنإلكمال ماإنسافر .11 لههناكوتزو منا مرأةمشروعا

إنكليزية.

! For some people, the correlative conjunction ...ماإن/أن...حتى (and similar

correlative conjunctions, such as ...حتى ... كاد حتى... ,ما لبث... causes a (ما

problem as they might not be familiar with structures such as:

No sooner … than …

Hardly … when …

Scarcely … when …

Barely … when …

Therefore, to overcome such a problem, they may well opt for re-writing

the original sentence, as in:

فتح له مشروعا هناك وتزوج من امرأة إنكليزية. ،سافر إلى لندن إلكمال دراسته في القانون عندماwhich lends itself to:

When he …, he …

As soon as he …, he …


12

Now, before translating the following text into English, let us try to practice

making some pre-transferring adjustments at different levels:

ستخدام الغازات المسيلة إلى ا شوارع المدينة، لجأت قوات األمن عارمة جابت هرةفي تظا .12م، والحرية، الذين خرجوا إلى الشوارع للمطالبة بالعيش الكري هرينالمتظاللدموع لتفريق

وتحسين الخدمات. ،والعدالة االجتماعية

! Here, words and expressions, such as استخدام ,جابت ,عارمة إلى ,تفريق ,لجأت

can be adjusted to be in line with the translation تحسين and العيشالكريم ,المطالبة

trainee’s competence. One may make a pre-transferring adjustment at the

lexical level, as in:

لجأت)طافت/ مألت/ في( شوارع المدينة، جابت)واسعة النطاق/ كبيرة/ ضخمة( عارمةفي تظاهرة )لفض/ لطرد/ للقضاء على لتفريقالغازات المسيلة للدموع إلى استخدام )استخدمت( قوات األمن

داة( ا)للمن للمطالبةرين الذين خرجوا إلى الشوارع همظاهرة( المتظاالمظاهرة/ إلفشال المظاهرة/ إلخماد ال )تطوير( الخدمات. وتحسين ،)الحياة الكريمة(، والحرية، والعدالة االجتماعيةبالعيش الكريم

! In addition to the pre-transferring adjustment at the lexical level, the text

can be structurally adjusted to look like this:

لجأت قوات األمن إلى استخدام الغازات المسيلة للدموع لتفريق المتظاهرين الذين خرجوا إلى الشوارع في وتحسين الخدمات. ،مظاهرة عارمة للمطالبة بالعيش الكريم، والحرية، والعدالة االجتماعية

! Further, the text can be textually adjusted to overcome some textual

problems, as in:

)بغية/ بهدف/ من أجل/ كي/ لكي + لـإلى استخدام الغازات المسيلة للدموع جأت قوات األمن ل)من أجل/ لكي/ كي لـرين الذين خرجوا في تظاهرة عارمة جابت شوارع المدينة، ه( المتظاتفريقتفرق/

وتحسين الخدمات. ،ة، والعدالة االجتماعية+ يطالبوا بـ/ للمطالبة بـ( العيش الكريم، والحري


3 Revision

EX 1: Before translating the following three texts, try to re-write them

intralingually without changing the author’s intention and text-type

focus:

أنني سمعت صوتا. ما إن أطفأت التلفاز بينما كنت أشاهد التلفاز ليلة البارحة خيل إلي .1كتبي التي تركتها على وذهبت مسرعا إلى الصالة حتى تبين أنه قط كان يعبث في

الطاولة.األمر الذي ،صحارعلى مدينة مصحوبة برياح شديدة أمطار غزيرة يوم أمسهطلت .2

الطريق وعدم طاع ، وذلك بسبب انقالطلبة إلى الجامعةمعظم أدى إلى عدم مجيء ر المواصالت المطلوبة. ف تو

3. - I’ve told you many times not to put fruit and vegetables in the

freezer. But you do not listen to me.

- Mom, please don’t be angry with me. I meant to put them for five

minutes, but it completely slipped my mind.

- Come on. This is not the first time, honey. Isn’t it?

- True. I promise I won’t do it again.


14

EX 2: Before translating the following sentences, try to identify

! the type of each sentence (simple, compound, complex or compound

complex)

! the subject of each clause/sentence (one word or a group of words)

! the tense of each clause/sentence (past, present or future)

! the aspect of each clause/sentence (simple, progressive, perfect or

progressive perfect)

! the voice of each clause/sentence (active or passive)

! the adverbs used in each clause/sentence.

الشركات في البالد. من أكبر حتى بدأ العمل في واحدة قسم الترجمةتخرج من إنما .1 ة. الطبي الفحوصات جري بعض كي ي بريطانيالم يكن بمقدور والدي السفر إلى .2 بصراحة، لم أكن منزعجا كثيرا من كالمه يوم أمس. .3

أختي الصغيرة أمس ال وجبة الغداء وال وجبة العشاء. تتناول لم .4

االجتماع الذي عقد يوم أمس إال موظفان. لم يحضر .5

بين وال من زمالئي. اتصال ال من أصدقائي المقر لغاية يوم أمس، لم اتلق أي .6

ابتسم ابتسامة عريضة لجميع الضيوف عند نهاية اجتماع أمس. .7

من سبع ساعات. مت ألكثر قد ن ، كنت أبي من السفر قبل أن يصل البارحة، .89. She invited all her friends to her birthday party, but no one attended.

10. Next month, I will have been teaching in this university for 12 months.

11. While I was talking with my friend, somebody threw a car key at me.

12. Yesterday, neither the dean nor the head of the department attended

the meeting.

Chapter 2

Narrating events in the past

Verbs: finite & non-finite verbs

Collocation

Cognate accusative

Negative in the past لم and ما

Negative in the past + ability

Class shift & unit shift

Causation & transitivity

Adverbs of manner

Interrogative sentences in the past

Passive voice in the past

Revision

Chapter two: Narrating events in the past

16

1 Verbs: finite & non-finite verbs

Generally speaking, the forms of finite verbs indicate tense, person and

number and non-finite verbs do not indicate tense, person and number.

However, in some languages, such as Arabic, non-finite verbs still indicate

person and number, but not the tense. By way of explanation, let us consider

these two examples in which four verbs are used: two finite verbs سافرت and indicating tense (past), number and person (the first person singular) ,ات صلت

and two non-finite verbs ألتقي and أعرف preceded by كي and لـ respectively,

indicating only number and person (the first person singular):

صديقي. )بـ(ألتقيقبل أسبوعين إلى القاهرة كي سافرت .1

مكان الحفلة. ألعرف به قبل يومين أكثر من خمس مرات اتصلت .2

! Here, the verb سافر can be translated into ‘to travel’. The verb ات صل can be

rendered into ‘to call’, ‘to give somebody a call’, ‘to phone’, ‘to give

somebody a buzz’, ‘to give somebody a ring’, etc.

! Do not translate قبليومين ,قبلأسبوعين, and so forth into ‘before two weeks’ or

‘before two days’. Rather, translate them into ‘two weeks ago’ and ‘two

days ago’ respectively.

! Particles such as لـ ,لكي ,كي and حتى used to express purpose are synonyms in

Arabic and can be translated into ‘to’, ‘in order to’, ‘so as to’ or ‘with a

view to’.

! While ‘to’, ‘in order to’ and ‘so as to’ are followed by the base form, i.e.

the first form of the verb, ‘with a view to’ is followed by the first form + ‘-

ing’.

ختها في عيد ميالدها. هدية أل تريشتأمس أن أرادت .3

! Here, there are two verbs, viz. أرادت and تشتري. While the verb أرادت is finite,

indicating tense (past), gender (feminine), number and person (the third

person singular), the verb تشتري is non-finite as it does not indicate any

tense because it is preceded by أن.

! The word هدية can be translated into ‘gift’, ‘present’, etc. The two words are

used with things given to other people without expectation of return or

compensation. In English, it is common to say ‘I gave her a gift/present on

her birthday’. The difference between them is that a ‘gift’ tends to be much

more valuable than a ‘present’.


! Attention should be paid to التنوين ‘nunation’ in هدية as it lends itself here to

the indefinite article ‘a’ (for more details on تنوين ‘nunation’, see chapter 5

in this book).

البارحة حلما مزعجا. حلمت .4 جميلة كثيرة. بأشياء حلمت ها، في حلم .5

! ‘Dream’ as a noun collocates well with verbs like ‘to have’ or ‘to haunt’.

! The adjective ج ,’in example (4) can be translated into ‘disturbing م زع

‘awful’ or ‘bad’ as they collocate well with the noun ‘dream’. Or, one may

go for ‘nightmare’ كابوس to stand for the phrase ج .حلممزع

! The adjective جميل in example (5) can be rendered into ‘pleasant’ as it

collocates well with the noun ‘dream’.

في أحالمه منذ سنة. ي طارد ه ال يزال مشهد الحادث .6

! In this example, extra attention should be paid to the tense and aspect. The

tense is present يطار د, and the emphasis (aspect) is on

1. the continuity of the described action يطارد/ .’still‘اليزال indicated by طارد

2. the duration of the described action indicated by the word منذ‘since/for’.

To reflect both the tense and aspect, one may opt for the present perfect

continuous tense, i.e. ‘have/has been + Verb 1 + -ing’,as in:

The image of the crash (Or: the scene of the accident)has been haunting his

dreams for a year.

والدتي أمس بعض األكالت الشعبية للضيوف. طبخت .7 عاني منها الطلبة في تعلم اللغة اإلنكليزية. تقريرا عن المشاكل التي ي كتبت .8 . أن تتصل بإمها لتطمئن عليهاحاولت البارحة، قبل أن تخلد إلى النوم، .9

! The verbs كتب ,طبخ and حاول lend themselves to ‘to cook’, ‘to write’ and ‘to

try’respectively.

! As discussed earlier in Chapter 1, we need to make some pre-transferring

adjustments prior to embarking on the actual act of translating the text.

Here, the clause خلدإلىالنومتقبلأن simply means نامتقبلأن , i.e. ‘before going

to bed’ or ‘before falling asleep’.

! The verb يطمئن lends itself to ‘rest in comfort’, ‘to feel better’, ‘to relieve’.


18

االمتحان صعبا جدا. كان .11 أمس قبل انتهاء العمل بنصف ساعة. خرجت .11 والدتي إلى أقرب عيادة كي نعرف سبب تعبها المفاجئ. أخذت .12 من النوم. لم أتمكن ، والبارحة أتقلب في الفراش بقيت .13

أتقل ب ! صاحيا can be slightly adjusted into بقيت thus lending itself to ‘I ,بقيت

stayed awake last night rolling/turning over and over’ or ‘I stayed awake

last night tossing and turning’. In this context, the adjective ‘awake’

collocates well with verbs, such as ‘to stay’, ‘to keep’, ‘to remain’, ‘to lie’,

and ‘to be’, and adverbs such as ‘fully’, ‘wide’, ‘only half’, and ‘still’, as in:

Last night, the mother remained awake, her hand on her son’s shoulder. Later,

she fell asleep. When her husband arrived home, she was only half awake, and

her son was wide awake.

’in the second sentence lends itself to ‘could not’ or ‘was not able to لمأتمك ن !

to reflect both negation in the past expressed by لم and ability expressed by

for more examples, see the lesson on negative sentences in this) تمك ن

chapter).

ى حفلة عيد ميالده البارحة. صديقي إل دعاني .14األردن يوم أمس جاللة الملك عبداهلل الثاني متوجها إلى الكويت لمناقشة بعض القضايا غادر .15

المشتركة بين البلدين.

! The verb دعا, which lends itself to the verb ‘to invite’, can be translated into

active, as in: ‘My friend invited me …’ or passive, as in: ‘I was invited by my

friend …’.

! The structure ه اإلى...غادرفالن...متوج lends itself to ‘X left … heading for …’or

‘X left … heading up to …’.

ني. يوم أمس في مطار القاهرة الدولي وزير الداخلية المصري نظيره السودا استقبل .16

! The expression الداخلية is translated into ‘the minister of interior’ (note وزير

UK: ‘home secretary’). As for الدفاع الخارجية and رئيسالوزراء ,وزير they ,وزير

can be translated into ‘minister of defence’,‘prime minister’ and ‘minister of

foreign affairs’ respectively.

! The word نظير can be translated into ‘counterpart’.


خادم الحرمين الشريفين يوم أمس رسالة خطية من أخيه أمير دولة الكويت. تلقى .17

! The expression الحرمينالشريفين lends itself to ‘the guardian of the sacred خادم

shrines’.

ابوس بن سعيد يوم أمس خطابا تاريخيا. السلطان ق ألقى .18

ل دت .19 أختي قبل أيام طفال جميال. و

! In the above examples, the verbs ألقى and ل دت which collocate well with the و

nouns طاب ,baby’ lend themselves to ‘deliver’ in English‘ طفل speech’ and‘ خ

as in:

To deliver a speech

To deliver a baby = to give birth to

الشرقية من المملكة العربية السعودية. اطقة في المنر يوم أمس أمطار غزي هطلت .21

! Here, you need to make a pre-transferring adjustment at the syntactic level

before translating the sentence. As such, ة رغزيهطلتأمطار simply means مطر ت

ةبغزار)الدنيا( , i.e. ‘It rained heavily’.

يوم أمس سلطنة عمان لموجة من األمطار الغزيرة صاحبتها رياح شديدة. تعرضت .21

! The verb تعر ض can be translated into ‘be subject to’ or ‘be exposed to’.

! The expression صاحبتها lends itself to ‘to be accompanied by’.

The phraseموجةمناألمطار can be rendered into ‘a rain front’.

ميالنو فوزا كبيرا خارج أرضه وجمهوره في مباراة الذهاب بنهائي كأس إيطاليا بكرة حقق .22 القدم.

! The structure كبيرا .’can lend itself to ‘Milan won a great victory حققميالنفوزا

! The phrase وجمهور ه خارج ه أرض can be translated into ‘away from home and

fans’.

! The phrase نهائيكأسإيطاليا lends itself to ‘the Italian Cup Final’.

فريق برشلونه اإلسباني األرسنال اإلنكليزي بهدفين مقابل ال شيء في المباراة النهائية هزم .23 لة دوري أبطال أوروبا لكرة القدم. لبطو

! The phrase فيالمباراةالنهائيةلبطولةدوريأبطالأوروبا can be rendered into ‘in the


20

final match of the European Champions League’.

EX: Translate the following text titled ‘Mohandas Ghandi’ into English,

paying extra attention to the linguistic and stylistic norms of the target

language:

من عائلة محافظة. سافر غاندي إلى 1869في عام Porbandarولد موهاندس غاندي في بوربندر عاد غاندي إلى الهند يحمل شهادة القانون. ،1890. وفي عام 1882لندن لدراسة القانون في عام

في عام و احتجاجا على سياسة التمييز. الموتقرر غاندي أن يصوم حتى ،1932وفي عام . 79عن عمر ناهز وتوفياغتيال غاندي تم ،1948

! The verb ل د which is in the past and passive, lends itself to ‘was born’ in ,و

English.

! The adjective )م حاف ظ)ـة in this context lends itself to ‘conservative’.

! The word ا ا حتجاج lends itself to ‘protesting against’.

! The expression التمييز can be translated into ‘segregation’ or سياسة

‘discrimination’.

! The noun ا غتيال is derived from the verb ا غتال‘to assassinate’.

! As for the expression عنعمرناهز, which is frequently used in Arabic, it lends

itself to ‘at the age of’.

2 Collocation

Collocation means the tendency of two or more lexical items to co-occur

together in certain contexts. Adjectives like ن and حار for instance, are ,ساخ

synonyms as they share the sense of ‘being hot’. However, the adjective حار

collocates well with the noun /جوطقس , but not مطعا , while the adjective ن ساخ

collocates well with the noun طعام, but not /جوطقس . Similarly, adjectives like

‘fast’ and ‘quick’, for instance, are synonyms as they share the sense of ‘doing

something at speed’. However, the adjective ‘fast’ collocates well with nouns

like ‘food’ and ‘train’, but not ‘meal’ or ‘shower’, while the adjective ‘quick’

collocates well with nouns like ‘meal’ and ‘shower’, but not ‘food’ or ‘train’

(for more details, see Baker 1992; Almanna 2016a, 2016b).

Collocation is not governed by fixed rules. Rather they arbitrarily co-occur,

hence its difficulty for translation students. Let us consider the following


Arabic examples in which the verb قع ,ضحي ة collocates well with nouns like و

ة أعماله and خطأ ,أرض ,حب ,فخ ,مصيد .شر

أخطاء اآلخرين بشكل ال يصدق. وقع ضحية .24 التسلل أمس أكثر من مرة بشكل غريب. وقع في مصيدة .25 سهولة. بكل وقع في الفخ .26 .لسن امرأة تكبره با وقع في حب سنة الماضية، في ال .27 فجأة. على األرضصديقي أمس من الساللم وقع .28 فادح في امتحان أمس على نحو غير متوقع. وقع في خطأ .29 بشكل مضحك. وقع في شر أعماله قبل يومين، .31

EX: Translate the above sentences by using the following notes:

to fall victim to … ... وقع ضحية to fall/walk into the trap of … .... وقع في فخ to fall into the trap of … ... وقع في مصيدة to fall in love with ... وقع في حب to fall on the ground ... وقع على األرض to make/commit a mistake وقع في خطأ to hoist with one own petard ه أعمال وقع في شر

BILINGUAL TEXT

Dear instructors: evaluate with your students the translation of the following

text titled لنأكون،جاريةإلىاألبد ‘I will not spend my whole life as a servant-girl’

by الزينبهاءالديننزار and translated into English by Fred Pragnell, paying extra

attention to collocations and lexical choices:

This is what I was in my family,

a feeble female, without rights.

أهلي معهكذا كنت .أنثى ضعيفة ال تملك أية حقوق

Just as my mother was before me,

who was also a feeble female without

any rights.

وهكذا كانت أمي من قبلي .أنثى ضعيفة ال تملك أية حقوق

Thus I remained even after marriage a

feeble female without any rights.

وهكذا استمريت بعد أن تزوجت .أنثى ضعيفة ال تملك أية حقوق

Until there erupted from the depths of

my heart the flame of revolt.

إلى أن انبثقت شعلة التمرد من أعماق


22

أعماقي!

I was born in Orange County, a county

in California.

ولدت في مقاطعة البرتقال من توابع كاليفورنيا ...

I remained in education there until high

school when my father stopped me

completing my studies, afraid that I

might be influenced by the American

society. He did it despite the fact that I

had been a top student and my school

reports were full of comments of praise

as well as a number of certificates of

achievement.

ي مدارسها حتى بلغت المرحلة وتعلمت فالثانوية، حين منعني والدي من إتمام دراستي،

المجتمع األمريكي، على الرغم خوفا علي منمن أنني كنت من المتفوقات وسجالتي

إضافة المدرسية كانت مليئة بعبارات الثناء، إلى عدد من شهادات التقدير.

Thus my father issued his decision of

his own accord and my mother made

no attempt in her submissive way to

oppose or argue with him.

هكذا أصدروالدي قراره تعسفا، ولم تحاول والدتي بشخصيتها السلبية أن تعارضه أو

.تناقشه

3 Cognate accusative المفعولالمطلق

The cognate accusative (also known as ‘absolute accusative’ or ‘absolute

object’) is a verb’s object used after the verb; it is etymologically related to

the verb, that is, it is derived from the same root, as in:

زنا حزنت .31 شديدا لخبر وفاة أمه. )حزن ... حزنا( ح مرا البارحة. )بكى ... بكاء( ب كاء ابنتي الصغيرة بكت .32 شديدا يوم أمس. )غضب ... غضبا( غضبا والدتي غضبت .33

The cognate accusative is not only acceptable in Arabic, but it is a fine style

and used fairly frequently for:

! emphasis, as in رباضرب الرجل الصبي ض .

! explanation of the type, as in ناف عا عملاا عمل .

! telling a number, as in تتاليتينم دقتينالساعة دقت .

However, in translating the cognate accusative from Arabic into English,

extra attention should be paid to the linguistic differences between the two


languages. As such, it can be translated into an adverb of degree, an adverb of

manner or a prepositional phrase, as in the translations of the above sentences

(31, 32 and 33):

I felt so/extremely sad for the news of his mother’s death.

an adverb of degree

My little daughter cried bitterly last night.

an adverb of manner

My mother was extremely angry yesterday.

an adverb of degree

م .34 كاسحا يوم أمس على قطاعاتنا العكسرية. هجوماالعدو ه ج

! The verb هجم can be translated into ‘launch’, ‘make’ or ‘carry out’ as they

collocate well with the noun ‘attack’ هجوم .

! As for the adjective كاسح, it can be translated into ‘all-out’, ‘full-scale’,

‘major’ and the like as they collocate well with the noun ‘attack’. Or, one

may go for ‘crushing’, ‘overwhelming’, etc. to be very close to the original

text.

! Further, one may make a pre-transferring adjustment at the lexical level قام

and at the syntactic level (… X carried out/made/launched an attack) بهجوم

قطاعاتنا ضت :as in ,(… X was/were subject to) تعر

قام العدو بهجوم كاسح يوم أمس على قطاعاتنا العسكرية. تعرضت قطاعاتنا العسكرية يوم أمس لهجوم كاسح قام به/من قبل العدو.

ف. عاليا ضحكاالط الب ضحك .35 أمس في داخل الصب ه .36 ر مبرحا حتى أغمي عليه. ضربا ض

! The expression بر ح ضرب م normally lends itself to ‘intense beating’. How

would you translate it here?

! The verb )عليه( can be translated into ‘to faint’ or ‘to lose أ غمي

consciousness’, and the like.

قبل يومين. عظيمة مساعدة ساعدت ني .37 كبيرة في ورشة العمل. مشاركة موظفو الشركة، بدون استثناء، شاركقبل أسبوع، .38 عريضة لجميع الضيوف عند نهاية اجتماع أمس. ابتسامة ابتسم .39


24

! The cognate accusative ا بتسامة ضةعري along with the adjective ابتسم can be

translated into ‘X smiled widely or broadly …’ or more idiomatically ‘X

smiled from ear to ear …’.

باهرا. نجاحا أخي جح نفي العام الماضي، .41

! The cognate accusative نجاحا lends itself to the verb ‘to succeed’ in the نجح

past followed by an adverb, such as ‘admirably’, ‘brilliantly’ or ‘pretty

well’.

كبيرا. امتعاضازميلي في المكتب أمس من ابتسامتي امتعض .41

! The verb )ا متعض)من can be translated into ‘be annoyed’, ‘to resent’, ‘be

resentful’, ‘be displeased’, and the like.

EX: Translate the following text titled تظاهرة into English, paying extra

attention to the linguistic and stylistic norms of the target language:

سوء الخدمات وانقطاع التيار الكهربائي. على لالحتجاج خرج يوم أمس مئات العراقيين إلى الشوارع في المقابل، . شامال الشوارع تنظيفا قاموا بتنظيف ،من ساعتين. بعدها ألكثر تظاهروا مظاهرة سلمية

تعاملت قوات األمن معهم تعامال جيدا. إذ قاموا بالتقاط الصور مع المتظاهرين وكذلك توزيع الماء عليهم.

! The verb )خرج)إلىالشوارع can be translated into ‘to go out’ or ‘to take to the

street’ in the past.

! The expressions الخدمات الكهربائي and سوء التيار can be translated into ا نقطاع

‘bad services’ and‘power cut’ respectively. ‘Power outage(s)’ is possible in

more technical writing, but generally not a common usage in the British

English.

! The verb ا حت ج and تظاهر lend themselves to ‘to protest against’ and ‘to

demonstrate’ respectively.

! The expression فيالمقابل can be translated into ‘in return’.

! Attention should be paid to the translation of the weak verb قام along with its

prepositional phrase بتنظيف با لتقاط ,قام بتوزيع and ,قام and ,ا لتقط ,نظ ف mean قام

ع .respectively (for more details, see lesson 6 in this chapter) وز


4 Negative in the past ما ,لم

...( مت هما فسؤالك أمس في االجتماع. ) أفهم لم .42 ...( ما قرأت يدا أمس لالمتحان. )جلم تقرأ بصراحة، .43 )ما حضر ...( . اجتماع أمسالعميد لم يحضر .44 )ما نمت ...(البارحة جيدا. لم أنم .45 ...( ما شعر ) صديقي بالتعب أمس بعد عمل متواصل.لم يشعر .46

The negative in the simple past tense is formed by inserting ‘did not’ before

the main verb and changing the main verb into the first form, as in:

Subject did not first form

I did not understand …

You did not read …

The dean did not attend …

I did not sleep …

My friend did not feel …

جتماع أمس إال موظفان.ا لم يحضر .47

! At times, we use ‘no one’, ‘nobody’, ‘neither … nor’ or ‘was/were not’ in

place of ‘did not + the first form of the verb’, so please try to give them full

consideration, as in:

Poor: Nobody attended yesterday’s meeting, except two officers/employees.

Better: Only two officers/employees attended yesterday’s meeting.

في االمتحان أمس أي طالب. ينجح لم .48ني .49 ر في بيتي أمس إال صديقي الحميم، أحمد. لم يز األسئلة سهلة جدا في امتحان أمس.لم تكن .51 كالمه يوم أمس. منزعجا كثيرا من لم أكن بصراحة، .51 إجاباتك دقيقة جدا.لم تكن .52

! When we have لم followed by تكن/يكن/أكن, etc. it is translated into ‘was/were

not’.

األوضاع االقتصادية في أوروبا مستقرة في العام الماضي. لم تكن .53


26

مؤهال للوظيفة. لم يك ن بكل صراحة، .54

ر ني .55 زمالئي في العمل. والجيراني الي بيتي أمس ف لم يز

! The structure ...ال..وال lends itself to ‘neither … nor ….’ in English, as in:

Neither my neighbours nor my colleagues visited me at home yesterday.

أختي. والأخي الاألسبوع الماضي يتصل بي لم .56

أقاربي. والأصدقائي الظاهرة إلى الم يخر ج لم .57

! The verb )المظاهرة للتظاهر means خرج)إلى الشارع إلى therefore, it can be ;خرج

translated into ‘to go out to …’ or ‘to take to the streets …’.

! The word مظاهرة lends itself to ‘demonstration’. Other similar words, such as

تصاما ع ’can be translated into ‘sit-in’, ‘march’, and ‘protest ا حتجاج and ,مسيرة ,

respectively.

وجبة العشاء. والوجبة الغداء ال أمس لم أتناول .58

! The verb تناول lends itself to ‘to eat’, ‘to have’, or ‘to take’ as they collocate

well with ‘breakfast’, ‘lunch’, and ‘dinner’. However, the three verbs here

are not interchangeable. ‘Have you taken dinner?’ is not the same as ‘Have

you taken your medicine?’. Similarly, the verb ‘to eat’ is different from the

verb ‘to have’ as the former implies that although the meals were put before

me, I did not eat them, perhaps because I was ill.

! Do not use ‘neither … nor …’ when the verb is in the negative form. So, it is

wrong to say:

I did not eat yesterday neither my lunch nor my dinner.

It can be translated in this way:

I did not eat my lunch yesterday, neither did I eat my dinner.

I did not eat my lunch yesterday, nor did I eat my dinner.

I did not eat my lunch and my dinner yesterday.

أمس ال طلبة كلية اآلداب وال طلبة كلية الهندسة. لم يمتحن .59

استقالته ال وزير النفط وال وزير الزراعة. يقدم لم في العام الماضي، .61

على الوظيفة أمس ال حملة شهادة الدكتوراه وال حملة شهادة الماجستير. لم يقدم .61

راتبه الشهر الماضي ال العميد وال رؤساء األقسام. لم يتسلم .62


لي هدية ال أخي وال أختي.لم يجلب في عيد ميالدي قبل يومين، .63EX: Translate the following text titled مفاجأةinto English, paying extra

attention to tenses/aspects and negation.

خرجت على عجل إلى مركز التسوق أمس. في مركز التسوق، أرادت أن تشتري بعض األغراض من لم حاسب كي تدفع الحساب. عند المحاسب،نحو الم المتجر. وضعت األغراض في السلة وتوجهت

.راحت تبكي من هول المفاجأةعندها، ئتمان. تجد ال النقود وال بطاقة اال

! The expression علىعجل simply means بسرعة.

تبكي ! can be translated into ‘to begin/start’ in the past followed by a verb راحت

+ ‘-ing’ .

! The sentence تبكيمنهولالمفاجأة ,can be translated into ‘Being shocked راحت

she …’, or more idiomatically ‘Reeling in shock, she …’or ‘Reeling at the

shock, she …’.

5 Negative in the past + ability

In Arabic, to express ability in the negative form and in the past tense, you

may use:

لم أستطع/يستطع/تستطع ... لم يكن بمقدوري/بمقدوره/بمقدورها/بمقدورك ...

لم يكن باستطاعتي/باستطاعته/باستطاعتها/ باستطاعتك ... In English, however, you may use ‘could not’ or ‘was/were not able to’.

Consider the following examples in Arabic:

أن أتصل بك البارحة كي أبلغك بخبر وصول أخي من السفر. لم أستطع .64 أن أحضر حفلة عيد ميالدك قبل يومين. لم يك ن بمقدوري .65 أن أستمر في برنامج تطوير المهارات الشخصية. لم يك ن باستطاعتي .66 في بيتك قبل أيام. من زيارتك لم أتمكن .67

Now, try to translate them by using the following table:

could not first form …

I could not call … … … … …


28

ASSIGNMENT

Write 15 sentences using

... لم أتمكن ،لم يكن باستطاعتي ،لم يكن بمقدوري ع،لم أستطThen translate them into English.

1. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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4. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

13. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

14. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

15. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6 Class shift & unit shift

Class shifts occur when a source language item is translated into a target

language item which belongs to a different grammatical class (cf. Catford

1965; Almanna 2016a). For example, there are a great number of verbs in

Arabic that are best substituted with a linking verb (verb to be, feel, become,

get, etc.) plus an adjective in English, as in:

be/feel happy فرح be/feel sad حزن be/become bored مل سئم / be/feel thirsty ش عط be/feel/become hungry جاع


be/become surprised ندهش ا be/become annoyed نزعج ا be/become content قتنع ا be/become shy ل خج be/become optimistic تفاءل be/become pessimistic تشاءم be/become excellent أجاد be patient (تحلى )بالصبر be/become tired ب تع be/feel sorry أسف be/become/get angry غضب become/go bankrupt أفلس be hurt/injured ىتأذ

قتصادياألوضاع بسبب الشركة أفلست فيالعامالماضي، .68 .السيئة ة اال

! The verb أفل س lends itself to ‘became/went bankrupt’. This is an example of

class shift where the verb أفلس is translated into the adjective ‘bankrupt’ م فلس

preceded by the verb ‘to become’ or ‘to go’.

! The connector بسبب which is followed by a phrase, i.e. a group of words,

lends itself to ‘because of’, ‘due to’, ‘owing to’ or ‘thanks to’ (for more

details on connectors, see chapter 7 in this book).

! It is worth noting that in English the verb ‘to bankrupt’ means to cause

somebody or something to become bankrupt, thus lending itself to فل س or

.جعلهي فل س

النامية أعلنت ،1995فيعام .69 البلدان .هاإفلس بعض

! In this example, ه أعلن إفالس (where the noun إفالس ‘bankruptcy’ collocates

well with the verb أعلن ‘to declare’) lends itself to ‘X declared

bankruptcy …’. Building on this, how would you translate this sentence into

Arabic?

One of the large companies in the country declared bankruptcy due to its

inability to properly market its products.


30

علىالوظيفة.كثيرا تفاءلت عندهاقبلأسبوعين،أخبرنيصديقيعنوظيفةشاغرة. .71 فقد مت

! The expression شاغرة can be translated into ‘a job vacancy’. Related وظيفة

expressions include ‘job opportunities’, ‘vacancies’ or ‘job openings’.

! The connector عندها lends itself here to ‘then’.

! The verb تفاءل lends itself to ‘be optimistic’ in the past. This is an example

of class shift where the verb تفاءل is translated into the adjective

‘optimistic’ متفائل preceded by the verb ‘to be’. Related words include the

noun ‘optimism’تفاؤل as opposed to ‘pessimism’ تشاؤم and the adjective

‘pessimistic’ ئممتشا .

لخبر وفاة صديق ه .أسف .71 شديدا أسفا

! The verb )لـ( ف lends itself to ‘be/feel sorry )for(’ in the past. This is an أس

example of class shift where the verb ف أس is translated into the adjective

‘sorry’ preceded by the verb ‘to be’or ‘to feel’.

! The cognate accusative أسفأسفا can be translated into an adverb of degree

such as ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ plus the adjective ‘sorry’ (for more details on

cognate accusative, see lesson 3 in this chapter).

In Arabic, for stylistic reasons, speakers and writers tend to use the weak verb

:plus a prepositional phrase instead of opting for the verb, as in قام

يوم أمس. القبض على المجرم بإلقاءالشرطة قامت .72in place of

الشرطة القبض على المجرم يوم أمس. ألقت or

الشرطة على المجرم يوم أمس. قبضت Before the actual act of translating the weak verbقام along with its prepositional

phraseبإلقاء into English, we normally make a pre-transferring adjustment at the

lexical level, thus changing قامتبإلقاء to ألقت ‘to arrest’. This is an example of a

combination of class shift (changing the parts of speech) and unit shift

(translating a phrase into a word/verb), as in:

The policemen arrested the criminal yesterday.


ASSIGNMENT

Write 10 sentences (in the past) by changing the following verbs intoقام followed

by a prepositional phrase. Then translate them into English:

organize نظ م issue أصدر emigrate هاجر

switch off أطفأ send أرسل inquire ا ستفسر

apply (for) )على( م قد keep حفظ spray ش ر

apologize ا عتذر plant زرع cultivate حرث

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2. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ASSIGNMENT

Write 10 sentences in Arabic using the verbs used in this lesson. Then translate

them into English. Try to use different topics and in the past.

1. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


32

7 Causation & transitivity

Causation (from the verb ‘to cause’) indicates that the doer of the

action/activity causes somebody or something else to do or to become

something else.

In Arabic, for instance, some verbs, such as سافر ,عط ل ,عط س ,بكى ,نام ,جل س ,ضحك,

ل ح etc. can be changed into transitive verbs easily (see below) as they ,لب س ,ر

have ‘implicit transitivity’ incorporated into the verb stem. The following

examples are quoted from Almanna 2016b: 41-42):

to make sb laugh ك أضحك/ضح to laugh ضحك

to make sb cry / أبكى

بك ى

to cry بكى

to put sb to bed; to send sb to bed م نام to sleep; to fall asleep نو

to make sb sneeze عط س to sneeze عطس

to break عط ل to break, to be broken / عطل

تعط ل

to make sb understand/

comprehend أفهم/فه م to understand; to

comprehend

/ فهم

تفه م

to return; to bring back; to give

back

ع/ أرج

ع رج

to return; to come back ع رج

to get out; to bring out; to take

out; to send out; to sack out; to

give the sack

/ أخرج

ج خر

to go out خرج

to graduate ج خ ر to graduate ج تخر

to expel sb from the country; to

force sb to leave the country سف ر to travel سافر

to make sb angry أغضب be angry ب ض غ

to make sb sad; to sadden / أحزن

ن حز

be sad حز ن

to make sb feel sick/ill / أمرض

ض مر

to feel sick; to be ill مرض

to awake; to wake up; to awaken ا صح to awake; to wake up; to

awaken

صحا

to awake; to wake up; to awaken أيقظ to awake; to wake up; to

awaken

ا ستيقظ

to feed أطعم/ ل أك to eat أكل


to give sb a drink; to make sb

drink (e.g. syrup) ب شر to drink شر ب

to teach عل م to learn تعل م

to teach س درس to study در

to remind ذك ر to remember ذكر

to make sb forget نس ى to forget نسى

to surprise أدهش/ دهش to be surprised ا ندهش

to surprise فاجأ/باغت to be surprised تفاجأ

to encourage; to brave; to

embolden ع شج to be brave; to be

encouraged; to pluck up

courage

ع تشج

to hurt ىأذ to be hurt ىتأذ

By way of explanation, let us consider the following examples:

بتنويم ابنتها الصغيرة. البارحة، أن تنام بنصف ساعة، قامت .73

! Here, the verb نام is an intransitive verb, i.e. it does not have a direct object,

thus lending itself to the verb ‘to sleep’, ‘to fall asleep’ (or less formal ‘to hit

the hay’ (US) or ‘to hit the sack’ (UK), but best avoided as colloquial).

However, the expression بتنويم which simply means قامت مت can be نو

translated into ‘to put somebody to bed’, ‘to send somebody to bed’, ‘to lull

somebody to sleep’, or less formal ‘to tuck somebody in bed’. Building on

this, try to translate the following English sentences:

Before going to bed, the mother put her little son to bed.

He was a naughty boy; therefore, he was sent to bed.

We put the first edition of the book to bed a day before the deadline. Unlike his brother who usually gets up at the crack of dawn, Peter is a

heavy/deep sleeper – he gets up, but crawls back into bed.

ضحكت كثيرا مع زميالتها أمس. ما أضحكها/ضحكها قصة شعر زميلتها الغريبة. .74

! Here, the verb حك is an intransitive verb, i.e. it does not have a direct ض

object, thus lending itself to the verb ‘to laugh’ in the past. However, in the

second sentence the verb ك ك or ضح is transitive, i.e. it needs an object. To أضح

reflect the transitivity, one may well opt for the verb ‘to make’ followed by

the first form of the verb ‘to laugh’, as in:

What made her laugh was …

! The expression شعر .’can be translated into ‘her haircut قصة


34

ما الذي أبكى الطفل، هل تأذى؟ - .75ال، لم يتأذ، لكنه في البداية أخذ يتباكى كي يكسب عطف أمه. ولكن، عندما ذهبت أمه -

إلى عملها، أخذ الطفل يبكى عليها بكاء مرا.

! Here, the verb تأذى is different from أصابشخصا بأذى:أذ ى . While the former is

intransitive, thus lending itself to the adjective ‘hurt’ preceded by ‘was’ to

reflect the tense, the latter is transitive, thus lending itself to the verb ‘to

hurt’. Building on this, try to translate the following sentences:

No one was seriously hurt in the accident yesterday.

He hurt himself when he fell of his bicycle.

Last year, the new tax hurt a great number of families on low incomes.

! Here, in the above example, three verbs تباكى ,أبكى and بكى which are

semantically related, i.e. they are derived from the same root (بـكى) are used.

Therefore, extra attention needs to be paid to their meanings, voices, etc. To

begin with, the verb أبكى (also بك ى) is a transitive verb, thus lending itself to

‘to make + cry’ in the past. As for the verbs بكى‘to cry’ and تباكى ‘to shed

crocodile tears’, they are intransitive verbs.

! The phrase ه أم عطف يكسب can be translated into ‘to gain his mother’s كي

sympathy.

! The cognate accusative بك ب كاء ى along with the adjective ر needs to be م

syntactically adjusted into بكىبمرارة ‘he cried bitterly’ prior to translating it

(for more details, see lesson 3 in this chapter).

تخرج صديقي العام الماضي من جامعة لندن التي خرجت أجياال عديدة. .76

! In Arabic, the verb ج ج is intransitive, and the verb تخر is transitive. In خر

English, however, the verb ‘to graduate’ is transitive and intransitive.

Therefore, صديقي ج can be translated into ‘my friend graduated’ or ‘my تخر

friend was graduated’. As for ج it lends itself to ‘to graduate’ in the past ,خر

followed by an object.

أنها تعرف أنه ال يحب الحفالت. أدهشهالروية أستاذها في الحفلة. ما اندهشت .77

! The verb ا ندهش lends itself to ‘to be surprised’ or more idiomatically ‘to be

taken by surprise’.

! It is worth noting that the verb ا ندهش, i.e. being surprised, is different from

i.e. to find ,فاجأ/باغت i.e. to cause somebody to feel surprised, and ,أدهش

somebody suddenly and unexpectedly. How would you translate these three

sentences?


It wouldn’t surprise me if you called him.

I was surprised to see you in the mall.

The policemen surprised the thief while leaving the house.

لم أتناس، ولكني نسيتها، صدقني غابت عن بالي، وجميع أصدقائنا يعرفون السبب الذي .78 أنساني.

! The verb تناسى ‘to pretend to have forgotten’ or ‘to disregard’ is different

from نسى ‘to forget’ or ‘to blank out’ and أنسى ‘to make somebody forget’ or

‘to cause somebody to forget’. ‘Blank out’ suggested by many dictionaries is

quite unusual and strong as it can mean to lose consciousness, so best to be

avoided in this context.

! In this context, عنبالي but less formal, can نسيت which is a synonym to ,غابت

lend itself to ‘it totally slipped my mind’. Let us translate these sentences:

I’m really sorry; I’ve just blanked out your question. What was it?

She was about to say something, but she blanked out suddenly.

I meant to tell my wife that her mother had phoned, but it completely slipped

my mind.

حضور الطلبة إلىمحاضرة .ا نزعج .79 لعدم األستاذ كثيرا

! The verb ا نزعج lends itself to ‘be annoyed’ in the past. This is an example of

class shift where the verb ا نزعج can be translated into the adjective

‘annoyed ’ج ع نز .’preceded by the verb ‘to be م

! It is worth noting that the verb كانم نزعجا /ا نزعج i.e. to be annoyed is different

from ج i.e. to make somebody angry. How would you translate these two ,أزع

sentences?

He was very annoyed as he couldn’t find his office keys.

What annoyed him is that he could not find his office keys.

فرة قصيرة وسيعود. وعليك أن تعرف أيضا أنه لم يغادر البلد عليك أن تعرف أنه لم يسافر س .81 إنه سف ر )تم تسفيره( يا صديقي. -بمحض إرادته

! It is worth noting that the verb ,سف ر to travel’ is different from the verb‘سافر

i.e. ‘to expel somebody from a country’ although they both share the same

root. While the former is intransitive, the latter is transitive.

! The modalized preposition على here can be translated into ‘should’, ‘have to’,

and so forth.

! The expression بمحضإرادت ه lends itself to ‘of his own free will’ or ‘of his own

accord’. Building on this, try to translate the following sentences into Arabic:


36

I did not tell her to leave, but she left of her own accord.

My sister thought that something was wrong when I cleaned up my room of

my own free will.

The teacher has to ask his students to do their homework; otherwise, they

won’t do it of their own accord.

At times, when we translate English sentences containing the verb ‘to make’

followed by another verb into Arabic, it is advisable that we try to avoid using

the ,جعل plus a verb. Although it is usually better to avoid using the verb جعل

verb جعلcan be employed, as in the following:

81. Some sad movies usually make my little daughter cry.

كي()تجعل ... ت ب. ت بكيبعض األفالم الحزينة ابنتي الصغيرة تجعل عادة ما )يجعل ... تبكي(هو بعض األفالم الحزينة. ت بكيابنتي الصغيرة يجعل إن ما أو:

)ت بكي ...(بعض األفالم الحزينة ابنتي الصغيرة. ت بكيعادة ما )ي بكي ...(ابنتي الصغيرة عادة هو بعض األفالم الحزينة. ي بكيأو: ما

82. What made me angry yesterday was your silly behaviour.

( يوم أمس هو تصرفك األحمق. جعلني أغضبإن ما )جعل ... غضب

(يوم أمس هو تصرفك األحمق. أغضبنيإن ما )أغضب EX: Translate the following text titled نسيان into English, paying extra

attention to causation and transitivity:

، الذي جعلني في الفترة زوجيلقد أنساني ذلك .يوم أمس لقد نسيت أن لدي موعدا مهما مع الطبيب األخيرة أنسى أهم المواعيد.

غضبت، حينها، غضبا شديدا، والذي أغضبني أنني لم تبلغت مؤخرا أنه يفك ر بزميلة له في العمل. أقصر معه بشيء ...

! In the above text, there are a number of complex sentences, such as أن نسيت

and أن that lend themselves to ‘I forgot that …’ and ‘I was تبل غت

informed/told that …’ respectively. Therefore, extra attention should be paid

to tenses used in the clauses.

! As discussed earlier, the verbs أنسى and أغضب, which are transitive, are

different from نسى and غضب, which are intransitive.

! The verb تبل غ can be translated into a passive voice, such as ‘I was

informed’.

! The sentence بشيء معه ر أقص can be lexically and syntactically adjusted لم


prior to translating it into English. As such, it can be modulated into كل فعلت

معهأقصىجهودي or مابوسعي .and so forth ,بذلت

ASSIGNMENT

Write 10 sentences in Arabic using verbs such as

أكل صحا، نسى، اجأ،ف اندهش، حزن، انزعج، غضب، ضحك، بكى،Then, change them into transitive verbs by using this structure:

ما )جعلني( + فعل ...Consider this example:

لتزاماتي. ي أنسى( هو كثرة ا ن. ما أنساني )أو: ما جعلهدية أمس في عيد ميالدك نسيت أن أجلب لك After that, translate them into English. Try to use new topics.

8 Adverbs of manner

In general, adverbs add specific information (about time, place, manner, etc.)

to the meaning of the verb used, thus having an adverb of time غدا‘tomorrow’,

an adverb of place هنا‘here’, an adverb of manner سرعا م ‘quickly’, and so forth.

Further, adverbs sometimes add specific information to adjectives, as in سهل

very easy’. These adverbs are called adverbs of degree, which are a‘ جدا

subcategory of manner adverbials (for more details, see cognate accusative in

this chapter).

Adverbs of manner, such as ‘quickly’, ‘slowly’, ‘sadly’, ‘happily’, ‘angrily’,

‘greedily’, ‘softly’, and so forth (see what follows) are adverbs that describe

the verb and answer the question: how an action/activity occurs/occurred, etc.

In Arabic, adverbs of manner (known as حال) can be one word, such as ا ,م سر ع

ا ك ا ,ضاح م etc. or a prepositional phrase followed by an adjective, such as ,باس

etc. Following are some ,علىنحوغيرمفهوم ,بشكلخاطيء ,بشكلم سر ع ,بطريقةسريعة

examples:

بشكل لالنتخابات في دائرته االنتخابية (to propose himself as a candidate)نفسه رشح .83 . غير متوقع

. بطريقة غير متوقعةمن االنتخابات الرئاسية قبل أسبوع (to withdraw)انسحب .84 . فجأة المكان أمس قبل االجتماع (to leave)غادرت .85 عالية. بثقة األسئلة جميع (to answer)في مقابلة أمس، أجاب .86


38

. بشكل ملفت مستواه العام الماضي في نحو اللغة اإلنكليزية (to improve)تحسن .87 .بشكل خاطيءالكرة في آخر دقيقة من مباراة أمس (to pass)مرر .88 بصوت هادئ ومنخفض. أمس على سؤالها في محاضرة (to reply) رد .89آخر عشر دقائق من مباراة العماني في مرمى المنتخب حارس الحكم (to send out) طرد .91

بطريقة خاطئة. أمس على نحو غير نة الماضية اقتصاد اليابان في النصف األول من الس ( (to deflateانكمش .91

متوقع. . العمالة ستخدام قيودا على ا الدول بعض (to place/put/impose) وضعت .92 بشكل م ستهجن . ستنكار وا بغضب ى الشاب أمسالمقهى إل رواد معظم (to look)نظر .93

Now, try to translate the above sentences by using the following notes:

! in an unexpected way; unexpectedly ـة(بشكل/بطريقةغيرمتوقع(

suddenly فجأة

with self-confidence بثقةعالية

dramatically; noticeably بشكلملفت

in a wrong way; wrongly بشكلخاطئ

in a quiet and low voice; quietly بصوتهادئومنخفض

in a wrong way; wrongly; mistakenly بطريقةخاطئة

in an expected way; unexpectedly علىنحوغيرمتوقع

disapprovingly نبشكلم ستهج

angrily and disapprovingly. بغضبوا ستنكار

ASSIGNMENT

Following is an alphabetical list of single-word manner adverbs commonly used in

English.

! Try to find equivalents to them in Arabic.

! Try to change them into adjectives, verbs, and nouns.

! Try to learn their meanings in English and how to use them properly.

! Then, write 30 sentences in English and translate your sentences into

Arabic.


Adverb Translation Adjective Noun Verb

accidentally بشكل

مصادفة /عرضي

accidental accident ---

angrily بغضب angry anger anger/be angry

anxiously بقلق/با نزعاج anxious anxiety ---

awkwardly علىنحو

أخرق/بصورةغير

مالئمةأوم حرجة

awkward awkwardness ---

badly علىنحوسيء/غير

مرض

bad badness ---

beautifully بشكلجميل beautiful beauty beautify

blindly /بصورةعمياء

أعمىعلىنحو

blind blindness blind

boldly بشجاعة/ببسالة bold boldness ---

bravely بشجاعة/ببسالة brave bravery brave

brightly /بابتهاج/بإشراق

بألوانزاهية

bright brightness brighten (up)

busily نهماكا ب busy business busy

calmly بهدوء clam calm(ness) clam (down)

carefully نتباه/بدقةا بحذر/ب careful care(fullness) (take) care

carelessly بالمباالة careless carelessness be careless

cautiously بحذر Cautious/

cautionary

Cautiousness/

caution

caution

ceaselessly

cheerfully

بالا نقطاع

تهاجبمرح/باب

ceaseless

cheerful

---

cheerfulness

cease

cheer (up)

clearly بوضوح clear clearness clear

closely

correctly علىنحوصحيح correct correction/

correctness

correct

courageously بشجاعة/ببسالة courageous courage encourage

cruelly لوحشي بقسوة/بشك cruel cruelness ---

daringly بشكلمحبوب daring --- ---

deliberately /عمدا /عنقصد

بتأن

deliberate deliberation deliberate

doubtfully بشك/بعدمثقة doubtful doubt doubt/cast doubt

on

eagerly بتلهف eager eagerness be eager

easily بسهولة easy ease/easiness (make it) easy/ease

elegantly بأناقة elegant elegance ---

enormously

enthusiastic-

ally

equally

eventually

exactly

faithfully

fast

fatally

fiercely


40

fondly

foolishly

fortunately

frankly

frantically

generously

gently

gladly

gracefully

greedily

happily

hard

hastily

healthily

honestly

hungrily

hurriedly

inadequately

ingeniously

innocently

inquisitively

irritably

joyously

justly

kindly

lazily

loosely

loudly

madly

mortally

mysteriously

neatly

nervously

noisily

obediently

openly

painfully

patiently

perfectly

politely

poorly

powerfully

promptly

punctually

quickly

quietly

rapidly

rarely

recklessly

regularly


reluctantly

repeatedly

rightfully

roughly

rudely

sadly

safely

selfishly

sensibly

seriously

sharply

shyly

silently

sleepily

slowly

smoothly

softly

solemnly

speedily

straight

stupidly

successfully

suddenly

suspiciously

swiftly

tenderly

tensely

thoughtfully

tightly

truthfully

unexpectedly

victoriously

violently

vivaciously

vividly

warmly

weakly

wearily

well

wildly

Wilfully/

willfully

wisely


42

9 Interrogative sentences in the past

In English, there are two main types of interrogative sentences, namely

! ‘wh-question’, that is, a question that begins with words like ‘why’,

‘when’, ‘where’, ‘how’, etc.

! ‘yes/no question’, that is, a question, that begins with a helping verb,

such as ‘is’, ‘are’, ‘will’, ‘can’, ‘did’, ‘do’, etc.

Similarly, in Arabic, we have two main types of questions, namely

! ‘wh-question’, that is, a question that begins with words like كيف ,متى,

.etc ,ملاذا/لم ,أين

! ‘yes/no question’, that is, a question, that begins with هل or همزة

.االستفهام

Consider the following two examples along with their translations:

سمحت له أمس بسؤالك مثل هذا السؤال؟ لم .94

أطفأت األنوار أمس قبل سفرك إلى مسقط؟ هل .95

Why did you let him ask you such a question yesterday?

Did you switch off the lights yesterday before travelling to Muscat?


EX: Try to translate the sentences below by using the following table:

Wh-

question

helping

verb

subject verb ---- ?

Why did you allow/let --- ?

--- Did you switch off ---- ?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

سمحت له بالدخول بعدك إلى المحاضرة؟ لم .96

مغادرتك المكتب أمس مساء؟ أطفأت األنوار قبل هل .97

لم تتصل بمركز الشرطة لكي تخبرهم عما حدث لك البارحة؟ لماذا .98

؟وصلت أختك من السفر متى .99

أنهيت دراستك اإلعدادية؟متى .111

جة؟ حر فيين الم تمكنت من التخلص من أسئلة الصح كيف .111

كنت متعبا البارحة؟ هل .112

استطاع اللص الفرار من رجال الشرطة؟ هل .113

اتصلت به أمس مساء؟ كم مرة .114

وضعت البارحة جميع أوراقك المهمة وجواز سفرك ونقودك في حقيبتك اليدوية؟ هل .115

انزعجت من أسئلتي في اجتماع أمس؟ هل .116

إجازة الصيف الماضي؟ قضيت أين .117


44

10 Passive voice in the past

In the simple past tense, the passive voice is formed by the use of ‘was/were’

+ a past participle (verb 3), as in the following example:

I wrote a novel last year

A novel was written (by me) last year

In translating it into Arabic, one may opt for passive, as in

(.من قبلينة الماضية )كتبت رواية الس Or, one may use تم or جرى followed by a noun, as in:

(. من قبليالماضي ) في العام الرواية تمت كتابة Further, one may resort to using the active voice to avoid the forced passive,

i.e. منقبل،منجانب, as in:

رواية العام الماضي. كتبت Now, let us translate the following sentences into English:

(be broken)كسرت النافذة البارحة. .118 (be lost). فقد الطفل أمس مساء في إحدى مراكز التسوق .119 (be killed)قتل اللص صباح يوم الجمعة. .111 ( (be martyred; be died as a martyrاستشهد عشر جنود في معارك البارحة. .111 ( be set free; be releasedحرب قبل يومين. ) أطلق سراح مئة أسير .112 (be dischargedع. )قبل أسبو أخرج من المستشفى رجل أعمال شهير .113سحبت قبل أيام في العاصمة البريطانية، لندن، أموال كثيرة من البنك ألسباب غير معروفة. .114

(be withdrawn ) ( be announcedأصدر بيان عسكري ليلة البارحة من قبل وزير الدفاع الفرنسي. ) .115ير واضحة من قبل الطلبة الجدد. سئل رئيس قسم اللغة اإلنكليزية أمس صباحا أسئلة غ .116

(be asked )

! In Arabic, try to avoid the forced passive in which expressions like منقبل or

:are used. So, the above sentences can be rewritten as follows منجانب


الدفاع الفرنسيبيان اعسكري اليلةالبارحة. وزير أصدر

اأسئلةغيرواضحة.سأل اللغة اإلنكليزيةأمسصباح قسم الجددرئيس الطلبة

حملة تشهير قبل شهر ضد رئيس الوزراء السابق. ش نت .117

! The word تشهير in this context can be translated into ‘defamation’ which

derives from the verb ‘defame’ هسمعة .يشو

! The word حملة lends itself to ‘campaign’ which collocates well with verbs,

such as‘to launch’ or ‘to wage’ يش ن/ .شن

To change sentences in continuous tenses from active into passive, we need to

use ‘being’ before the past participle (verb 3), as in the following example:

I was writing an important report yesterday.

An important report was being written yesterday (by me).

However, to change sentences in perfect tenses from active into passive, we

need to use ‘been’ before the past participle (verb 3), as in the following

example:

Until 2010, I had published a number of books.

Until 2010, a number of books had been published (by me).

To change a sentence that has a modal verb, such as ‘could’, ‘might’, ‘would’,

etc. from active into passive, one has to use the verb ‘be’ before the past

participle, as in:

You could answer all these questions.

All these questions could be answered (by you).

EX: Change the following sentences into passive. Then, translate them into

Arabic:

1. Until yesterday, we had not received our certificates.

2. She invited all her friends to her birthday’s party, but no one attended.


46

3. When my sister called me yesterday, I was painting my room.

4. While I was talking with my friend, somebody threw a car key at me.

5. She could not ask me any question yesterday.

6. The enemy launched an attack on our troops some days ago.

7. You might have left the book in the library. Why don’t you go there

and check?

8. The king delivered an important speech today morning.

ASSIGNMENT

Write 15 sentences in Arabic using the structure

/جرى+ا سم) (...Nounتم

Then, translate them into English using passive, as in the following example:

ل المؤتمر إلى الشهر المقبل( تم تأجيل المؤتمر إلى الشهر المقبل. = )أج The conference was delayed to the next month.

1.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

13.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

14.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

15.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


BILINGUAL TEXT


literary text titled ‘The King of the Golden River’ by John Ruskin and

translated into Arabic by مسعودالخنجري. In your evaluation, try to focus on the

translation of the passive forms used:

The King of the Golden River

In a secluded and mountainous part

of Stiria there was in old time a

valley of the most surprising and

luxuriant fertility.

ملكالنهرالذهبييا"، كان هناك في جزء منعزل وجبلي من "ستير

في قديم الزمان واد يثير الدهشة لكثرة خصوبته.

It was surrounded on all sides by

steep and rocky mountains rising

into peaks which were always

covered with snow and from which a

number of torrents descended in

constant cataracts.

ه من كل جانب جبال شاهقة وكانت تحيط بوصخرية عالية القمم ودائما ما تغطيها الثلوج،

وتنبع منها شالالت كثيرة ودائمة الجريان.

One of these fell westward over the

face of a crag so high that when the

sun had set to everything else, and

all below was darkness, his beams

still shone full upon this waterfall, so

that it looked like a shower of gold.

من علو شاهق وعلى وجه صخرة، تصب أحد هذه الشالالت بإتجاه الغرب، وعندما تكون الشمس قد غربت وساد الظالم، تجد نور مياهه

يسطع من فوق كأنه وابل من الذهب.

It was therefore called by the people

of the neighborhood the Golden

River.

ولهذا كان يطلق عليه سكان المنطقة اسم النهر .الذهبي

It was strange that none of these

streams fell into the valley itself. كان من الغريب أن أيا من هذه التيارات ال

.تصب في الوادي نفسهThey all descended on the other side

of the mountains and wound away

through broad plains and by

populous cities.

نما تنحدر كلها على الجانب اآلخر من الجبال وا .وتلتوي بين سهول واسعة ومدن مكتظة بالسكان

But the clouds were drawn so

constantly to the snowy hills, and

rested so softly in the circular

hollow, that in time of drought and

heat, when all the country round was

لكن الغيوم تنجذب باستمرار نحو التالل التي اكتست بالثلوج، وبلطف تتجمع في فراغ دائري، وفي زمن تعاني كل البالد من حوله من القحط


48

burned up, there was still rain in the

little valley; and its crops were so

heavy, and its hay so high, and its

apples so red, and its grapes so blue,

and its wine so rich, and its honey so

sweet, that it was a marvel to

everyone who beheld it and was

commonly called the Treasure

Valley.

والحرارة، ال يزال يهطل المطر في الوادي الصغير، وكانت محاصيل الوادي وفيرة جدا، لدرجة أن القش فيها طويل جدا، والتفاح شديد

عنب شديد الزرقة، والنبيذ شديد اللذة، الحمرة، والوالعسل شديد الحالوة، فقد كان أعجوبة لكل من

.رآه، فغالبا ما كان يسمى بوادي الكنوز

ASSIGNMENT

Translate the following text titled ‘Nelson Mandela’, paying special attention

to passive forms (highlighted for you):

Rolihlahla Mandela was born in the village of Mvezo on 18 July 1918. In

1930, when he was 12 years old, his father died. He attended a primary school

in Qunu, where he was given the name Nelson by his teacher, Miss Mdingane,

in accordance with the custom of giving all schoolchildren “Christian” names.

In 1944, he got married to Evelyn Mase. She was a nurse at that time. They

had two sons and two daughters. However, in 1958, he divorced his wife.

On 12 August 1988, he was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with

tuberculosis. After more than three months in two hospitals, he was

transferred on 7 December 1988 to a house at Victor Verster Prison near

Paarl, where he spent his last 14 months of imprisonment. He was released

on Sunday 11 February 1990.

Throughout his imprisonment, he had rejected at least three conditional offers

of release. In 1993, the Nobel Peace Prize was won by him. On 5 December

2013, he died at the age of 95.


11 Revision

EX 1: Translate the following dialogue between two friends, paying special

attention to tenses and syntactic structures:

أين ذهبت أمس في تمام الساعة التاسعة صباحا؟ - التلفاز. وماذا عنك أنت؟ لم أخرج من غرفتي في الفندق. كنت أشاهد -مع صديق حميم. بعد ذلك، جلسنا في إحدى pyramids األهراماتأنا ذهبت إلى زيارة -

. شاي كوب لبت أنا فنجان قهوة، وطلب هو تناول الشاي والقهوة. طناهي لالمق تتفسح؟ وأنا جالس في غرفتي. يعني كنت -

EX 2: Translate the following literary text titled ضعفاء, paying special

attention to tenses and syntactic structures:

. ه سترت الرجل وجهه بكم جل أخرس طاعن في السن. مسح في وجه ر الشباب أحد بصق

في الهواء ه بيدي يرسم عنهم. وراح . ابتعد ه عن إساءته. بصق شاب آخر في وجه الشباب لم يتوقف المرتعشتين: "ضعفاء"... ه بيدي في الهواء ب أن يكت تشكيال ... كان يريد

! The verb بصق lends itself to the verb ‘to spit’ in the past.

! The expression طاعنفيالسن needs to be translated first intralingually into

.’and then interlingually into ‘an old man كبير)فيالسن(

! The expression بكمسترت ه can be rendered into ‘with his jacket sleeve’.

! Translate راحيرسم and similar expressions, such as أخذيرسم and the like into

‘to start/begin’ in the past plus the first form of the verb + ‘-ing’.

! It is suggested in chapter 3 that كان plus a verb in the present lends itself to

a continuous past tense. Can we translate يريد into a past continuous كان

tense?

EX 3: Translate the following literary text titled ا ختفاء, paying special attention

to tenses and syntactic structures:

أله أحد كانت تجلس إلى يمينه على األريكة ذاتها في وسط المحطة. شعر باالرتباك قليال. سيفتش عنها .. لم يجدها. راح ه المستطرقين عن مكتب بيع التذاكر. أجابه على عجل. التفت إلى يمين

من مكانه . نهض المحطة منها سوى جزء من ظهرها وهي تتوارى خلف باب وسط الزحام. لم يلمح


50

... تفت عله يلحق بها... اخ يشق طريقه بين الزحام مسرعا... أخذ ا استفاق من نومه ... كان يحلم حلما جميال. هعند

! Translate أحدالم ستطرقين into ‘one of the passers-by’.

! Try to figure out where the emphasis is put in the following

activities/events: رتباك ,كانتتجلس .ا ختفت and أخذيشق ,راحيفتش ,شعرباال

! The verb توارى simply means ا ختفى.

! The expression جزءمنظهرها can be translated into ‘a glimpse of her back’.

! The word عندها can be translated into ‘then’, ‘at that time’, ‘at that

moment’, ‘at that point’, and the like.

EX 4: The following text has five grammatical errors. Try to identify and

correct them. Then, translate the text into Arabic.

In massive demonstration filled the streets of the city, the security forces

opted for use teargas to dispersing demonstrators. The demonstrators were

went out to the streets, calling for better standards of living, freedom, social

justice and the improvement of services.

EX 5: Before translating the following sentences, try to identify

! the subject of each sentence

! the main verb along with its tense and voice:

1. Yesterday, the Iraqi government accused the neighbouring countries,

particularly Turkey of destabilizing the country.

2. Two days ago, the Syrian government called upon other countries to

hold an urgent meeting to discuss the latest developments in the Arab

world, in particular the bilateral relations between Arabs and Israel.

3. On 9 January 1968, three of the Arab oil states Kuwait, Libya, and

Saudi Arabia agreed at a conference in Beirut to found the

Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries.

! The verb ‘to accuse’ takes the preposition ‘of’. How would you translate it

along with its preposition?

! The word ‘particularly’ or its synonyms (such as ‘in particular’,

‘specially’, etc.) lends itself in Arabic to ة ة ,وبخاص .etc ,والسي ما ,خاص

! The verb ‘destabilize’, which is the opposite of ‘stabilize’, derives from

the adjective ‘stable’م ستق ر. How would you translate the verb ‘to

destabilize’?

! The adjective ‘bilateral’ can be rendered into ثنائية.


! The verb ‘to found’ is different from the second form of the verb ‘to find’.

Here ‘to found’ means يؤسس, thus we have words like ‘foundation’مؤسسة

or أساس and ‘founder’مؤسس

! The verb ‘to export’, which means يصد ر, is the opposite of ‘to import’,

which means د .يستور

EX 6: Translate the following text titled مظاهراتعارمةفيبغداد, paying special

attention to the lexical items and expressions used:

في مظاهرة عارمة جابت شوارع العاصمة العراقية بغداد يوم أمس قام المتظاهرون برفع الفتات ة بتحقيق األمن واآلمان، احتجاجا على تردي الخدمات، وانقطاع التيار الكهربائي المستمر، والمطالب

قرار الموازنة العامة، وأبسط متطلبات الحياة. وبينما طالب بعضهم بزيادة رواتبهم وتحسين الكهرباء وا طالب البعض اآلخر بتنحي وزير الكهرباء.

المتظاهرين بالماء. األمر الذي أثار حفيظة وفي محاولة لتفريق المتظاهرين، قامت قوات األمن برش . وفي المقابل، لجأت قوات األمن لقوات األمنسيارة تعود النار في وقاموابإضرامالمتظاهرين بعض

لة للدموع والعصي. إلى استخدام الغازات المسي

قوات األمن قامت أيضا بفتح النار على بعض باسم المتظاهرين أن الرسمي كر المتحدث هذا وذ عشرة متظاهرين. المتظاهرين، مما أدى إلى إصابة أكثر من

can be translated into ‘a massive demonstration’, ‘a large-scale مظاهرة عارمة !

demonstration’, ‘a large/huge/big demonstration’, and so forth.

! The verb )جاب )شوارع (also sometimes )(طاف )شوارع lends itself to verbs

such as ‘to fill (the streets) of’, ‘to fan out in (the streets of)’, ‘to spread out

in (the streets of), ‘to mass (the street of)’, and so on.

! The expression قام برفع means رفع.

! The word الفتة in this context can be translated into ‘banner’.

! The phrase للمطالبة بـ can be rendered into ‘calling for’.

! The phrase تحقيق األمن واآلمان can be translated into ‘the stability of safety and

security’.

! The phrase أبسط متطلبات الحياة can be translated into ‘the basic standards of

living’.

! The phrases ر الموازنةإقرا ,تحسين الكهرباء ,زيادة رواتبهم , and تنحي وزير الكهرباء lend

themselves respectively to ‘increasing their salaries’, ‘improving

electricity’, ‘the budget approval’, and ‘deposing/toppling/removing the


52

minister of electricity’.

! The connector هذا و which is frequently used in Arabic media can be left out

or translated into a connector, such as ‘further’, and the like.

! The phrase المتحدث ب اسم (also sometimes الناطق باسم) lends itself to ‘the

spokesman for’.

EX 7: Translate the following sentences, paying special attention to tenses:

سنوات. 5زين الدين زيدان اللعب قبل المنتخب الفرنسي العب اعتزل .1

قدم استقالته من منصب رئاسة القسم قبل عشرة أيام. .2

جمهورية مصر العربية متوجها إلى مملكة البحرين في زيارة تستغرق غادر البالد أمس رئيس .3 يومين.

ي أمس صباحا مؤتمرا صحفيا لتوضيح آخر التطورات في الساحة رئيس الوزراء العراق عقد .4 السياسية.

أبرمت عقدا قبل أسبوع مع شركة كبيرة كي أعمل معهم في قسم االستيراد والتصدير. .5

EX 8: Translate the following journalistic text, paying special attention to

lexical choices and syntactic structures:

بين الراهنة األوضاع عودي متوجها إلى سلطنة عمان لمباحثة الس الدفاع البالد أمس وزير غادر اط الجيش العماني ومجموعة من ضب الدفاع الدولي وزير مسقط في مطار ه البلدين. وكان في استقبال

.مؤتمرا صحفيا رانبعدها الوزي العماني. عقد

! Translate وزيرالدفاع into ‘defence minister’ or ‘minister of defence’.

! The words ضب اط ,مطار, and مؤتمر lend themselves to ‘airport’, ‘officer’, and

‘conference’ respectively.

! The sentence الع ماني الدفاع وزير الدولي مسقط مطار في ا ستقباله في can be وكان

adjusted before translating it to English, as in:

ه في مطار مسقط الدولي ... وقام وزير الدفاع العماني باستقبال واستقبل في مطار مسقط الدولي من قبل وزير الدفاع العماني ...أو:

Chapter 3

Translating tenses/aspects

Tenses versus aspects

Past tenses

Present tenses

Future tenses

Revision

Chapter three: Translating tenses/aspects

54

1 Tenses versus aspects

Both ‘tense’ and ‘aspect’ refer to time. So, what is the difference between

them? Actually, although both of them convey temporal information about a

described activity, event or situation, tense refers to when an activity, event or

situation happens, thus locating the described activity, event or situation on

the timeline: past, present, or future (Kearns 2000/2011; Almanna 2016a,

2016b).

However, aspect refers to how a described event or situation happens. In

English, for instance, there are four types of aspect, viz. ‘simple aspect’,

‘perfect aspect’, ‘progressive aspect’, and ‘perfect progressive aspect’ (cf.

Kreidler 1998; Celce-Murciaand Larsen-Freeman 1999; Kearns 2000/2011;

Griffiths 2006; Almanna 2016a, 2016b).

past present future

simple

perfect

progressive

perfect progressive

By way of illustration, let us consider the following sentence:

I played football with my friends yesterday.

مع أصدقائي أمس. كرة القدم لعبت

! Here in this simple sentence, the tense is ‘past’ and the emphasis is on the

completion of the action, thus the aspect is ‘simple’. It lends itself to لعبت, which is also in the past.


2 Past tenses

As indicated above, in English, there are four aspects, viz. ‘simple’, ‘perfect’,

‘progressive’, and ‘perfect progressive’, thus having four different tenses in

the past, namely:

! Simple past tense

! Past continuous tense

! Past perfect tense

! Past perfect continuous tense

In what follows, each tense will be explained in detail in a direct link with

translation.

Simple past tense

It is normally used with words/expressions, such as ‘ago’, ‘yesterday’, ‘in the

past’, ‘last week’, ‘last month’, ‘last Friday’, and the like to express an action

or event completed in the past, so the emphasis (aspect) is on the completion

of the described action or event. Let us consider the following example:

My father travelled to Egypt yesterday to meet his friend.

Verb 2

travelled

went

gave

asked

ate

.

.

.

فعلماض

سافر

ذهب

أعطى

سأل

أكل

.

.

.

Here in this simple sentence, the tense is ‘past’ and the emphasis is on the

completion of the action, thus the aspect is ‘simple’. It lends itself in Arabic to

.سافر

صديقه.قي ليلتوالدي إلى مصر أمس ليلتقي بصديقه/ سافر The negative form is formed by inserting ‘did not’ before the main verb which

should be changed into the base form, i.e. Verb 1, as in:


56

My father did not travel to Egypt yesterday to meet his friend.

did not + Verb 1

did not travel

did not go

did not give

did not ask

did not eat

.

.

.

مجزوملم+فعلمضارع

لميسافر لميذهب

لميعط لميسأل لميأكل

.

.

.

In translating negative sentences in the simple past tense into Arabic, one may

use the particle لم followed by a verb in the jussive case جزم, as in:

والديإلىمصرأمسليلتقيبصديق ه /صديق ه .لميسافر

EX: Make the following sentences negative. Then, translate them into Arabic:

1. Last year, the new tax hurt a great number of families on low incomes.

2. One of the large companies in the country declared bankruptcy due to

its inability to properly market its products.

3. Yesterday, I got up at the crack of dawn because I had an important

appointment.

4. My wife meant to tell me that my brother had phoned, but it

completely slipped her mind.

5. Two employees attended yesterday’s meeting.

EX: Make the following sentences interrogative. Then, translate them into

Arabic:

1. He hurt himself when he fell of his bicycle.

2. What annoyed him is that he could not find his office keys.

3. The publisher put the first edition of the book to bed three days before

the deadline.

4. I remained fully awake last night.

5. The policemen surprised the thief while leaving the house.


Past continuous tense

In English, the continuous past tense is formed by ‘was/were’ followed by

verb 1 + the suffix ‘-ing’, as in:

At this time, I was reading a novel last night.

was/were + Verb 1 + ing

was/were reading

was/were playing

was/were writing

was/were singing

was/were drinking

.

.

كان+فعلمضارع

كانيقرأ

كانيلعب

كانيكتب

يكانيغن

كانيشرب

.

.

In Arabic, however, as there is no grammatical category for ‘aspect’, that is,

how an action, activity occurs/occurred, such a tense is formed by كان

followed by a verb in the present tense, as in:

أقرأ روايةالبارحةفيمثلهذاالوقت.كنت

فيمثلهذهالساعة.كانيتصل بأهل ه أمسمساء

Actually, this tense is used frequently with words like ‘while’, ‘as’, ‘when’,

and the like to indicate the occurrence of two actions/activities; one in the

simple past tense, and the other in the continuous past tense, as in:

While I was watching TV, my friend came to visit me.

Continuous past tense Simple past tense

أشاهدبينما صديقيليزورني.جاءالتلفاز،كنت

! When two simple sentences are joined by words like ‘while’, ‘as’, ‘when’,

and so forth, they will not be treated as simple sentences any more. Rather,

they become one complex sentence consisting of two clauses (for more

details, see chapter 7 in this book).

! There are a great number of verbs (such as ‘see’, ‘hear’, ‘smell’, ‘taste’,

‘feel’, ‘recognize’, ‘understand’, ‘like’, ‘dislike’, ‘love’, ‘hate’, ‘want’,

‘desire’, ‘wish’, ‘think’, ‘believe’, ‘realize’, ‘remember’, ‘forget’, ‘seem’,

‘owe’, ‘posses’, ‘belong’, ‘contain’, ‘consist’, and so forth) that cannot be

used in continuous tenses.

The negative form is formed by inserting ‘not’ after ‘was/were’ without any

change, as in:


58

He was not reading a novel yesterday at this time.

was/were + not + Verb 1 + ing

was/were not reading

was/were not playing

was/were not writing

was/were not singing

was/were not drinking

.

.

+فعلمضارع لميكن

يقرألميكن

يلعب لميكن

يكتب لميكن

يغن يلميكن

يشرب لميكن

.

.

In translating negative sentences in the past continuous tense into Arabic, one

may use لميكن followed by a verb in the present, as in:

مثل هذا الوقت. رواية أمس في لم يكن يقرأNow, let us translate the following dialogue between two girls into English by

using the table below:

فيمثلهذاالوقت؟ - ماذاك نت تفعلينأمسمساء

منشقتيهذه. - فيمحركاتالبحثعنشقةأرخص أبحث ك نت

بخينأمتحضريندروسك؟تفعلين؟هلكنت تطوأنت ،ماذاكنت -

أتمش ىعلىالبحرمعوالدتي. - فيالحقيقةالهذاوالذاك.كنت

حي ة.إكانتوالدتيتحكي - عنمشاكلهاالص لي

ا. - أناأ صغيإليها.بصراحة،كنتأتألمكثير وكنت

- What were you doing …………………….………………..……….……..? - I was searching for ……………………………………...…………….…… - And you,………………………………………………………………………

.………...................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................

Past perfect tense

In English, the past perfect tense is formed by ‘had’ followed by verb 3, as in:

In 2005, I had worked in that company for two years.

In Arabic, however, as there is no grammatical category for ‘aspect’, that is,

how an action or activity occurs/occurred, such a tense can be formed by


:plus a verb in the past, as in قد followed by an optional كان !

سنتين. )لمدة( في تلك الشركة كنت قد عملت ، 2005في عام ! or a simple past tense along with an aspectual indicator, such as لمدة,

and so forth that indicates that an activity/event was completed ,قبل ,بعد

before another, as in:

سنتين. لمدةفي تلك الشركة عملت ، 2005في عام To put it differently, it is used to show that the described action or event

started in the past and continued up until another time in the past. Let us

consider the following example:

By 2002, I had worked in that university for two years.

had + Verb 3

had worked had played

had written

had sung

had drunk

.

.

.

)كانقد+(فعلماض

)كانقد(عمل

لعب )كانقد(

كتب )كانقد(

غن ى )كانقد(

شر ب )كانقد(

.

.

.

In the above example, the tense is ‘past’ indicated by 2002. The emphasis is

on the duration of the described action, i.e. working, that began in the past (in

this example in 2001) and is seen relevant to 2002. To reflect both the tense

and aspect, i.e. the emphasis, one may use قد followed by a verb in the كان

past, as in:

لمدة سنتين. الجامعةفي تلك كنت قد عملت ، 2002 )بحلول عام( في عام

الرسالة، زرت صديقي. أرسلت أن بعد

! In this example, there are two sentences (two subjects (أنا/أنا) + two

verbs/tenses ( after’, thus forming‘بعد conjoined by the connector (زار + أرسل

a complex sentence.

! In terms of tenses/aspects, there are two activities, i.e. sending and visiting,

one occurred before the other, thus lending themselves to a simple past

tense ‘visited’ and a past perfect tense ‘had sent’.

طلب تعييني.مت لمأكنقدتسلحتىأمساألول، منالجامعةبشأن ا رد


60

! In this sentence, the tense is past in the negative form indicated by لم, and

the aspect (emphasis) is on the duration of the described action which began

in the past and is seen relevant to a specified period in the past أمساألول ‘a

day before yesterday’. To reflect the tense, negation and aspect, one may

use a past perfect tense, i.e. ‘had + not + verb 3’.

! The word بشأن can be translated into ‘regarding’, ‘concerning’, and the like.

أربع سنوات في محافظة بغداد. كنت قد عشت قبل انتقالي إلى مدينة البصرة،

! In this sentence, the tense is past indicated by the phrase قبلا نتقاليإلىمدينة

that عاش and the emphasis is on the duration of the described event ,البصرة

began in the past and is seen relevant to a specified point in the past. To

reflect both the tense and aspect, one may well opt for the past perfect tense,

as in ‘X had lived …’.

Cast in less technical terms, in English this tense is used:

! with words like ‘for’ and ‘since’ when there is a time reference to the

past, as in:

English for two years. had studied, I When I was at the age of 30

اللغة اإلنكليزية لمدة سنتين. قد درست كنت سنة، 30عندما كان عمري

! in complex sentences, after ‘after’ and before ‘before’, as in:

After she had cleaned her flat and tidied it up, she went out with her

close friend to buy a gift to her little daughter.

Or: Before she went out with her close friend to buy a gift to her little

daughter, she had cleaned her flat and tidied it up.

بعد أن نظفت شقتها ورتبتها، خرجت مع صديقتها الحميمة )المقربة( لشراء هدية البنتها الصغيرة. المقربة( لشراء هدية البنتها الصغيرة، نظفت شقتها ورتبتها )أو قبل أن تخرج مع صديقتها الحميمة )

قامت بتنظيف ... وترتيب(.

! in complex sentences after ‘as if’, as in:

At the party, he behaved in a way as if nothing had happened.

. لم يحدثفي الحفلة، تصرف بطريقة كما لو أن شيئا


! in complex sentences, after ‘if; the third type’, as in:

If you had studied hard, you would not have failed in such an easy exam.

Or:Had you studied hard, you would not have failed in such an easy exam.

متحان سهل.بمثل هكذا ا أخفقت جيدا لالمتحان، لما قد درست لو أنك

! in reported speech to replace present perfect or simple past when the

introductory verb is in the past, as in:

He said: “I have taught at this university for two years”.

He said that he had taught at that university for two years.

في هذه الجامعة لمدة عامين. درست قال: في تلك الجامعة لمدة عامين. قد درسقال إنه

! in complex sentences with expressions such as ‘no sooner … than …’,

‘hardly … when …’, ‘scarcely … when …’, ‘barely … when …’, and

the like, as in:

No sooner had he finished one project than he began working on the

other.

بمشروع آخر. شرع مشروعا )انتهى من مشروع( حتى أنهىما إن من مشروع( حتى ... انتهىما لبث أن أنهى مشروعا )

Hardly had we won the match when one of our fans had a heart attack.

Or: Scarcely had we won the match when one of our fans had a heart attack.

Or: Barely had we won the match when one of our fans had a heart attack.

أحد مشجعينا إلى نوبة قلبية. تعرضفي المبارة حتى فزناما إن في المباراة حتى ... فزناما لبثنا أن

! While ‘hardly’, ‘scarcely’ and ‘barely’ are followed by ‘when’, ‘no sooner’

is followed by ‘than’. However, they lend themselves to the following

correlative conjunctions in Arabic:

ما إن/أن ... حتى ... ما لبث ... حتى ... لم يلبث ... حتى ...


62

EX: Try to use the verbs in the box below to write 15 sentences in Arabic

using these correlative conjunctions:

ما إن ... حتى ... ما لبث ... حتى ... لم يلبث ... حتى ...

لم يمض على ... حتى ...

joinا لتحق resignا ستقال divorceطل ق

ل arriveوصل dieتوف ى workعم

buyا شترى organizeنظ م sellباع

hearسمع announceأعلن establish/foundأسس

get/obtainحصل ل د feelشعر be bornو

attackهجم speak/talkتكل م deliver a babyأنجب

Then, translate them into English, paying extra attention to tenses:

1. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

13. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

14. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

15. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


EX: Write 10 sentences in Arabic using the following:

لو ...، لـ ...Then, translate them into English, paying extra attention to tenses:

1. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EX: Write 10 complex sentences in Arabic usingقبل and بعد. Then, translate

them into English, paying extra attention to tenses:

1. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


64

EX: Translate the following sentences into Arabic:

1. No sooner had I heard the explosion than I jumped out of the place

and rushed to the scene.

2. Barely had I put the phone down when it started ringing again.

3. No sooner had the electricity gone out than the teacher cancelled the

class.

4. Hardly had she finished her studies when she got a good job.

5. No sooner had the company launched its new product than it went

bankrupt.

6. Scarcely had she closed her eyes when she fell asleep and started

snoring.

7. No sooner had she read the letter than she started crying.

EX: In the following sentences there are a number of grammatical mistakes.

Correct them and then translate them into Arabic:

1. After I bought a gift to my brother I had gone to the gym.

2. Hardly I had not gotten up from bed, I took a bath.

3. If they had played well, they will not have lost the match.

4. In 1999, my brother has lived in the UK since three years.

5. When she was in Paris, she had not study French in one of the

language schools.

6. Had you call him earlier and ask him to help you, he would not have

hesitated at all.

EX: Translate the following sentences into English, paying special attention to

tenses/aspects:

مت ألكثر من سبع ساعات.قد ن ، كنت أبي من السفر البارحة، وقبل أن يصل -أ .1 نائما. البارحة، عندما وصل أبي من السفر كنت -ب

راجع دروسي مع صديق آخر. كنت أ أمس، عندما اتصلت بك -أ .2 ت دروسي مع صديق آخر. قد راجع قبل أن اتصل بك كنت -ب

في تلك الشركة مع مجموعة من األصدقاء. ، كنت أعمل 2007في عام -أ .3 ، كنت قد عملت في تلك الشركة مع مجموعة من األصدقاء.2007في عام -ب

لغاية يوم أمس، لم يتسلم أي موظف راتبه ما عدا العميد ورئيس القسم. -أ .4 موظف راتبه ما عدا العميد ورئيس القسم. لم يتسلم أمس أي -ب


لم تسنح لي الفرصة ألعمل في الوطن العربي في العام الماضي. -أ .5 ح لي الفرصة ألعمل في الوطن العربي. لغاية العام الماضي، لم تسن -ب

Past perfect continuous tense

It is used to express a continued or ongoing action or activity that began in the

past and continued up until another time in the past. By way of explanation,

let us consider the following example:

By 2002, I had been working in that company for two years.

had + been + Verb 1 + ing

had been working

had been sleeping

had been snoring

had been studying

had been sending

.

.

.

/ا سمفاعلكان+فعلمضارع

كانيعمل/عامال كاننائما

كانيشخر

كانيدرس/دارسا

يرسل/يراسلكان

.

.

.

In the above example, the tense is ‘past’ indicated by 2002. The emphasis is

on both:

1. the duration of the described action, i.e. working, that began in the

past (in this example in 2000) and is seen relevant to 2002.

2. the continuity of the described action or event in a specified period in

the past (2002).

While translating this tense into Arabic, one may use كان followed by a verb in

the present tense or نكا followed by فاعل present active participle’, thus‘ اسم

reflecting the tense ‘past’ and only the continuity of the described event.

في تلك الشركة منذ سنتين. كنت أعمل، 2002في عام Or, one can change the verb or the structure, thus shifting the emphasis

slightly as in:

العمل( قبل سنتين. ( وبدأتفي تلك الشركة كنت أعمل، 2002في عام العمل في تلك الشركة قبل سنتين. كنت قد بدأت، 2002في عام


66

EX: Translate the following sentences into Arabic, paying extra attention to

tenses/aspects:

1. They had been talking for over an hour before their friend arrived.

2. She had been working at that company for three years when it went

out of business.

3. How long had you been waiting to get on the bus?

4. My father wanted to sit down because he had been standing all day at

work.

5. Noor had been teaching at the university for more than a year before

she left for Asia.

6. A: How long had you been studying Turkish before you moved to

Ankara?

B: I had not been studying Turkish very long.

7. She was tired because she had been jogging.

8. Sam gained weight because he had been overeating.

9. Tom failed the final test yesterday because he had not been

attending class.

10. Before you bought your new house, how long had you been living in

a flat?

3 Present tenses

In English, there are four tenses in the present, namely:

! Simple present tense

! Present continuous tense

! Present perfect tense

! Present perfect continuous tense


translation.

Simple present tense

It is used when we talk about facts, habits, unchanging situations, repeated

actions, and the like. So, the emphasis (aspect) is placed on the regularity and

frequency of the action as a matter of routine, unchanging situations or

general truth.

Cast in less technical terms, it is used with:


! ‘every day’, ‘every week’, ‘every month’, ‘every year’, ‘every Friday’,

‘every Sunday’, and the like.

! ‘daily’, ‘weekly’, ‘monthly’, ‘annually’, and so on.

! ‘per day’, ‘per week’, ‘per month’, ‘per year’, etc.

! ‘once a day’, ‘once a week’, ‘twice a month’, ‘three times a day’, and

so forth.

! ‘always’, ‘often’, ‘usually’, ‘sometimes’, ‘at times’, ‘generally’,

‘frequently’, ‘occasionally’, ‘seldom’, ‘scarcely’, and the like.

By way of explanation, let us consider the following example:

I brush my teeth three times a day.

Verb 1 (+ s/es)

brush (es)

smoke (s) call (s)

buy (s)

speak (s)

.

.

فعلمضارع

يفر ش

ن ي د خ

يت صل

يشتري

يتكل م

.

.

In the above example, the tense is ‘present’. The emphasis (aspect) is on the

regularity and frequency of the action as a matter of routine indicated by the

phrase ‘three times a day’. To reflect both the tense and aspect, one may use a

verb in the present, as in:

أسناني ثالت مرات في اليوم. أفر ش The negative form is formed by inserting ‘does not’ or ‘do not’ before the

main verb which should be changed into the base form, i.e. Verb 1, as in:

My father does not sit in the garden in the morning.

does not + Verb 1

does not sit

does not draw

does not pay

does not change

does not meet

.

.

.

+فعلمضارعال

اليجلس

اليرسم

اليدفع

اليغي ر

اليالقي/يلتقيبـ

.

.

.


68

In translating negative sentences in the simple present tense into Arabic, one

may use the particle ال followed by a verb in the present, as in:

في الحديقة في الصباح. )عادة( أبي ال يجلس

! When the subject is ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’ or a singular noun, the verb always ends

in ‘-s’ or ‘-es’, as in:

He plays football with his friends every day.

! We add ‘-es’ to verbs ending in ‘-ch’, ‘-sh’, ‘-ss’, ‘-x’, ‘-z’, ‘-o’, as in

watch --> watches fix --> fixes

teach --> teaches buzz --> buzzes

pass --> passes do --> does

! Verbs ending in ‘-y’, the letter ‘-y’ is changed into ‘-ies’ if it is not preceded

by a vowel, as in

fly --> flies cry --> cries

play --> plays pay --> pays

EX: Make the following sentences negative. Then, translate them into Arabic:

1. My family often watches TV in the evening.

2. Unlike my father, my grandfather usually drinks tea at breakfast.

3. She only eats vegetables.

4. In the UK, it rains heavily in some cities in winter.

5. They drive to London every summer.

The interrogative form is formed by placing ‘does’ or ‘do’ before the subject

and changing the main verb into the base form, i.e. Verb 1, as in:

She often calls her family at the weekend.

Does she often call her family at the weekend?

Do/Does + S. + Verb 1

Do you like / Does he like

Do you eat / Does he eat

Do you go out / Does he go out

Do you sleep / Does he sleep

.

.

+فعلمضارعهل

/ي حب هلت حب

هلتأكل/يأكل

ج ج/يخر هلتخر

تنام/ينامهل

.

.


In translating interrogative sentences in the simple present tense into Arabic,

one may use هل followed by a verb in the present, as in:

بعائلتها في عطلة نهاية األسبوع؟ لهل تتص

EX: Make the following sentences interrogative. Then, translate them into

Arabic:

1. She does yoga twice a week.

2. The train to Newcastle leaves every hour.

3. My father drinks coffee a lot in the evening.

4. She gets up at seven o’clock every day.

5. At the weekend, we usually go to the market.

ASSIGNMENT

Translate the following text titled العنكبوت The Spider’s Web’ adapted‘نسيج

from محمودشكري (cited in Almanna and Hall 2015: 13), paying extra attention

to the tenses used, length of sentences and other stylistic features, such as the

repetition of some terms:

ني اليوم في طنجة؟منذ لحظة وهو يردد بصياح: أنا إسكاف. أنا إسكاف. من يذكر

يدخل يديه في جيب سرواله. ويخرج بطانيتيهما الممزقتين . . يترنح . ينظر هنا وهناك. يضحك ح يترن .. . ثقوب. ثقوب. .ا عندي غير الثقوبويصيح: م

معظم رواد مقاهي الساحة يتأملونه بغضب واستنكار. يذهب ويقف في وسط الساحة. يبتسم ويضحك. .تسقط أمامه علبة صفيح فارغة. يقول للطفل. ونساء. يترنح باستمرار. يتأمل نفسه يغمز المارة رجاال

.خلها لي -

.صيح رجل في الطفليتقاذفانها مرات. ي .يقذفها للطفل

.خذ علبتك واغرب من هنا -

! The expression منذ لحظة lends itself to ‘for a while’.

! The length of the sentences in translating literary texts needs to be given full

consideration, as in

يترنح. ينظر هنا وهناك. يضحك. يترنح. ! The verb / يترنحترنح can be translated into ‘to stagger’.


70

! The expression بطانة البنطلون can be translated into ‘the lining (of the

trousers)’.

! Extra attention should be paid to the repetition used in the source text

ب ثقوب .. ثقوب .. ثقو ! The word رواد lends itself to ‘customers’.

! The word المارة (sometimes المستطرقون) lends itself to ‘passers-by’.

which can be translated into ‘to contemplate’, is different from ,يتأمل نفسه !

thus lending itself to ,يحدقون فيه used in the same text as the latter means يتأملونه

‘to stare at’.

,’?lends itself to ‘Leave it to me’ (in place of ‘Could you leave it to me خلها لي !

‘Would you mind leaving it to me?’, etc.). This is to reflect the register of the

text. Similarly, خذ علبتك lends itself to ‘Take your can’.

Continuous present tense

The continuous present tense (am/is/are + verb 1 + ing) is used to express an

ongoing action at the time of speaking. So, the emphasis (aspect) is shifted

from the beginning and end of the action towards the middle phase, thus

presenting the action as an ongoing activity. It is used with words and

expressions, such as ‘now’, ‘right now’, ‘at the moment’, ‘currently’,

‘presently’, ‘nowadays’, ‘these days’, and so forth.


I am writing a novel.

be + Verb 1 + ing

am/is/are + writing

am/is/are + sleeping

am/is/are + playing

am/is/are + working

am/is/are + teaching

.

.

.

/ا سمفاعلعلمضارع)الأزال(ف

(أكتب )الأزال

(نائما )الأزال

(ألعب )الأزال

(أعمل )الأزال

(أدر س )الأزال

.

.

.

In the above example, the tense is ‘continuous present tense’ marked by verb

‘to be’ followed by the base form of the verb plus the suffix ‘–ing’. The

emphasis (aspect) is on the continuity of the action at the time of speaking, so


there is an implicit time marker, such as ‘right now’, ‘currently’, and the like.

To reflect the tense, one may use a verb in the present, as in:

أكتب رواية. However, to reflect the emphasis (aspect), one may opt for words or

expressions, such as اليزال ‘still’, ناآل ‘now’, فيهذهاألثناء ‘at this moment’, حاليا

‘currently’, and so forth, as in:

ال أزال أكتب رواية. ال أزال منهمكا في كتابة رواية.

أكتب رواية في هذه األيام. More examples:

.ته اآلندالطبيب ذاهب إلى عيا .أليامكتاب هذه ا األستاذ عاكف على تأليف

. حديقته صديقي هذه األيام بزراعة يقوم At times, the present continuous tense is used with action verbs, such as

‘leave’, ‘move’, ‘fly’, ‘travel’, ‘go’, etc. to show that something is planned and

will be done in the near future, thus lending itself in Arabic to ســ or سوف, as in:

He is moving to London in October.

كتوبر/تشرين األول.اإلى لندن في سينتقل


1. I'm riding a bike to get to work because my car is broken.

2. They are not talking with each other after the last argument.

3. Currently, my sister is working at McDonald’s; she is working there

only during the summer holidays.

4. I am training to become a professional footballer.

5. My friend is studying hard nowadays to become an engineer.

6. a- Can I speak with the boss?

b- He is currently visiting one of the departments of the company.

7. Currently, my brother is studying law in the UK.

8. I’m studying these days to pass the exam.

9. The author is currently writing a children’s book titled ‘The Ball’.

10. They are swimming in the pool right now.

Present perfect tense

The present perfect tense (have/has + Verb 3) is used to express an action or

event that began in the past and is seen relevant to the present. So, the


72

emphasis (aspect) is on the duration of the described event or situation that began

in the past and has continued to the present. To put it differently, it is used with:

! ‘for’ or ‘since’

! ‘many times’

! ‘never’ or ‘ever’

! ‘all day’, ‘all week’, ‘all month’, etc.

! ‘recently’ or ‘lately’

! ‘in recent days’, ‘in recent months’, etc.

! ‘already’ or ‘just’

! ‘yet’, ‘so far’, ‘up to now’, ‘till now’, ‘before’

! ‘in the last few hours/days/weeks/months’ …


My friend has visited me recently.

have/has + Verb 3

have/has + visited

have/has + gone

have/has + finished

have/has + lived

have/has + met

.

.

.

)لقد(+فعلماض

)لقد(زار

)لقد(ذهب

)لقد(أنهى

)لقد(عاش

)لقد(ا لتقىبـ

.

.

.

In the above example, the tense is ‘present perfect tense’ marked by the verb

‘have/has’ followed by Verb 3. The emphasis (aspect) is on the duration of

the action that began in the past and is seen relevant to the present. To reflect

the tense, one may use the particle لقد followed by a verb in the past, or just

the past, as in:

لقد زارني صديقي مؤخرا. EX: Translate the following sentences into Arabic:

1. I think I have met him once before.

2. There have been many earthquakes in California.

3. Have you read the book yet?

4. Nobody has ever climbed that mountain.

5. Joan has studied two foreign languages.

6. You have grown since the last time I saw you.

7. The government has become more interested in arts education.


8. Japanese has become one of the most popular courses at the university

since the Asian studies programme was established.

9. My English has really improved since I moved to London.

10. Doctors have cured many deadly diseases.

11. The army has attacked that city five times.

12. I have had four quizzes and five tests so far this semester.

13. We have had many major problems while working on this project.

14. She has talked to several specialists about her problem, but nobody

knows why she is sick.

15. My car has broken down three times this week.

Present perfect continuous tense

The present perfect continuous tense (have/has + been + verb 1+ ing) is used

to express a continued or ongoing action or activity that began in past and

continued up until the time of speaking. By way of explanation, let us

consider the following example:

I have been working in this company since 2005.

have/has + been + Verb + ing

have/has been working

have/has been sleeping

have/has been snoring

have/has been studying

have/has been sending

.

.

.

In the above example, the tense is ‘present’ indicated by ‘have’. The emphasis

is on both:

1. the duration of the described event, i.e. working, that began in the past

(in this example in 2005) and is seen relevant to the time of speaking.

2. the continuity of the described action or event at the moment of

speaking.

While translating this tense into Arabic, one may use a verb in the present, as

in:

. 2005عام نذ في هذه الشركة م أعمل Or, one may start his/her sentence with عام 2115منذ followed by a nominal

sentence أناأعملفيهذهالشركة preceded by an additive connector و‘and’, as in:


74

وأنا أعمل في هذه الشركة. 2005منذ عام

Alternatively, one may add الأزال‘still’ followed by a verb in the present, thus

emphasizing the continuity of the action, i.e. working, at the time of speaking,

as in:

. 2005ال أزال أعمل في هذه الشركة منذ عام By doing so, there will be an example of ‘level shift’ to use Catford’s (1965)

term. According to Catford, level shifts occur when the source language item

at one linguistic level (e.g. lexis) has a target language equivalent at a

different level (e.g. grammar).

EX: Write 10 sentences in Arabic using the following structure and the verbs

suggested:

--------------------------------------------------------------------وأنا/وهو/وهي-----------------------منذ

cleanنظ ف)البيت( waterسقي)الحديقة( cookطبخ)الغداء( studyذاكر)الدرس(

callات صل)بأهل ه ( reviseراجع)الترجمة(

)فيالسماء( watchشاهد)المباراة( stare atحملق

ه ( dyeصبغ)الغرفة( combمشط )شعر

1. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EX: Correct the mistakes in the following sentences and then translate them

into Arabic:

1. He has watering the plants for half an hour.

2. I have been studied since 3 O’clock.

3. Has it raining for three day?

4. Have I been living in America since 2003?


5. Has he been playing cricket since two hour.

6. Has they been watching television for 6 O’clock?

7. Has she be working in this office for 2007?

4 Future tenses

In English, there are four tenses in the future, namely:

! Simple future tense

! Future continuous tense

! Future perfect tense

! Future perfect continuous tense

These tenses are usually used in Arabic and English with words and

expressions that indicate future, such as: ‘tomorrow’ األسبوع’next week‘ ,غدا

’next month‘ ,المقبل/القادم قبل/القادم الم ’next year‘ ,الشهر قبلة/القادمة الم next‘ ,السنة

summer’ قبل/القادم ’next Friday‘ ,الصيفالم قبلة/القادمة الم في’in (the) future‘ ,الجمعة

.and so forth ,قريبا ’soon‘ ,المستقبل


translation.

Simple future tense

The simple future tense in Arabic and English is used to express an action or

event that will happen in the future. In English, it is formed by the modal

verbs ‘will’ or ‘shall’ followed by the base form of the verb, or by the

modalized phrase ‘be going to’ followed by the base form of the verb, as in:

I will get married next year. (just future)

I am going to get married next year. (future + a plan)

will/be going to + Verb 1

will/be going to + get married

will/be going to + buy

will/be going to + sell

will/be going to + invite

will/be going to + hold

.

.

.

ســـ/سوف

ج ســ/سوفأتزو

ســ/سوفأشتري

ســ/سوفأبيع

ســ/سوفأدعو

ســ/سوفأعقد

.

.

.


76

In Arabic, it is formed by ســ or سوف, as in the following translations of the

above examples:

)أو سوف أتزوج في السنة المقبلة( نة المقبلة. سأتزوج في الس

نة المبلة( في نيتي أن أتزوج في الس بلة )أوقنة الم سأتزوج في الس The negative form is formed by inserting ‘not’ after ‘will/shall’ or after

‘am/is/are’ in ‘be going to’ without any change, as in:

She will buy a new building next year.

She will not buy a new building next year.

will/be not going to + Verb 1

will not/be not going to + buy

will not/be not going to + ask

will not/be not going to + water

will not/be not going to + paint

will not/be not going to + plant

.

.

.

لن+فعلمضارع

لنأشتري

أسأل لن

أسقيلن

أزرع لن

أصبغلن

.

.

.

In Arabic, however, the particle لن is used without ســ or سوف as it has the

potential resource to reflect both negation and futurity, as in:

نة المقبلة. ستشتري بناية جديدة في الس

).... سوف لن تشتري) نة المقبلة.تشتري بناية جديدة في الس لن

EX: Write 8 sentences in Arabic using لن with the verbs suggested below:

)ا جتماعا ( fightقاتل)العدو( holdعقد )مناالنتخابات( )طردا ( withdrawا نسحب sendبعث

arrestلى)اللص(قبضع castأدلى)بصوت ه (

)المؤتمر )بحثا ( attend(حضر publishنشر

)دين deliverألقى)خطابا ( د pay back(ا سد

Then, translate your sentences into English:

1. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


6. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Future continuous tense

The future continuous tense in Arabic and English is used to express an action

or event that will be in progress in the future. So, the emphasis will be on the

continuity of the described action or activity in the future.

In English, it is formed by the modal verbs ‘will’ or ‘shall’ followed by ‘be’

plus the base form of the verb + ‘-ing’, as in:

I will be teaching at this time tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I will be sleeping when my father arrives home.

I will be waiting for you tonight. Please, do not be late. I won’t be at home at ten tomorrow. When you wake up, I will be going to work.

willbe + Verb 1 + ing

will be teaching

will be sleeping

will be waiting

will be …

will be going

.

.

ســـ/سوفأكون...

بالتدريس م نشغال ســ/سوفأكون

نائما ســ/سوفأكون

با نتظار ســ/سوفأكون

ســ/سوفأكون

جها تو ذاهبا /م ســ/سوفأكون

In Arabic, the future continuous tense is formed by

سـ/سوف أكون/يكون/تكون ....followed by

1. a prepositional phrase followed by a verb in the present, a present active

participle ا سمفاعل or nothing depending on the action/activity itself, as in:

ف أ در س سأكون .في مثل هذا الوقت غدا في الص عندما يصل أبي البيت غدا. نائما )في سريري(سأكون الليلة، فرجاء ال تتأخر. أنتظر ك )ت/في المكتب/ في الصالةفي البي(سأكون في البيت في الساعة العاشرة صباحا غدا. لن أكون

إلى العمل. سأكون في طريقيعندما تستيقظ، 2. a present active participle ا سمفاعل, as in:


78

.بالتدريس في مثل هذا الوقت غدا كا نهم م مشغوال/نشغال/م سأكون عندما يصل أبي البيت غدا. نائما سأكون الليلة، فرجاء ال تتأخر. بانتظارك سأكون

في البيت في الساعة العاشرة صباحا غدا. لن أكون جالسا .إلى العمل ذاهبا/م توجها سأكون عندما تستيقظ،

EX: Write 10 sentences in Arabic using أكون followed by a سأكون/لن

prepositional phrase or كا نهم :with the verbs suggested منشغال /مشغوال /م

ع receiveا ستقبل plantزر ق playل عب shopتسو

eatتناول visitزار

walkتمش ى sitجل س

phone/callهاتف snoreشخر

Then, translate your sentences into English:

1. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Future perfect tenses

The future perfect tense in Arabic and English is used to talk about an action

or event that began/will begin and will be completed in the future. So, the

emphasis is on the duration of the described action or activity that began/will

begin and completed in the future.

In English, it is formed by the modal verbs ‘will’ or ‘shall’ followed by ‘have

+ Verb 3’, as in:

Next year, I will have taught in this university for 10 years. (meaning I have

been teaching for 9 years so far).


Within three years, she will have worked in this company for 20 years.

(meaning she has been working for 17 years so far)

In Arabic, the future perfect tense is formed by

كون/يكون/تكونقد...سـ/سوفأ

followed by a verb in the past, as in:

willhave + Verb 3

will have taught

will have worked

will have waited

will have achieved

will have learnt

.

.

.

ســـ/سوفأكونقد+فعلماض

ست ســ/سوفأكونقددر

ســ/سوفأكونقدعمل ت ســ/سوفأكونقدا نتظرت

ســ/سوفأكونقدحققت

ت ســ/سوفأكونقدتعلم

.

.

.

نة في هذه الجامعة عشر سنوات/لمدة عشر سنوات. )أو في الس سأكون قد درست نة المقبلة، في الس في الجامعة(. التدريسسنتي العاشرة من سأكون قد أكملت المقبلة،

في غضون ثالث وفي هذه الشركة عشرين سنة. )أ ستكون قد عملت الث سنوات، في غضون ث سنتها العشرين من العمل في الشركة(. ت ستكون قد أكملسنوات،


1. I will have had my dinner by 10 o’clock.

2. Come back in half an hour. I will have revised my lessons; so we can

go out for a walk.

3. In two month’s time, she will have finished her studies; therefore, she

may start working with us.

4. By the end of this semester, hopefully, I will have learned to speak

French.

5. She will have graduated from college this time next year.

EX: Write 10 sentences using يكون/تكونقدأكونسـ/سوف/... and then translate them

into English:

1. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


80

4. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Future perfect continuous tense

The future perfect continuous tense in Arabic and English is used to talk about

an action or event that began in the past and will continue up to a specified

period of time in the future. So, the emphasis is on

1. the duration of the described action or activity that began and is seen

relevant to a specified time in the future.

2. the continuity of the described action or activity in the future.

In English, it is formed by the modal verbs ‘will’ or ‘shall’ followed by ‘have

been + Verb 1 + ing’, as in:

Next year, I will have been teaching in this university for 10 years. (meaning I

have been teaching for 9 years so far).

Within three years, she will have been working in this company for 20 years.

(meaning she has been working for 17 years so far)

In Arabic, the future perfect continuous tense is formed by

.سـ/سوف أكون ال أزال .. سـ/سوف يكون ال يزال ...

سـ/سوف تكون ال تزال ... followed by a verb in the present, as in:

willhave been + Verb1 + ing

will have been teaching

will have been working

will have been waiting

will have been learning

.

.

.

ســـ/سوفأكونالأزال+فعلمضارع

س أدر ســ/سوفأكونالأزال

أعمل ســ/سوفأكونالأزال

ا نتظر ســ/سوفأكونال أزال

أتعل م ســ/سوفأكونالأزال .

.

.


Now, let us compare the following sentences:

a) ،في هذه المدينة منذ/لمدة سنتين سأكون قد عشت في الشهر المقبل b) ،سنتين. في المدينة نفسها منذ سأكون ال أزال أعيشفي الشهر المقبل

a) ،منذ/لمدة ساعة. وسأكون قد انتظرك لم يبق إال خمس دقائق b) ،منذ ساعة. وسأكون ال أزال أنتظرك/بانتظاركلم يبق إال خمس دقائق

a) ،في هذه الجامعة منذ/لمدة سنتين. عملت سأكون قد بعد ثالثة شهور b) ،في هذه الجامعة منذ خمسة أعوام. سأكون ال أزال أعمل بعد ثالثة شهور

In the above sentences, the tense is future indicated by ســ. However, the

emphasis is different.

In group (a), the emphas is is onthe duration of the described actions, viz. عاش,

that began in the past and will completed in the future indicated عمل andا نتظر

by قد followed by a verb in the past, thus lending themselves to ‘the future

perfect tense, i.e. ‘will have lived/waited/worked’

The emphasis in group (b), however, is on

1. the duration of the described actions that began in the past and is seen

relevant to a specified time in the future.

2. the continuity of these actions in the future.

As such, to reflect the tense (future) and the aspect (perfect + progressive),

one may well resort to using the future perfect continuous tense, i.e. ‘will have

been living/waiting/working’.

Ex: Write 12 sentences using ...سـ/سوفأكونالأزال and then translate them into

English:

1. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


82

8. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5 Revision

EX 1: Translate the following dialogue between two friends, paying extra

attention to tenses:

a- I’m sorry I went to the show without you yesterday, but I asked you

to meet me up early because the show would start at 6.30 p.m.

b- It’s Ok, don’t worry. I went to the show by myself; I tried to find you

there, but in vain.

EX 2: Translate the following dialogue between two friends, paying extra

attention to tenses:

ماذا تقول؟ - مثلما سمعت. فهو في المستشفى. - ومتى دخل المستشفى؟ -منذ أكثر من خمسة شهور وهو راقد في المستشفى وغير قادر على الحركة. يبدو أنك ال -

تعرف؟ نعم ال أعرف. وهل زرته في المستشفى؟ - نعم زرته عدة مرات. - وماذا قال الطبيب عن حالته؟ - فس منذ فترة طويلة، لكنه لم يكن يعرف. يقول إنه يعاني ضيقا في التن - سأزوره غدا. هل تود أن تذهب معي. - نعم، سأصاحبك، فهو صديق عزيز. -


EX 3: Translate the following sentences into English, paying special attention

to tenses/aspects:

مطرا غزيرا. السماء بالغيوم حتى مطرت ما إن تلبدت .1 تشخر شخيرا قويا. عينيها حتى بدأت ما إن أغمضت .2 ما إن سمعنا صوت االنفجار حتى هرعنا إلى مكان الحادث لنطمئن على جيراننا. .3 العبي الدفاع بالعب هجوم في الشوط الثاني حتى سجلوا هدفين. أحد المدرب ما إن أبدل .4 ث كل هذا. لو إنك قد سمعت نصيحتي واعتذرت منه لما حد .5 ه إلى أن يهدأ. لو كنت مكانك، لما سألته عن سبب تأخر .6 لو إنها قد باعت سيارتها وسددت ما بذمتها، لما وضعت نفسها بمثل هكذا موقف حرج. .7 إلى فرنسا إلكمال دراستها. لم يمض سوى أشهر قليلة على وفاة أمها حتى سافرت .8 سوء بسبب القاعة أن يترك األستاذ حتى قرر المحاضرة لم يمض وقت طويل على بدء .9

بعض الطلبة. تصرف لم يمض إال سنتان على تأسيس شركتهم حتى حققوا أرباحا كبيرة ووسعوا أعمالهم. .10 منذ أكثر من ثالث ساعات وهو يذاكر دروسه استعدادا لالمتحان. .11 منذ عشر دقائق وهي تصبغ أظافرها. .12 كر والسماء تمطر بغزارة. منذ الصباح البا .13 .كن بمقدوري أن أناممنذ بزوغ الشمس وأنا صاح لم ي .14 ن.خ منذ أكثر من عشر سنوات وهي تد .15

EX 4: Correct the following sentences and then translate them into Arabic,

paying special attention to the differences between the two languages:

1. I did not see you for ages.

2. My brother has been living in London for 2005.

3. My teacher asked us to bring our books with us recently.

4. I called my friend before my father arrived home.

5. Last semester, there was 40 students in my class.

6. At the weekend, my litter daughter usually sleep in till 10 a.m.

7. I heard that my friend has fight bravely before he dies.

8. The teacher promised us that he will explain a new topic.


84

9. By the end of this year, I will publish 3 articles.

10. Last night, I did not slept well; I stayed tossing and turning.

EX 5: Translate the following dialogue into English, paying special attention

to tenses and aspects:

هل ستكون موجودا؟ في تمام الساعة السابعة. أريد أن أزورك في البيت غدا مساء -

ختي التي ستصل من باريس. نتظار أ في المطار با ،في مثل هذا الوقت، في الحقيقة، سأكون -مساء. التاسعة أن تأتي بعد الساعة مكنك ثانية. لذا، ي ولن أخرج في البيت بعدها، سأكون

سأكون، عندها، قد أنهيت بعض الواجبات وبذلك سأكون متفرغا لك.

حسنا، سأكون عندك في تمام الساعة التاسعة مساء. -EX 6: The following text extracted (with a slight modification) from a short

story titled الخيول ‘The Horses’ by عبدالرحمنالربيعي(cited in Dickins et

al. 2002: 86-7). Try to identify:

! the verbs used in Arabic along with their tenses, and then compare

them with their suggested translations.

! the interrogative sentences along with their types in both texts:

She asked: سألته: - Did you check in

yesterday? أحجزت أمس؟ -

He shook his head and said: هز رأسه وقال: - Almost. - على وشك. - Did you ask for a room

with a bathroom? أطلبت غرفة بحمام؟ -

- Yes. - نعم. - Well, give me the

number as my room

hasn’t got one.

حسنا. اخبرني عن رقمها. فغرفتي بال - .حمام

She added: وأضافت: - As you see, I get fed up

with the dirt. .كما ترى، الوسخ يضايقني -


EX 7: Dear instructors: evaluate with your students the translation of the

following text extracted from a short story titled الذيأضاعأمه ‘He Who

Lost His Mother’ by داماج مطيع paying extra attention to the ,زيد

translation of tenses/aspects:

He who lost his mother أمهأضاعالذي..

- “I’ve lost my mum, sir”.

The man didn’t look at him; rather,

he continued walking quickly as the

boy hurried to keep up with him.

سيدي.. لقد أضعت أمي.. -.. المسرع لم ينظر الرجل إليه بل واكب سيره

والصبي يهرول لكي يحاذيه.

- “I’ve lost my mum, madam…”

The lady looked at him askance and

automatically ran her hand over her

handbag.

لقد أضعت أمي.. -

نظرت المرأة إليه شزرا وتلمست محفظتها اليدوية بحركة تلقائية..

The boy walked alongside her until

he reached the starting point that he

had set limits for himself that he

would not cross.

وسار الصبي بجوارها إلى أن وصل إلى نقطة .كان قد وضع لنفسه حدودا ال يتعداها

It was on the pavement in front of

the big store that occupied the

ground floor of a giant building

touching the sky.

“Could you help me, sir?”

رصيف أمام المتجر الكبير الذي على الكانت يحتل الدور األرضي لعمارة عمالقة تعانق

السحاب.. أيها السيد المحترم.. هال ساعدتني؟

With his hands inside the pockets of

his warm coat, the man looked at

him and continued walking …

- “I’ve lost my mum”.

- “Oh…you’ll find her, my

lad”.

نظر إليه الرجل ويداه في جيبي معطفه الدافئ، وواكب سيره..

لقد أضعت أمي.. - أوه..! ستجدها يا عزيزي.. -

Chapter 4

Translating modes of narration

Types of sentences

The main changes and translation

Reporting verbs in the news media

Modes of narration in literary texts

Revision

Ali Almanna The Nuts and Bolts of Arabic-English Translation

87

1 Types of sentences

The mode of narration of a sentence can be either in direct speech or in

indirect speech. Direct speech (also called “quoted speech”) refers to the use

of the speaker’s exact words; it is written within inverted commas, as in:

He said to me: “I will travel to London tomorrow”.

She replied: “I forgot to bring the assignment with me”.

Indirect speech (also called “reported speech”), however, refers to the use of

different words while conveying the speaker’s message; it is written without

inverted commas, as in:

He told me that he would travel to London the following day.

She replied that she had forgotten to bring the assignment with her.

Unlike English, Arabic does not require inverted commas to indicate that the

speech is direct or indirect, but rather, one may rely on the structure itself.

Similarly, Arabic does not require a tense change when the introductory verb

:is in the past, as in قال/أخبر

إلىلندنغدا . :سأسافر قاللي

إلىلندنغدا ./فياليومالتاليأخبرنيأنهسيسافر

To change the mode of narration from direct speech to indirect speech, the

language user should give full consideration to the type of the sentence

reported, that is, is the speaker/writer making a statement, asking a question,

giving an order or making a request. To illustrate this point, the following

examples can be considered:

! a statement, that is, a sentence that begins with a subject, as in:

I have to go to work now.

He decided to complete his studies.

He did not write his homework yesterday.

! an imperative sentence, that is, a sentence that begins with the base

form of the verb if it is an affirmative sentence or ‘do not’ if it is a

negative sentence, as in:

Put your books on the desk.

Do not use your mobile in class.

Chapter four: Translating modes of narration

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! an interrogative sentence, that is, a sentence that begins either with a

question word or a helping verb, as in:

Where did you go yesterday evening?

Will you travel with your family next year?

EX: Identify the types of the following sentences. Then, translate them into

Arabic.

1. The teacher assured us that everything would be all right.

2. The teacher said: “I’m sure that everything will be all right”.

3. She explained that she had been extremely busy at that time.

4. The manager persuaded us not to take a break at that time.

5. The boy admitted that he had taken the money.

6. “Why don’t we have the party at your flat?” I asked him.

7. Her mother wanted her not to say anything.

8. The taxi driver assured us that there would be no delay.

9. Her father asked her whether she had done her homework.

10. “Have you seen this movie before?”, my friend asked.

11. My mother said to me: “Do not tell anybody about it, please”.

12. She wanted to know if I was her son’s friend.

13. My friend exclaimed sadly that he could not understand the lesson.

14. My friend said: “Oh! I cannot understand the lesson!”.

15. “Help me pick up these books, please”, she said to me.

16. The teacher commanded the students not to disturb him while marking

their exam papers.

17. I said to him: “Thank you for explaining the lesson to me”.

18. My father said: “I want to visit Egypt one day”.

19. “What are you doing here?” she asked crossly.

20. All the time she was saying angrily to herself: “I hate my step-

daughter! I’ll hit her when she gets back”.

2 The main changes & translation

To change the mode of narration from direct speech into indirect speech, the

language user needs to

1. identify the type of the sentence used. Is it a statement, an imperative

sentence, or an interrogative one?

2. choose the right linking word to connect the two clauses, that is, the

reporting clause and reported speech:


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Statement that = أن/إن/بأن

Imperative to = أن

not to = (أنال) أال

Interrogative wh-

if/whether = فيماإذا

3. change the pronouns and some lexical items, as in:

Direct speech Indirectspeech

now then/at that time

here there

this that

these those

today/this day that day

tonight/this night that night

next the following

last the previous

yesterday the previous day/

the day before

tomorrow the following day/

the next day

ago before

Further, when the reporting verb is in the past, the tenses should be changed

as follows:

1. change the present tense into the past tense.

2. change the past tense into the past perfect

3. change the modal verbs as follows:

Direct speech Indirect speech

shall should

will would

can could

may might

have to had to

must had to

am/is/are going to was/were going to

am/is/are able to was/were able to

Finally, the reporting verb itself needs to be changed.


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1. when it is a statement, it is changed as follows:

say to me

tell me

inform me

notify me

remind me

2. when it is an imperative sentence, it is changed as follows:

say to me

ask me

request me

order me

advise me

command me

warn me

3. when it is an interrogative sentence, it is changed as follows:

say to me

ask me

want to know

wonder whether

inquire about

inquire as to whether

To reinforce this, the following examples can be given adequate

consideration:

He said to me: “She did not attend his class today”.

He told me that she had not attended his class that day.

.________________________________________________إنه/بأنهقاللي

.__________________________________________________أنهأخبرني

He said to me: “Send me an email to remind me of your assignment”.

He asked me to send him an email to remind him of his assignment.

.________________________________________________إن/بأنقاللي

._________________________________________________أنطلبمني

He said to me: “Do not play outside in the evening”.

He asked me not to play outside in the evening

He requested me …

He ordered me …

He advised me …

He warned me …


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.___________________________________________________الأقاللي

._________________________________________________أالطلبمني

توسلني أمرني

نصحني حذرني

He asked me: “What have you done in your recent years?

He asked me what I had done in my recent years.

He wanted to know … He wondered …

.__________________________________________________ماذاسألني أراد أن يعرف تساءل/استفسر

He asked me: “Did you call your brother yesterday?”

He asked me if I (had) called my brother the previous day. He wanted to know if/whether… He wondered if/whether…

._______________________________________________فيما إذاسألني أراد أن يعرف تساءل/استفسر

EX: Change the following sentences into indirect speech, and then translate

them into Arabic.

1. My father said to me: “We will have a party tomorrow”.

2. My teacher said to me: “Wood floats on water, but iron does not”.

3. “My brother usually gets up at 8 o’clock”, said my friend.

4. “Do not bring your kids with you to the party next week, please”, my

sister said to me.

5. My close friend said to me: “I know this restaurant very well as I used

to eat here”.

6. My mother said to me: “Do not put your elbow on the table, honey”.

7. “Could you please sign here?”, she said to me.

8. My teacher said to me: “Where did you spend your holiday last

summer?”


92

EX: Translate the following sentences, giving serious attention to the

differences between Arabic and English:

طلب مني أخي الكبير أال أتأخر في الليل ألن المدينة غير آمنة. .1ومة المصرية ستشتري عددا من األسلحة في صرح وزير الدفاع المصري أمس أن الحك .2

غضون األشهر القادمة. أرادت أن تعرف فيما إذا كنت قد تخرجت من هذه الجامعة أم ال؟ .3 طلب الطبيب من المريض أن يأخذ قسطا من الراحة وأال يقوم بأي مجهود. .4 ر. قالت لي بصريح العبارة: ال تجلب معك أطفالك ثانية إلى شقتي، تصو .5ا في سفرتي أجاب قائال: لن أسافر ثانية إلى هذه المدينة المزدحمة. صدقني لقد تعبت جد .6

هذه. قال وزير التجارة مشددا إن الوزارة ستعقد العديد من االتفاقيات التجارية مع دول الجوار بغية .7

تشجيع التبادالت التجارية.

3 Reporting verbs in the news media

In this section, an attempt will be made to provide the reader with the main

reporting verbs commonly used in media texts in both languages. To begin

with, in English there are a number of reporting verbs commonly used in the

media, as listed in the box below:

Subject verb (+tense) that clause

say

go on to say

report

state

claim

make it clear

add

Subject explain that …

mention

argue

comment

declare

announce

warn

suggest

insist

allege


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Now, let us analyse the following sentence as an example to see how these

structures lend themselves in Arabic:

An informed source [SUBJECT] declared [REPORTING VERB + IN THE PAST]

that [CONNECTOR] the American president [SUBJECT] would visit [HELPING

VERB/IN THE PAST + VERB] Cairo soon to [CONNECTOR] discuss the current

situation.

! In English, this is an example of indirect speech in which the modal verb

‘will’ should be changed into ‘would’ as the main verb ‘declare’ is in the past

tense. However, Arabic does not require such a tense change, thus lending

itself to سـ or سوف.

! The word ‘source’مصدر in this context collocates well with words and

expressions like ‘informed’ مط لع, ‘reliable’ بهموثوق , ‘close to …’ بمن...مقر ,

‘military’ عسكري , ‘official’ رسمي , ‘unofficial’رسمي المستوىرفي ,غير ع ‘high-

ranking’, and so forth.

! The word ‘situation’ can be translated into موقف; however, it lends itself here

to أوضاع.

A source close to the Pentagon made it clear that the US navy was determined

to carry out military manoeuvres in the near future.

! The reporting verb ‘to make something clear’ is used in the past, thus lending

itself to أوضح or بي ن.

! The phrasal verb ‘to carry out’ can be replaced here with other verbs, such as

‘to perform’ ’to execute‘ ,يقوم ’or ‘to conduct ,ينف ذ ينجز , as they all collocate

with the noun ‘maneuver/manoeuvre’مناورة.

! Words like ‘navy’ and ‘military’ lend themselves to القواتالبحرية and عسكري

respectively.

It was reported by the central bank that the current year would be the third in

succession to witness a fall in demand for oil from the industrial countries.

! The framing verb ‘to report’ used in the past and in the passive voice lends

itself to

أفاد تقرير صادر عن ...أن جاء في تقرير صادر عن ... أن

ذكر ... في تقرير صادر عن ... أن ! The expression ‘in succession’ can be translated into علىالتوالي.


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Recently, the Iraqi government has accused the neighbouring countries,

particularly Turkey of destabilizing the country. It has also declared that Iraq

is aware of the intensive military operations that some countries are

undertaking on the Iraqi borders. Further, a spokesman for the Iraqi

government has added that no military operations threaten the security of

Iraq.

! In the above text, there are one simple sentence and two complex sentences:

The Iraqi government has accused X of … (simple)

It has also declared that … (complex)

A spokesman for the Iraqi government has added that … (complex)

! The main verbs used in the text, i.e. ‘to accuse’, ‘to declare’ and ‘to add’, are

in the present perfect tense, thus lending themselves to أوضح/بي ن ,ات هم and

.respectively أضاف

! The verb ‘to destabilize’, which is the opposite of ‘to stabilize’, lends itself to

.تقومبـ/تعملعلىزعزعةا ستقرار...

! The expression ‘the intensive military operations’ can be translated into

.عملياتعسكريةمكثفة

! The expression ‘a spokesman for’ can be translated into الناطقالرسميعن or

.المتحد ثبا سم...

In an article, the newspaper, quoting a reliable source, said that

investigations had been carried out on 300 officers accused of being involved

in a coup attempt. Further, it went on to say that about 100 officers had been

dismissed, while 200 others had been given stiff penalties.

! ‘In an article, the newspaper, quoting a reliable source said that…’ lends

itself to ...عنمصدرموثوقبهإن .وفيمقالة،قالتالصحيفةنقال

! The verb ‘to be involved’ can be translated into انخرط/ينخرط ,ا شترك/يشترك and

the like. However, in this context, it has a negative overtone, thus lending

itself to ط ط/يتور .تور

! The expression ‘coup attempt’ can be translated into محاولةا نقالب.

! The expression ‘to go on to say’ used in the past lends itself to وأردفقائال,

قائال قائال ,وا سترسل يقول ,ومضى and the like. Consider the following ,ومضى

expressions commonly used with the verb ‘to say’:

A short statement said that … ... وقال بيان مقتضب إن/ بأن

In commenting on …, he said that …

Or: Commenting on …, he said that … وقال معلقا إن/ بأن ...


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In criticizing …, he said that …

Or: Criticizing …, he said that … وقال منتقدا إن/ بأن ...

He added, saying that … ... وأضاف قائال إن/ بأن

He went on to say that … ... ومضى قائال/يقول إن/ بأن

He went on/carried on to say that ... وأردف قائال إن/ بأن

He went on to say that … ... واسترسل قائال إن/ بأن

Confirming …, he said that … كدا إن/ بأن ... وقال مؤ

Emphasizing …, he said that … ... وقال مشددا إن/ بأن

Denouncing, he said that… ... وقال منددا إن/ بأن

State television said a number of people were arrested in Nasr City for having

weapons and gas cylinders. The Interior Ministry warned in a statement that

the forces would deal firmly with protesters acting ‘irresponsibly’.

The expression ‘state television’ can be translated into التلفزيون ,تلفزيونالدولة

للدولة .etc ,تلفزيونالدولةالرسمي ,الرسمي

‘Gas cylinders’ lends itself to إسطواناتالغاز.

‘The interior minister’ lends itself to وزيرالداخلية. It is worth noting that in

the UK the equivalent is the ‘Home Office’, where the minister in overall

charge is called ‘the Home Secretary’. In the USA’s federal system there

seems to be no single body that is equivalent, but there is something called

‘the Department (and Secretary) of Homeland Security’.

The verb ‘to warn’ in ‘to warn in a statement’ can be translated into تفي حذر

.بيانلها

The verb ‘to deal with’ along with the adverb ‘firmly’ can be translated into

.and so on ,تضرببيدمنحديد ,التتهاون ,تتعاملبشدة ,تتعاملبحزم

The word ‘acting’ in this context lends itself to يتصرفون.

The Times Newspaper, published in London, declared that an unofficial

dialogue between the US and the PLO had begun with the aim of achieving a

resolution of the main outstanding Middle East problems.

The verb ‘to publish’ which means نشر/ينشر lends itself to صدر/يصدر, as in:

.التيتصدرفي/من/عن...

PLO stands for ‘Palestine Liberation Organization’, that is, التحرير منظمة

.الفلسطينية


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The complex prepositional phrase ‘with the aim of’ can be translated into

.etc ,منأجل ,بهدف ,بغية

In media, the word ‘outstanding’ lends itself to العالقة.

In their final communiqué, the participating countries expressed the

disappointment of their hope over the delay in seizing the political

opportunity offered by the US President.

The word ‘communiqué’, which is commonly used in media, simply means

‘statement’, thus lending itself to بيان.

The word ‘final’ which collocates well with ‘communiqué’ or ‘statement’

can be translated into ختامي.

The preposition ‘over’ here lends itself to إزاء.

The verb ‘to seize’ which collocates with the noun ‘opportunity’ can be

translated into either يغتنم or ينتهز as they collocate well with فرصة in Arabic.

Similarly, in Arabic media, there are many verbs such as أوضح ,بي ن ,ذكر ,أشار,

ح ,أفصح ,أعرب ,أفاد د ,حذ ر ,أضاف ,صر and so on that can be used in place of the ,شد

verb قال. Instances of how these verbs are typically used may be seen and

studied in the following examples: من كرية السعودية لم تقم بتحريك أي أفاد تقرير صادر عن وزارة الدفاع السعودية أن القوات العس

العسكرية مؤخرا. وحداتها

The verb أفاد, which is in the active form, can be translated into passive as in

‘It was reported by …’.

The expression وزارةالدفاع lends itself to ‘the defence ministry’.

The expression العسكرية can be translated into ‘troops’ or ‘military القوات

forces’.

تلك من في العديد النارية األسلحة قد استخدموا تشير بعض التقارير إلى أن بعض المتظاهرين عن تمت المميتة التي االعتداءات اليبرر األسلحة إال إن استخدام العدد القليل منهم لهذه .المظاهرات

.الساحقة تهمأغلبي في سلميين رينهوترصد على متظا إصرار سبق

متظاهر lends itself to ‘demonstrator’, which is derived from the verb ‘to

demonstrate’ يتظاهر and its noun ‘demonstration’ ةمظاهر . Further, the word


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.’unarmed‘أعزل peaceful’ or‘سلمي collocates well with words like متظاهر

The phrase أسلحةنارية can be translated into ‘firearms’.

اليبرر can be rendered into ‘this does not justify …’, ‘this does not give an

excuse to ...’, ‘this provides no excuse ...’, ‘this provides no justification

for …’, or ‘this does not excuse …’.

The expression سبقإصراروترصد, which is commonly used in Arabic legal

and media language/parlance, lends itself to ‘pre-planned’, ‘premeditated’,

‘planned in advance’, and the like. As such, the relevant part of this Arabic

text could be translated as: ‘…does not justify lethal, pre-planned

/premeditated attacks on demonstrators the overwhelming majority of

whom were peaceful’. To ‘lie in wait’ suggested by some dictionaries

suggests waiting to ambush someone, which is a rather different idea from a

premeditated action. Consider this example:

A large number of press photographers were lying in wait for the embattled

politician outside his London home.

In other words, it is an expression often used figuratively, especially in the

news media.

أعربت الحكومة األردنية عن رغبتها في تعزيز العالقات االقتصادية والعكسرية مع دول الجوار. ى عقد عدد من االتفاقيات التي من شأنها وأضاف مصدر مطلع أن الحكومة األردنية عاقدة العزم عل

تقوية هذه العالقات.

The verb أعرب in Arabic collocates with a number of nouns, as in:

X expressed his desire أعرب عن رغبت ه X expressed/voiced his (deep) concern )أعرب عن قلق ه )العميق X expressed/voiced his disappointment over أعرب عن خيبة أمل ه X expressed/voiced his determination ه أعرب عن عزم X expressed/voiced his regret over أعرب عن أسف ه

The noun تعزيز lends itself here to the verb ‘to strengthen’.

The expression عاقدةالعزم can be rendered into ‘to be determined’.

التيمنشأنها can be translated here into ‘that would …’.

أعرب المجلس األوربي عن عزمه لـمواصلة الحوار البناء بين السوق األوربية المشتركة واإلمارات العربية المتحدة من أجل إقامة عالقات أمتن وأوثق.

المجلساألوربي can be translated into ‘the European Council’.


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الحوارالبن اء lends itself to ‘the constructive dialogue’.

The translation of the phrase السوقاألوربيةالمشتركة, which means literally ‘the

European Common Market’, is problematic since the appropriate

translation of the Arabic would depend on the date or at least year of the

original text. What is now the ‘European Union’ has after all been through

several different names/designations.

ألف عاطل 20وزير العمل في ألمانيا أن حجم البطالة في ألمانيا سجل زيادة ملحوظة بلغت صرحعن العمل في نيساان/أبريل الماضي. وأضاف أن األحوال الجوية السيئة أسهمت جزئيا في ارتفاع

البطالة في البالد.

The reporting verb ح which is in the past, can be translated into ‘to ,صر

declare’, ‘to state’, etc.

وزيرالعمل lends itself to ‘the minister of labour’.

The phrase البطالة which means literally ‘the volume of ,حجم

unemployment’, lends itself to ‘level(s) of unemployment’.

لزيادةملحوظة .’can be translated into ‘remarkably increased سج

Even though the literal translation of the lexical item بلغ is ‘amount to’ or

‘reach’, this Arabic word can often be omitted in English translation for

the sake of idiomaticity. For example, in translating part of this text we

could write:

The German Minister of Labour declared that the level of unemployment in

Germany had increased remarkably/noticeably to 20,000 unemployed last

April.

But the question that may jump into mind here – not having any further

context – is whether it actually means ‘increased… to 20,000’ or

‘increased…by 20,000’?

The verb في can be translated into ‘to contribute to’. We could also أسهم

say here ‘partly helped to raise unemployment’, ‘was partly responsible

for raising unemployment’, and the like.

ل إيجاد فرص عم ضرورةوفي مؤتمر صحفي في ختام المؤتمر، أجمع زعماء المجموعة األوربية على في المجموعة. معدالت البطالةجديدة للتخفيف من

وفيمؤتمرصحفيفيختامالمؤتمر can be translated into ‘In a press conference

at the end of the conference’. However, for stylistic reasons, it would be

better to avoid repeating the word ‘conference’as in English it would not


99

be stylistically good and acceptable to have the word ‘conference’

repeated in this particular sentence. With this in mind, we suggest the

expression ‘press briefing’ here instead. The expression ‘press briefing’ is

simply another established way of saying ‘press conference’: ‘briefing’ is

a noun meaning ‘a news updating’ or ‘process of giving information or

instructions to a group of people’.

The verb أجمع in such a context can be rendered into ‘to agree

unanimously on’. Alternatively, we could say that these leaders ‘were of

one mind on/regarding/as to the need to …’. ‘To be of one mind’ is

certainly an established idiom, and would be right for this reporting

context.

األوربية المجموعة can be translated into ‘the leaders of the European زعماء

Community’.

فرصعمل here can be translated into ‘job opportunities’ even though it

may seem literal. This is an example of optimal equivalent, that is, full

equivalent. Alternatively, it can be translated functionally into ‘vacancies’

or ‘job openings’.

أن الحكومة المصرية قررت انتهاج سياسة صارمة في مجال المدخوالت المصري ذكر وزير االقتصاد المصرية ومكافحة البطالة. تشجيعالصناعاتوالمراقبة الدقيقة على األسعار بهدف

The reporting verb ذكر, which is in the past, can be translated into ‘to

declare’, ‘to mention’, etc.

وزيراالقتصاد lends itself to ‘the minister of economy’.

The lexical item انتهاج, which is derived from انتهج, means تبني, thus lending

itself to ‘to adopt’, ‘to carry out’, ‘to follow’, ‘to pursue’, and the like as

they collocate well with the noun ‘policy’ سياسة .

The adjective صارم lends itself to ‘strict’ as it collocates with the noun

‘policy’.

The phrases فيمجال and بهدف can be translated into ‘in the field of’ and

‘with the aim of’ respectively.


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BILINGUAL TEXT


text titled "بترومين" السعودية البترول paying extra attention to the ,شركة

differences between the two languages, in particular tenses/aspects and

reported speech:

Sources close to the British

delegation declared that the British

Foreign Trade Minister had

conducted lengthy closed-door

talks with the Director-General of

the Saudi Oil Company ‘Petromin’,

which had signed the contract with

Britain. These were then followed

by a short working session at the

level of experts.

ذكرت مصادر وثيقة الصلة بالوفد البريطاني أن وزير التجارة الخارجية البريطاني قد أجرى محادثات مغلقة مطولة مع محافظ شركة البترول السعودية "بترومين" التي أبرمت العقد مع بريطانيا. ثم أعقبتها جلسة عمل قصيرة على

مستوى الخبراء.

Oil-industry circles announced that

Kuwaiti oil production increased by

80 thousand barrels per day last

month, amounting to an average of

six million barrels in April.

أعلنت األوساط البترولية أن انتاج البترول لدولة الكويت زاد بمقدار ثمانين ألف برميل يوميا خالل

هر أبريل/نيسان الشهر الماضي؛ إذ بلغ في ش متوسطا قدره ستة ماليين برميل يوميا.

The Venezuelan Ministry of Mines

and Energy announced that the

average production in the first three

months of 1985 had reached two

million barrels a day.

أعلنت وزارة المناجم والطاقة في فنزويال أن ط االنتاج بلغ األشهر الثالثة األولى من متوس .مليونين برميل يوميا 1985عام

ASSIGNMENT

Translate the following journalistic text titled األوضاعالسياسيةفيالعراق paying

special attention to the framing verbs and (in)direct speech:

في مناسبات عديدة وعلى لسان وزير د تصدر في لندن أن العراق قد أك جاء في صحيفة التايمز التيع على اتفاقية حظر انتشار األسلحة النووية ال يخطط الستخدام الطاقة دفاعه بأن العراق الذي وق

سلمية. غير غراض أل


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إن الرأي ومع ذلك ف ،عديدة تملك مفاعل نووية منذ سنوات وأضاف وزير الدفاع العراقي أن هناك دوال العام العالمي يغض النظر عنها. وأشارت الصحيفة أن الوزير شدد قائال إن التعاون القائم بين بعض

أن نتشار األسلحة النووية ال يمكن إالالدول في مجال الطاقة النووية ورفضها توقيع اتفاقية حظر ا أمرا غير عادل. يكون

! The expression ... جاء في صحيفة lends itself to ‘it was reported in …’.

! The expression على لسان can be translated into ‘in the person of’, as in ‘Iraq

had affirmed on several occasions in the person of its Minister of Defence

that…’. Or, alternatively, it can be slightly adjusted to عن طريق.

! The phrase حظر انتشار األسلحة النووية can be translated into ‘the non

proliferation of nuclear weapons’.

! The expression الرأي العام lends itself to ‘the public opinion’.

! The idiomatic expression يغضالنظرعن can be translated in different ways,

such as ‘to turn a blind eye to’, ‘to turn a deaf ear to’ or just ‘to ignore’.

However, it is worth noting that ‘to turn a blind eye to’ is frequently used in

this sort of media report and has more stylistic impact than a single word

like ‘to ignore’.

! The expression اعل مف can be translated into ‘reactors’.

يكون أمرا غير عادل ال يمكن إال أن ! is the predicate of the sentence, thus lending

itself to ‘could/would be considered unjust/unfair/inequitable’.

ASSIGNMENT

Translate the following journalistic text titled ‘The Bilateral Relations

between Arabs and Israel’, paying special attention to the reporting verbs

used:

The Syrian news agency declared last night that the Syrian government had

called upon other countries to hold an urgent meeting to discuss the latest

developments in the Arab World, in particular the bilateral relations between

Arabs and Israel. The agency went on to say that the invitation came as a

result of the increasing attacks on the Gaza Strip.

In a similar context, the military leaders of Gaza sent out a call yesterday to

public opinion and the international community urging them to take rapid

action to force the Israeli troops to stop the air strikes on Gaza’s towns and

rural areas.


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4 Modes of narration in literary texts

In their attempts to create the illusion of realism, literary writers sometimes

tend to mix written modes of narration and spoken modes of narration in their

writing. In this regard, Leech and Short (1981 discussed in Al-Rubai’i 2005:

10-12; Almanna 2014: 133) stress that there are five notions of realism that

may help in bringing out the realistic illusion. These are verisimilitude,

credibility, authenticity, objectivity and vividness. Al-Rubai’i (1996: 68)

states that writers can relate written modes of narration to spoken ones by:

1. utilizing “dialectal features”.

2. utilizing the “features of spoken language, e.g. elisions, fillers and

corrections”.

3. “indicating the character’s way of speaking”, e.g. she said in a low

voice.

4. using “graphological devices”, such as italics, capitalization, dashes,

dots, quotation marks and the like.

To make this point clear, the following text is quoted from Mahfouz’ novel

حارتنا Children of Gebelawi’ (1986: 126-127) translated by Philip‘ أوالد

Stewart (1997: 110):

كوني محضر خير يا ست هانم. هانم بصوت متهدج من الغضب: فقالت هدى

قطع الطرق ال يكون بالنهار والشمس طالعة. فقالت تمر حنة بامتعاض:

اهلل يسامحك يا ست هانم، الحق على جدنا الذي أغلق على نفسه األبواب.Use your good influence, madam.

Hudaa spoke in a voice that trembled with rage:

You aren’t going to get away with daylight robbery.

Henna said angrily:

God forgive you, madam! The truth is with our Ancestor who has locked

the gates on himself.

As can be noticed, Mahfouz tries to indicate the character’s way of speaking

as inفقالتبصوتمتهدجمنالغضب ‘she said in a voice that trembled with rage’

and فقالتبامتعاض ‘she said angrily’, thus mixing the written modes of narration

and spoken modes of narration.


103

To reinforce this, the following examples quoted from a collection of short

stories titled تاءرائحةالش ‘The Scent of Winter’ by (2012) محمودعبدالوهاب may be

given adequate consideration:

حليق الرأس: قال لي الطالب كم أنت لطيف! أين كنت من قبل؟ -

! The sayer of the verbal process الرأس can be translated into ‘the الطالبحليق

student with a shaven head’ or ‘the shaven-headed student’.

! The exclamation sentence !كمأنتلطيف lends itself to ‘How sweet you are!’.

سألته: هل تحزر مهنتي؟ وبال تردد قال: إنك معلم.

سألته كيف عرفت: أجابني: إني أشمكم أيها المعلمون، إن لكم رائحة براية القلم الرصاص.

! The word يحزر lends itself to ‘to guess’.

! The word مهنة can be translated into ‘occupation’, ‘job’, etc.

! The verb of saying قال along with the phrase تردد can be rendered into بال

‘Without hesitation, he said/replied’, ‘with zero hesitation, he said/replied’,

or ‘without giving it a moment’s thought, he said/replied’. Less literally and

more idiomatically, we could also translate it into ‘Quick as a flash, he

said/replied…’.

! The verb يشم lends itself to ‘to smell’.

! The phrase برايةالقلمالرصاص can be translated into ‘the pencil sharpener’.

وهو يستعد للخروج: ه سأله صاحب

أين أراك الليلة؟ -

فأجاب مبتسما:

.ال أدري -

can be translated into ‘while he got ready to leave’ or ‘as he وهويستعدللخروج !

made ready to go out’.

مبتسما ! can be translated into ‘while wearing a smile, he replied’, ‘he فأجاب


104

replied smiling’, and the like.

وقبل أن تتركه تمتمت بنبرة رقيقة متقطعة، وأجابها بالعربية في ذهول: إلى اللقاء.

! The word تمتم lends itself to ‘to mumble’, ‘to mutter’, ‘to speak in a low

voice’, etc.

! The phrase بنبرةرقيقةمتقطعة can be translated into ‘in a delicate, interrupted

tone’.

lends itself to ‘he replied in astonishment’ or ‘he astonishingly أجابهافيذهول !

replied’.

سألته: هل نشيخ نحن أيضا؟

رفع رأسه وقال وهو يمضغ طعامه:

ليس اآلن. -

كررت سؤالها: ولكن هل نشيخ حقا؟

قليال ثم عاد يمضغ طعامه بال مباالة. تفحص وجهها

! The verb شاخ can be translated into ‘to get older’ or ‘to age’. However, in

this literary context, it lends itself to expressions like ‘to get on in years’ or

‘not to be getting any younger’.

! The verb رفع here can be translated into ‘to lift’ or ‘to raise’.

! The verb يمضغ can be translated into ‘to chew’ or ‘to masticate’. While ‘to

masticate’ is normally used in a technical or medical language register, or if

the speaker/writer is being ironic or pretentious, ‘to chew’ is the everyday

word.

! The verb تفحص here can be translated into ‘to stare at’.

! The word قليال here can be translated into ‘for a while’.

lends itself to ‘unconcerned’, ‘without concern’, ‘indifferently’, and بالمباالة !

the like.

وفمه مليء برغوة معجون األسنان:قال لها بصوت عال

هل كان تعيسا إلى هذا الحد؟ -


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أجابته:

إنه وحيد مهموم يشيخ في كل لحظة. -

لم يجبها بشيء. كان قد ترك الحنفية سائبة يرتطم ماؤها بحوض المغسلة محدثا أصواتا مختنقة.

.’lends itself to ‘in a loud voice, he said قالبصوتعال !

! مليء المعجونوفمه برغوة can be translated ‘with a mouth full of toothpaste’ or

‘his mouth was full of toothpaste’.

! The adjective مهموم can be translated into ‘sad’, ‘grieved’, ‘grief-stricken’,

‘sorrowful’, ‘careworn’, ‘worried’, ‘dejected’, and the like.

يةسائبةتركالحنف ! lends itself to ‘he (had) left the tap running’.

! The verb here can be translated into ‘to splash’ as it collocates well يرتطم

with the noun ‘water’.

! The phrase أصواتمختنقة can be translated into ‘muffled sounds’.

حدة، وهو يشزر الخارج بنظرة عدم ارتياح، قال:تناول كوب الشاي وشربه دفعة وا

جاء الشتاء، كيف سأحتمي من متاعب الربو والقصبات بهذا المعطف؟ -

! The verb تناول can be translated into ‘to take’.

واحدة ! دفعة lends itself into ‘to gulp it down’ or ‘to drink it down in one شربه

gulp’.

! The verb يشزر in قال ارتياح، عدم بنظرة الخارج يشزر can be rendered into وهو

‘while looking outside uncomfortably, he said …’, ‘casting a distressed eye

on the outdoors, he said ...’, or just ‘while gazing outside, he said ...’.

! The nouns ’can be translated into ‘asthma’ and ‘bronchitis قصبات and ربو

respectively.

:التقط سيكارة من علبتي وقال بوهن

قم يا أخي هات الكتاب ودعني أذهب فقد تأخرت. -

! The verb التقط here simply means أخرج, thus lending itself to ‘to take out’.

.’can be translated into ‘he said feebly وقالبوهن !


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! The verb قم ‘to stand’ simply means ا ذهب‘to go’. Therefore, it might be

ignored in this context.

! The word أخي, which means literally ‘my brother’, can be translated into

‘mate’.

can be translated literally into ‘let me go’ or idiomatically into ‘let دعنيأذهب !

me be on my way’.

.’lends itself to ‘I’m running late تأخرت !

وهي تدنو منه، قال لها:

.سأعمل بحارا -

فردت عليه بحزن:

وترضى أن تغيب عني؟ -

فقال بصوت منخفض:

ستعيشين أميرة. -

! The verb دنا simply means اقترب, thus lending itself to ‘to get close to’, ‘to get

near to’, ‘to come near to’, ‘to come near to’, ‘to draw closer to’, and the

like.

! The word بحار in this structure lends itself to ‘as a sailor’.

! In وترضى there is an implicit reference to the future, thereby lending itself to

‘Will you be happy …?’.

ستعيشينعيشةراضية or ستعيشينسعيدة means ستعيشينأميرة ! . With this in mind, it

can be translated literally into ‘you’ll live the life of a princess’ or

functionally into ‘you’ll live happily’, ‘you’ll live like a princess’, ‘you’ll live

like a real lady’. Or, it can be translated idiomatically into ‘you’ll be living

the good life’ or ‘you’ll be living the high life’.

ترددت لحظة ثم سألتني:

في بلد غريب؟ مثلك أتعرف ما يحتاجه سائح -

! The verb تردد can be translated into ‘to hesitate’.


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! The word لحظة here can be rendered into ‘for a moment’ or ‘for a while’.

! The word سائح lends itself to ‘tourist’, which is derived from ‘tour’ ل جولة/يتجو

(see also ‘tourism’ سياحة ).

ASSIGNMENT

Translate the following text titled ثالثقصصليستللنشر ‘Three Stories not for

Publishing’ adapted from عبدالست ارناصر:

قال المحامي لصديقه المحكوم باإلعدام:أنا آسف، صحيح أنك سوف تموت، لكنك دون شك قد شعرت بالفرح وأنت تصغي إلى -

مرافعتي.

ضحك الرجل وقال:ت واثقا جدا هذه نكتة قرأتها في رسم كاريكاتيري، والمرافعة لم تكن سوى كذبة جميلة ... كن -

من نهايتها. أجاب المحامي:

ية" من أول يوم إلى آخر ضكن على ثقة تامة، بأنني لم أترك شيئا للمصادفة. وقد تابعت "الق - ثانية رأيتني فيها في ثياب العدل... ولكن ماذا أفعل؟ انهم حاقدون عليك ...

قال الرجل بصوت يشبه موجة بحر غاضب:هذا العذاب الطويل بانني لست القاتل؟ سأموت وأنا وحدي وأنت معي فقط من يصدق بعد -

من يعرف الحقيقة.

قال المحامي: هناك "ثالث" يعرف الحقيقة كما نعرفها. -

صرخ الرجل:

من؟ من يكون؟ -

ضحك المحامي وهو يربت ظهر صديقه: المقتول! لو كان له أن يتكلم لقال الحقيقة.


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5 Revision

EX 1: Translate the following two sentences into Arabic, giving extra

attention to the reporting verbs used:

1. The European Council meeting in Paris voiced its deep concern over

the Arab-Israeli conflict and the situation in Lebanon.

2. It was reported by the Central Bank that the current year would be the

fourth in succession to witness a fall in demand for oil from the

industrialized world.

EX 2: Translate the following text, paying special attention to the reporting

verbs used:

ز"، واحد من أكبر البنوك في المملكة المتحدة، أن الطلب العالمي على جاء في تقرير بنك "لويد االبترول سيزداد قليال في غضون السنتين القادمتين، وذلك بسبب األوضاع السياسية التي تمر به

قشف. وأضاف مصدر مطلع أنه من المتوقع أن عددا من الدول ستلجأ إلى سياسة التالمنطقة.

! The expression الطلب العالمي على البترول lends itself to ‘the world demand for

oil’.

! The whole sentence can be broken down to two sentences.

! The verb يمر/تمر can be translated intralingually into يشهد/تشهد.

EX 3: Translate the following text into English, paying special attention to the

reporting verbs used:

من الحكومة الماليزية أن الحكومة الماليزية قد وافقت مؤخرا على إقامة أول مقرب صرح مصدر مصرف إسالمي في ماليزيا ال يتقاضى فائدة على القروض والسيما على الودائع.

ر المالية أن المصرف الذي يتوقع أن يفتح في الشهر المقبل سيقيم عالقات وفي هذا الصدد، صرح وزيمع مصارف إسالمية خارجية. وأضاف الوزير أن الهدف الرئيس من إقامة مثل هذا المصرف هو

بغرض خلق مؤسسة مالية تعمل على وفق المبادئ اإلسالمية.


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مليون دوالر، هذا وذكر المصدر 200 وسيبدأ المصرف الماليزي اإلسالمي برأسمال مصرح به قوامهالذي نقل الخبر أن الحكومة ستكون من أكبر حملة األسهم في المصرف اإلسالمي الجديد باإلضافة

إلى بعض المنظمات اإلسالمية.

! Attention needs to be paid to tenses in reported speech:

صرح ... أن ... قد وافقت ... تح ويستقبل ...أضاف ... أن ... سيف

بين ... أن ... لن يتقاضى ...! The expression ... مصدر مقرب من lends itself to ‘a source close to …’.

! The noun إقامة can be translated into a verb, such as ‘to establish’ or ‘to set

up’. This is an example of class shift, to use Catford’s (1965) term.

! The verb تقاضى, which is in the negative, lends itself in such a context to

‘not charge’.

! Technical terms, such as رأس مال ,وديعة ,قرض ,فائدة and حملة األسهم, lend

themselves to ‘interest’, ‘loan’, ‘deposit’, ‘capital’, and ‘shareholders’

respectively.

! The expression في هذا الصدد (also في هذا السياق) can be translated into ‘in this

regard’, ‘in this respect’, ‘in this context’, and so forth.

! The expression وزير المالية lends itself to ‘the minister of finance’.

! The connector وهذا , which is frequently used in media reports, can be

translated into ‘further’, ‘furthermore’, etc. or simply left without

translation.

EX 4: Translate the following text into Arabic, paying extra attention to the

linguistic and stylistic differences between the two languages:

- “It’s very bad, isn’t it?” her mother asked the doctor with a worried

voice.

- “Very bad”, the doctor answered gravely. “People are dying like flies.

It is dangerous to stay in this village. You should leave the place

immediately; you should go to a place where there is no disease”.

- “Oh, I know!” she said while shivering from fear. We must leave as

soon as possible”.

EX 5: Translate the following text into English, paying extra attention to the

linguistic and stylistic differences between the two languages:


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في ليلة من الليالي سأل الولد أمه: أمي, لماذا أختلف عن كل األوالد؟ أجابت أمه: لست مختلفا بل فريدا من نوعك.

ولكن يا أمي ال أحد من األوالد يحب أن يلعب معي، وبعضهم يسخر مني. : فقال الولد بحزن فردت أألم وابتسامة تعلو محياها.

ولد ذكي ويجب أن تتعلم كيف تحب نفسك. فعندما ال يرغب األوالد باللعب معك في أنت - إحدى المرات، فهذا ال يعني أنهم يكرهونك.

! The expression فريدمننوعه can be translated into ‘unique’.

! The verb )يسخر)مني lends itself to ‘to make fun of me’.

م حياهافردتاألم ! تعلو وا بتسامة needs to be adjusted to something like األم فردت

before the actual act of translation. With this in mind, it can be مبتسمة

rendered into ‘his mother replied with a smile’ or ‘his mother smiled, and

replied’.

Chapter 5

Translating articles, expressions of quantity and partitives

Articles

a/an, Ø & nunation

the, Ø & أل

Expressions of quantity

Partitives

Revision

Chapter five: Translating articles, expressions of quantity and partitives

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1 Articles

a/an, Ø& nunation

In English, the indefinite article ‘a/an’ is used before a singular countable

noun, such as: ‘a car’, ‘a book’, ‘a girl’, ‘an umbrella’, ‘an apple’, ‘an ox’,

‘an eye’, ‘an egg’, and so forth. Consider the following sentence:

My friend bought a new car a week ago.

اشترى صديقي سيارة جديدة قبل أسبوع.Back-translation:

My friend bought [تنوين = a] new car [تنوين = a] week ago.

The Arabic equivalent of the indefinite article used before a singular

countable noun is تنوين ‘nunation’. Now, let us translate the following text

adapted from a short story entitled حي البحثعنقلب by محسنالرملي:

منإحداهاماسحا عينيهيثقل مرقمة ،يخرج ما،وعلىجانبيالممرأبواب فيممرضيقفيمستشفى

علىجانبيالممر. حركتهاأللموالحزنالحادفيستندأحيانا

! In the above text, there are seven cases of تنوين ‘nunation’, viz. رمم ,ضيق ,

,However, there are only three nouns .أحيانا and ماسحا ,مرقمة ,أبواب ,مستشفى

namely مستشفى ,ممر, and أبواب. Unlike the last noun, viz. أبواب ‘doors’, which

is a plural countable noun, the first two nouns are singular countable nouns,

thus lending themselves in English to ‘a/an’ + noun’, as in ‘a corridor’ and

‘a hospital’ respectively.

عينيه ! .’can be translated into ‘rubbing his eyes ماسحا

! The sentence الحاد والحزن األلم which is in the active form can be يثقلحركته

translated into passive, as in ‘his movement is weighed down by deep pain

and grief/sorrow’ or ‘he is weighed down by deep pain and grief/sorrow,

thus dragging himself (in the corridor)’.

a/an a/an Ø


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أنا وطلبت اي وكوب ش عسل في مطعم. طلب هو قشطة مع قديم قررت أمس أن أفطر مع صديق . عصير فطيرة ومعها كأس

! Here, there are eight cases of تنوين ‘nunation’, viz. قشطة ,مطعم ,قديم ,صديق,

However, there are only seven nouns as the .عصير and ,فطيرة ,شاي ,عسل

word قديم is an adjective. As for the nouns شاي ,عسل ,قشطة, and عصير, they

are usually used as non-countable nouns in English, thus being preceded

by Ø, i.e. nothing.

! As for شاي and عصير, they are preceded by كوب and كأس which are singular

countable nouns; therefore, an indefinite article ‘a/an’ should be used (see

partitives in this chapter).

! The verb فطر/يفطر lends itself to ‘to have breakfast’. This is an example of

unit shift where a verb is translated into a phrase.

EX: Translate the following sentences into English, paying extra attention to

the translation of the definite article أل and تنوين ‘nunation’:

في العام الماضي، أخذت قرضا من المصرف وبنيت منزال صغيرا. .1

لم يحضر أمس إال عدد قليل من الطلبة بسبب سوء األحوال الجوية. .2

سافر إلى بلد أوروبي وفتح هناك عددا كبيرا من المشاريع. .3

محكمة العام الماضي. كذلك نشرت عددا من المقاالت. نشرت بحثا في مجلة .4

قبل أن تشرع في كتابة أي بحث، عليك أن تقرأ العديد من الكتب كي تتضح لديك الصورة. .5

منه. هل لي بملعقة أخرى رجاء. يبدو أنك نسيت أن تضع السكر أو وضعت في كوبي قليال .6

a/an a/an Ø


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The, Ø & أل

In English, the definite article ‘the’ is used before a noun when it is believed

that the listener/reader knows what we are referring to.

The teacher did not come yesterday because he was a bit tired.

Here, the teacher is known to both the speaker and the listener as they talk

about their teacher. This sentence can be translated into:

ببعض التعب( المدر س أمس ألنه كان متعبا قليال )أو كان يشعر لم يحضر It is also used before a noun which has been mentioned earlier in the text.

Consider the following example:

In the street, there are a man and a woman talking to each other. Unlike

the woman, the man seems very quiet.

This can be translated into:

في الشارع، يوجد رجل وامرأة يتكلمان مع بعضهما، على خالف المرأة، فإن الرجل يبدو هادئا جدا. (في الشارع، ثمة رجل وامرأة ...)أو

Further, it is used in the following cases:

! Before nouns of which there is only one, such as ‘the earth’ األرض ,

‘the sun’ الشمس , ‘the sky’ السماء , ‘the north pole’ القطبالشمالي , and so

forth, as in:

The moon is very bright tonight. (there is only one ‘moon’)

هذهالليلة.القمرإن جدا مشرق

! It is used before a superlative degree, such as ‘the tallest’ األطول , ‘the

cleverest’ األذكى , ‘the most beautiful’ األجمل , ‘the ugliest’ األقبح , and so

on, as in:

This is the tallest building in the city.

بناياتالمدينة(أطول )أوهذهبنايةفيالمدينة.أطول هذه

! It is used before nationality adjectives, such as ‘the English’ اإلنكليز ,

‘the Japanese’ اليابانيون , etc. to refer to the people of that country, as in:

The English like to travel a lot.

يحبون السفر كثيرا. اإلنكليز إن

سفر كثيرا. يحب ال الشعب اإلنكليزيإن أو:


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When the nationality adjective ends with ‘-sh’, ‘-ch’, ‘-ss’, ‘-se’, it refers to

the people of that country and there is no need to add ‘-s’. Otherwise, if it is

used to refer to all people of that country, the ‘-s’ should be added, as in:

The Irish اإليرلينديون

The English اإلنكليز

The French الفرنسيون

The Dutch الهولنديون

The Swiss السويديون

The Japanese اليابانيون

The Chinese الصينيون

The Iraqis العراقيون

The Egyptians المصريون

The Omanis العمانيون

The Kuwaitis الكويتيون

The Jordanians نيوناألرد

The Americans األمريكان

The Italians اإليطاليون

! It is used before some countries whose names include words like

‘kingdom’, ‘republic’, ‘states’, ‘lands’ or ‘union’, as in:

The United Kingdom المملكةالمت حدة

The Kingdom of Nepal مملكةالنيبال

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia لعربيةالسعوديةاالمملكة

The United States الوالياتالمت حدة

The People’s Republic of China جمهوريةالصينالشعبية

The Soviet Union االت حادالسوفيتي

The Netherlands هولندا

The Philippines الفلبين

! It is used before words, such as ‘cinema’ ’theatre‘ ,السينما المسرح or

‘radio’الراديو, as in:

My brother loves going to the theatre.

أخيالذهابإلى .المسرحيحب

! It is used before musical instruments, such as ‘piano’ ,البيانو

‘guitar’ القيثارةالغيتار/ ,‘violin’ الكمان , as in:

One of my students plays the guitar really well.

My little son is learning the piano.

بكشل جيد. بمهارة عالية/ (القيثارة)يتارغالطالبي يعزف أحد . البيانويتعلم ابني الصغير العزف على

! It is used before rivers, seas, oceans, canals, mountain ranges or

groups of islands, such as:

The Euphrates نهرالفرات The Tigris نهردجلة The Nile

The Thames نهرالنيل

نهرالتايمزThe Red Sea البحراألحمر


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The Dead Sea البحرالمي ت The Mediterranean Sea البحرالمتوسط

The Atlantic Ocean المحيطاألطلسي The Alps بجبالاألل

The Himalayas جبالالهمااليا The Panama Canal قناةبنما

! It is used before adjectives to refer to groups of people, as in:

The poor الفقراء The unemployed العاطلونعنالعمل

The rich األغنياء The disabled المعاقون

The needy المحتاجون The stupid الحمقى/األغبياء

The sick المرضى The young الشباب

The dead الموتى The elderly الكبارفيالسن

The injured المصابون The optimistic المتفائلون

The blind العميان The pessimistic المتشائمون

Following are some examples:

In some countries, life is very hard for the poor.

. الفقراءإن الحياة قاسية على في بعض البلدان، .الفقراءإن الحياة ال ترحم في بعض البلدان، :أو

The rich should pay more taxes.

أن يدفعوا ضرائب أكثر. األغنياءعلى أو: ينبغي/يتعين على ....

I like to help the disabled.

. نعاقيالم أن أساعد )األشخاص( أحب Yesterday, the doctors worked around the clock to help the injured in the

crash.

.في الحادث صابينالم لمساعدة توقف أمس من دون األطباء عمل . في الحادث صابينالم يوم أمس عن مساعدة األطباء لم يتوقف :أو

DIFFERENCES …

In Arabic, the definite article أل is used before places, such as ‘school’مدرسة,

‘hospital’ ’college‘ ,مستشفى ’university‘ ,كلي ة ’prison‘ ,جامعة ’jail‘ ,سجن ,سجن

‘office’ ’work‘ ,مكتب ’class‘ ,عمل ’church‘ ,صف كنيسة , and the like in the

following structures:

مشيا على األقدام. مع صديقي المدرسةأذهب إلى عادة ما


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أمس. مستشفىالأخذت والدتي إلى . العمللم يصل الموظف بعد. إنه في طريقه إلى

In English, however, they are used without the definite article when they are

used for their primary purpose. As such, the above sentences lend themselves

to

I usually go to school with my friend on foot.

I took my mother to hospital yesterday.

The officer has not arrived yet. He is on his way to work.

Now, let us try to translate the following sentences into English:

أمس صباحا. المدرسةذهبت إلى صغيرة. المدرسة إن

.الصف جميع الطلبة في ليس بعيدا من هنا. الصف إن

They lend themselves in English to:

She went to school yesterday morning.

The school is small.

All the students are in class.

The class is not far from here.

Further, in English the definite article ‘the’ is used before a superlative degree,

as in: ‘the tallest’, ‘the cleverest’, ‘the most beautiful’, ‘the ugliest’, and so on.

Following are some examples to show the differences:

She bought the most expensive necklace in the shop.

This building is the oldest building in the city.

Ali is the tallest student in class. In translating superlative degrees into Arabic, they normally lend themselves

to أقدم ,أغلى, and أطول followed by a singular noun without a definite article قالدة,

or plural nouns with or without a definite article, such as طالب and ,بناية

/قالئدالقالئد :respectively, as in الطلبة/طلبة and ,البنايات/بنايات ,

المحل( أغلى قالئد في المحل، أو أغلى القالئد)أو حل أمس.قالدة في الم أغلىاشترت المدينة( ياتابن أقدم ، أو البنايات أقدم )أو بناية في المدينة. أقدم إن هذه البناية ( طالب أطول ، أو الطلبة أطول )أو طالب في الصف. أطول إن عليا هو الصف


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In English, to talk about the whole class of things rather than individuals,

people may opt for a plural countable noun or uncountable noun without any

article, as in:

Unlike wolves [IN GENERAL], dogs[IN GENERAL]are not dangerous animals.

However, in Arabic, the definite article is used when referring to something in

general, as in:

حيوان غير مؤذ. الكلب ، فإن الذئبعلى خالف حيوانات غير مؤذية. الكالب ، فإن الذئاب على خالف :أو

Following are more examples along with their respective translations:

Like men, women have the right to cast their votes in some countries.

She often reads newspapers and magazines in the morning.

Eating a lot of meat might be bad for health.

Life without work is boring.

You have to drink water to avoid health problems.

.الرجلها شأنها شأن دلي بصوت أن ت للمرأة ، يحق البلدان بعض في في الصباح. المجالتو حفلص اغالبا ما تقرأ

. بالصحة قد يضر اللحوم إن األكثار من أكل مملة. عمل بال الحياة إن

حية. المشاكل كي تتجنب الماء عليك بشرب الص

Unlike English which uses no article, Arabic uses the definite article أل before:

! the names of days

Saturday السبت

Sunday األحد

Monday األثنين

Tuesday الثالثاء

Wednesday األربعاء

Thursday الخميس

Friday الجمعة

! the names of seasons:


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summer الصيف

spring الربيع

autumn/fall الخريف

winter الشتاء

! the names of some cities and countries:

Basra البصرة

Riyadh الرياض

Doha الدوحة

Kuwait الكويت

Algeria الجزائر

Morocco المغرب

But …

Baghdad بغداد

Muscat مسقط

Damascus دمشق

London لندن

Paris باريس

France فرنسا

Spain إسبانيا

England لتراكإن

ASSIGNMENT

Translate the following text titled ‘Women Liberation through Islam’

extracted from Mary Ali. (24.06.2013:www.islamreligion.com ـــ Islam

Religion Website), paying extra attention to the (in)definite articles,

expressions of quantities used in the original text:

In Islam, a woman has the basic freedoms of choice and expression based on

recognition of her individual personality. First, a non-Muslim woman cannot

be forced to convert for marriage, or upon the conversion of parents. The

Quran states:

“There is no compulsion in religion. Right has been made distinct from

error” (Quran 2:256)

Women are encouraged in Islam to contribute their opinions and ideas. There

are many traditions of the Prophet which indicate that women would pose

questions directly to him and offer their opinions concerning religion,

economics and social matters.


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A Muslim woman has full right to approve or deny a proposal of marriage,

and her name is to be kept after marriage.

A Muslim woman’s testimony is valid in legal disputes. In fact, where women

are more familiar, their evidence is conclusive.

! The verb ‘to have’ in such a context lends itself to verbs such as تحظى ,تتمتع or just لها instead of opting for the direct, straightforward translation, i.e.

.لدى or تملك

! “There is no compulsion in religion. Right has been made distinct from

error” (Quran 2:256) lends itself to

ت ب ي ق د ين ف يالد اه ر إ ك ""ال ي الغ ن م د ش الر (2:256)ن

! The clause ‘There are many traditions of the Prophet’ can be domesticated,

as in )وهناك العديد من األحاديث النبوية )الشريفة.

! The expression ‘woman’s testimony’ lends itself to شهادة المرأة.

! The adjective ‘valid’ in such a context can be translated into يعمل بها ,يأخذ بها or يعتد بها.

2 Expressions of quantity

In any language, there are a number of expressions that can be used to express

number or amount. In English, for example, while words, such as ‘many’,

‘few’, ‘a few’, ‘most’, ‘several’, and ‘a number of’ are used before countable

nouns, words like ‘much’, ‘little’, ‘a little’, and ‘a huge amount of’ are used

before non-countable nouns. However, there are a number of expressions,

such as ‘lots of’, ‘a lot of’, ‘a quantity of’, ‘some’, ‘any’, etc. which are used

before countable and non-countable nouns, as shown in the following table:


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Countable nouns Non-countable nouns

many عدد/العديدمن

a number of عددمن

a great number of عددكبيرمن

a huge number of عددهائلمن

the/a majority of أغلبيةالـ/األغلبيةمن

the/a minority of أقليةالـ/األقليةمن

most معظم

several بضعة/عددمن

a few قليل/القليلمن

few بالكادقليلجدا/القليلجدا/

a/an … nunation التنوين

much كثير/الكثيرمن

a huge amount of كمي ةكبيرةمن

a great deal of كمي ةكبيرةمن

a good deal of بهاكمي ةالبأس

a little منقليل/القليل

little قليلجدا /القليلجدا /بالكاد

a bit of منقليل/القليل

a handful of حفنةمن/القليلمن

a fistful of حفنةمن/القليلمن

a spoonful of لعقةمن/ملعقةمن

Ø … ألـ

a lot ofالكثير/العديدمن

lots ofالكثير/العديدمن

plenty of منالكثير/العديد

a quantity ofكمي ة/عدد/العديدمن

a big quantity ofكمي ةكبيرة/عددكبيرمن

a large quantity of منهائل/عددضخمةي ةكم

a huge quantity of منهائل/عددضخمةكمي ة

a small quantity of كمي ةقليلة/عددقليلمن

quantities of كمي ة/عدد/العديدمن

big quantities of كمي ةكبيرة/عددكبيرمن

large quantities of كمي ةكبيرة/عددكبيرمن

huge quantities of ةكبيرة/عددكبيرمنكمي

small quantities of كمي ةقليلة/عددقليلمن

someبعض

anyأي ة/ أي

the ألـ


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EX: Translate the following sentences into Arabic, paying extra attention to

the expressions of quantity (highlighted for you):

1. Many researchers depend on grants from industry.

2. How many students are there?

3. There aren’t many books on that shelf.

4. There are many people who use the computer every day.

5. How many spoonfuls of sugar do you like in your

tea?

6. There is much interest in learning English around the world.

7. How much money do you have?

8. There isn’t much butter left in the refrigerator.

9. Much time is spent on understanding math.

10. One-third of the students have graduate degrees.

11. Half of what he writes is undocumented.

12. Fifty percent of the job is routine.

13. A majority of Canadians have voted for change.

14. The majority of investors are interested in low-risk opportunities.

15. A minority of the students are willing to pay more.

16. We use a huge amount of paper in the office every day.

17. A great number of students volunteer each year for environmental

projects.

18. I have a number of things I want to talk to you about.

19. There are a large number of individuals who prefer to do banking

online.

20. A large number of our pupils continue their studies at university.

21. There is a great deal of pressure to finish this project on time.

22. There isn’t a great deal of time to finish this report.

23. The soldiers discovered a large quantity of weapons hidden under the

floor of a disused building.

24. You only need a very small quantity of cementto mix with the sand.

25. Large quantities of illegal drugs had been discovered.

26. Aid workers have delivered huge quantities of food to the refugee

camps.

27. Most people enjoy listening to some type of music.

28. There’s a large amount of work to be done on this project.

29. There’s a lot of juice in this jug.

30. There are lots of people who like chess.

31. There are plenty of opportunities to learn online.


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EX: Translate the following sentences into English, paying extra attention to

the translation of the definite article أل and تنوين ‘nunation’:

شاهدت رجال في الشارع يشبهك. كان يرتدي قميصا أبيض وبنطاال أسود ويحمل عددا من .1 األكياس.

، الذي سيتم افتتاحه في الشهر المقبل، لن يتردد في إقامة المالية أن المصرف صرح وزير .2 عالقات مع مصارف إسالمية خارجية.

المجتمع في در دخل بديلة إلنفاقها في مشاريع تنميةتسعى دولة الكويت إلى إيجاد مصا .3 .النفط ضوء انخفاض عائدات

في محاولة لتفريق المتظاهرين، قامت قوات األمن برش المتظاهرين بالماء. .4

الجامعات طالبا أياهم أن يزودوني بأسماء المشرفين، بعض إلى عدد من الرسائل بعثت ب .5 جامعة على طلبي. ولكن لم ترد أية

لم يبق عندنا إال القليل من السكر. هل تتكرم وتذهب إلى البقالة لتجلب لنا كيسا من السكر، .6 رجاء.

ألقت الشرطة القبض على عدد من المجرمين وبحوزتهم كمية كبيرة من المتفجرات. .7

. ما عليك إال أن تتابع لن تتوقف الحياة هنا، فهنالك العديد من فرص العمل، صدقني .8 إعالنات التوظيف.

3 Partitives

In addition to words and expressions of quantity (discussed in the previous

lesson), language users may resort to using what is called in grammar

‘partitives’ before nouns to indicate a part or quantity of something. While

dealing with partitives, extra attention needs to be paid to the collocation of

these words. For instance, in Arabic we say

، عنقود عنب، عذق موز ...ورد باقة ، مفاتيح رزمة However, in English we use the word ‘bunch’ that collocates well with ‘keys’,

‘flowers’, ‘grapes’ and ‘bananas’, as in:

a bunch of keys

a bunch of flowers a bunch of grapes


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a bunch of bananas

When we talk about liquids, partitives such as ‘a litre of’ or ‘a gallon of’ can

be used before the noun which is a liquid.

a litre of + liquid ... لتر من a gallon of + liquid ... غالون من

Similarly, when we talk about something that can be measured by weight,

partitives such as ‘a ton of’, ‘a gram of’, ‘a pound of’ can be used, as in:

a ton of + a noun … ... طن من a gram of + a noun … ن ...غرام م a pound of + a noun … ... رطل من

Further, partitives such as ‘abottle of’, ‘a can of’, ‘a glass of’, ‘a cup of’, ‘a

mug of’, and the like can be applied to different types of liquids that come in

these containers, as in:

a bottle of water ماء جاجة/ز قنينة a bottle of milk حليب /زجاجةقنينة a bottle of Pepsi بيبسي /زجاجةقنينة a can of Pepsi علبة بيبسي a can of Red Bull علبة ردبول

! ‘A can of worms’ means a complex unexpected problem, an intertwined

set of problems or unsolvable dilemma. Building on this, let us translate

the following two sentences:

Actually, when I brought it up, I opened a can of worms.

His political scandal is a can of worms

a glass of water ماء قدح a glass of juice كأس عصير a cup of tea شاي كوب a cup of coffee فنجان قهوة a cup of latte كوب التيه


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a mug of cappuccino كوب كبتشينو acup of espresso كوب إسبيسرو

However, extra attention should be paid to the translation of partitives used to

quantify food and vegetables. In English, for example, while we use ‘a slice

of’ before nouns such as ‘cake’, ‘pizza’, ‘pie’ and ‘meat’, the partitive ‘head’

before ‘lettuce’, ‘cabbage’ and ‘cauliflower’, the partitive ‘a loaf of’ is used

before ‘bread’, and ‘a filet of’ before ‘meat’, as in:

a slice of cake قطعة كيك a slice of pizza قطعة بتزا a slice of pie فطيرة a slice of meat قطعة لحم a filet of meat لحم شريحة a loaf of bread خبز رغيف a head of lettuce رأس خس a head of cabbage رأس لهانة a head of onion رأس بصل a clove of garlic فص ثوم an ear of corn س ذرةعرنو

Further, there are a number of partitives that can be used to refer to the shape,

size, movement, or the amount of something:

a bit of fun من المرح قليل a cloud of smoke دخان خيط a drop of blood دم قطرة a lock of hair شعر خصلة a piece of land أرض قطعة a piece of fruit فاكهة/فواكه a piece of paper ورقة/أوراق a piece of furniture أثاث قطعة a piece/word of advice نصيحة/نصائح


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an item of news خبر/أخبار a jar of honey عسل قرشة a shower of rain مطر زخة a work of literature أدبي عمل a work of art لوحة فنية a stroke of luck ضربة حظ a dab of perfume رشة/بخة عطر a speck of dust ذرة تراب a sense of humour روح الدعابة a glimmer of hope بصيص أمل a sign of respect احترام عالمة an article of faith اعتقاد راسخ a spot of bother انزعاج حالة a fit of anger غضب /حالة نوبة a pang of guilt بالذنب شعور a pang of pain باأللم /شعور وخزة a pang of hunger بالجوع شعور a scrap of evidence دليل أي a scrap of difference اختالف أي a scrap of food ام، فضالت بقايا طع a scrap of truth /ذرة من الصدق

عار من الصحة

! The word ‘scrap’ as a verb means ‘to get rid of something’, thus lending

itself to يتخل صمن.

! The word ‘scrap’ as a noun means

1. a small piece or amount of something, such as ‘paper’, ‘food’, etc.

thus lending itself to فضالت ,بقايا ,قطعة ,نتفة ,قصاصة, and so forth.

Metaphorically, native speakers also say ‘a scrap of truth’.

2. something that you do not want any more, but that is made of material


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that can be used again, thus lending itself to خردة or in some countries

.سكراب

Building on this, let us translate the following two sentences:

It is better to scrap this idea. (meaning it is better to get rid of this idea)

There is not a scrap of truth in what he has just said.

EX: Translate the following sentences into Arabic, paying special attention to

the partitives highlighted for you:

1. Don’t you think that their house is a work of art?

2. In a fit of anger, I used some words that I shouldn’t have.

3. There are some drops of blood on the carpet. Are you okay, honey?

4. I’m in a spot of bother because I can’t find my office key.

5. I’ll give you a bar of chocolate if you behave yourself.

6. Whether you write a letter to them or not, it won’t make a scrap of

difference. So, don’t waste your time.

7. Don’t worry. There isn’t a scrap of evidence to prove that he’s done

it.

8. As they have no children, it is difficult to find a speck of dust in their

home.

9. Have you realized that he lacks a sense of humour?

10. Yesterday, the teacher’s words gave us a glimmer of hope.

Ex: Write 10 sentences in Arabic using the expressions suggested below.

Then, translate them into English:

قطعةأرض قليلمنالمرح روحالدعابة رشةعطر

أمل أدلة نصائح قماش بصيص قطعة

مطر فواكه قطعةلحم شعوربالذنب زخة

تراب أخبار ة ذر لوحةفنية غضبنوبة

1. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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7. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4 Revision

EX 1: Correct the following sentences and then translate them into Arabic

1. This ring is made of the gold.

2. He does not have many money.

3. We do not have a big quantities of rooms in our house.

4. The company exports great number of its products.

5. My grandfather has a great deal of houses.

6. Only little teachers in our department speak more than two languages.

7. I have a little time to finish report, but I’ll send it to you tomorrow.

8. Government has spent great amount of money on the schools.

EX 2: Translate the following text entitled حلم written for the purposes of this

course into English, paying special attention to articles, expressions of

quantity and partitives:

.، وامرأة، وطفالن، وحلم يتألأل في عينيهارجل كين، إال إنه على كرسي ويأكل بالشوكة والس مجتمع غير ناضج، على الرغم من إنه تعلم كيف يجلس

ات.ظيرتدي الحفا اليزال

أن يقرر. على الرجل يصبح واقعا.في عينيها قبل أن قتله.. اقتل الحلم ا أصواتهم تناديه: يسمع

.الذكريات في مخيلته حلمها يستحث يحاصره سيل من الذكريات ...

أهله أن يودع دون بلده خلسة من كيف ترك عينيه، يتذكر يغمض على خد ه ه دمعت لت اكيف س يتذكر ... يتذكر


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أن يتبرأ منهم ويرعى الحلم. يقرر يستفيق.

! The verb يتألأل can be translated into ‘to glitter’, ‘to glimmer’, and the like.

! The expression غيرناضج lends itself to the adjective ‘immature’.

! The word كيف here which is followed by a verb, such as سال ,ترك ,يأكل ,يجلس,

and so forth lends itself to ‘how to + verb 1’.

! Attention should be paid to the translation of ... إنه إال ،... من الرغم In .على

English, the connector ‘although’ or ‘though’ is not used with ‘but’ or

‘however’ in the same sentence. The translator must use only one

connector.

كينبالشوكةوالس ! lends itself to ‘with knife and fork’ in English.

! The word حفاظ, which lends itself to ‘nappy’ (also ‘diaper’ in American

English), collocates well with verbs, such as ‘wear’, ‘put on’, ‘change’,

‘remove’, ‘take off’, etc.

.’lends itself to ‘to come true يصبحواقعا !

! The verb يستحث lends itself to ‘to invoke’ as it collocates well with

‘memories’ ذكريات .

! As for the metaphor منالذكريات هسيل it can be translated idiomatically ,يحاصر

into ‘memories come flooding back’.

! The verb يسيلسال/ in this context can be translated into ‘to roll down (his

cheek)’.

! The verb استفاق/يستفيق here can be translated into ‘to come to’ or ‘to come to

his senses’.

! The verb يتبرأ, which is normally translated in a political context into ‘to

disavow’, means ل براءته ,يتنص أصواتهم or simply ي علن so, it can be ,يتجاهل

translated into ‘to turn a deaf ear to…’.


following text titled ‘Social Rights’ by Mary Ali

(www.islamreligion.com) translated into Arabic by سلطانةالعبري (final

year project 2014/2015), paying extra attention to the linguistic

differences between the two languages in terms of using articles:

Social Rights

The Prophet said:

“Seeking knowledge is a mandate for

الحقوق االجتماعية قال رسول اهلل:

" "طلب العلم فريضة رواه على كل مسلم

http://www.islamreligion.com/


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every Muslim (male and female)”. (At-Tirmidhi)

الترمذي.

This includes knowledge of the Quran

and the Hadeeth as well as other types

of knowledge. Men and women both

have the capacity for learning and

understanding. Since it is also their

obligation to promote good behavior

and condemn bad behavior in all

spheres of life.

وهذه المعرفة تشمل العلم بالقرآن والحديث النبوي باإلضافة الى العلوم االخرى. فالرجال م والنساء على حد سواء لديهم القدرة على التعل

دة تهم تنمية السلوكيات الجي اوالفهم. ومن واجب .هافيوتجنب السلوكيات غير المرغوب

Muslim women must acquire the

appropriate education to perform this

duty in accordance with their own

natural talents and interests.

التعليم المناسب المسلمة ويجب أن تنال المرأة ن من أداء في جميع مجاالت الحياة لتتمك

واجباتها وفقا لمواهبها الفطرية ومصالحها .الخاصة

While bearing, raising and teaching of

children, and providing support to her

husband and maintenance of a home

are among the first, and very highly

regarded, roles for a woman, if she

has the skills to work outside the

home for the good of the community,

she may do, so as long as her family

obligations are met.

التربية، وتدريس االبناء، وبما أن الوضع، و ، والمحافظة على المنزل هي من ودعم الزوج

، فإن ات المهمة التي تقوم بها المرأةولوياألاإلسالم ال يمانع من عملها خارج البيت لمصلحة المجتمع اذا كان لديها القدرة في

الموافقة مع واجباتها المنزلية.

Islam recognizes and fosters the

natural differences between men and

women despite their equality. Some

types of work are more suitable for

men and other types for women. This

in no way diminishes either’s efforts

or benefits. God will reward both

sexes equally for the value of their

work, though it may not necessarily

be the same activity.

اإلسالم يدرك ويراعي الفروق الطبيعية بين الرجال والنساء بالرغم من المساواة بينهم، فبعض األعمال تكون أكثر مالئمة للرجال والبعض األخر للنساء. وهذا ال يقلل من جهد ونفع كال منهما، وسيمنح اهلل كليهما األجر

أنه قد ال من رغم على الي ألعمالهم، المساو .يكون بالضرورة نفس العمل

Chapter 6

Translating modality

Modality

Types of modality

Translating modality

Modality: different functions

Revision

Chapter six: Translating modality

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1 Modality

While communicating with each other, language users are in need of

expressing their own attitudes, opinions, or moods towards what happens,

towards what exists in the outside world, towards the truth of an utterance, or

towards the event described by that utterance. To do so, they need to fall back

on modality. Modality is a concept used widely in a direct link with such

notions as:

! Obligation:

We must not lose the match tomorrow, or we will be out of the tournament.

! Necessity:

I haven’t visited my friend for ten years, so I will have to visit her this summer.

! Lack of necessity:

In order to apply for this job, you must speak two languages, but you don’t

have to have a degree in international relations.

! Prohibition:

You mustn’t use your mobile during takeoff.

! Expectation:

There are plenty of petrol stations in the town; it should not be too difficult to

find somewhere to get petrol.

! Advisability:

She should/ought to consult her doctor immediately.

! Possibility:

She may be in the office. Have you called her?

! Ability:

She can speak three languages in addition to her mother tongue.

! Request:


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Would you switch on the light, please?

! Permission:

May I open the window, sir?

! Preference:

I would rather stay at home tonight than go out.

! Lost opportunities:

You should have asked me earlier. Now, it’s too late.

! Habitual past:

My father used to smoke 20 cigarettes a day.

In what follows, the types of modality and main functions achieved by

modality in Arabic and English will be explained.

2 Types of modality

In English, modality is most commonly expressed by modal verbs, such as

‘shall’, ‘will’, ‘would’, ‘can’, ‘could’, ‘may’, ‘might’, ‘must’, and so on.

However, sometimes modality is expressed by

! phrases, such as ‘be going to’, ‘be used to’, ‘be supposed to’, etc.

! adverbs, such as ‘possibly’, ‘probably’, etc.

! clauses, such as ‘it is possible that’, ‘it is likely that’, ‘it is unlikely

that’, ‘it is probably that’, etc.

In Arabic, although there is no well-defined class of modals perfectly

corresponding to English modal verbs and expressions (Aziz 1989; Farghal

and Shunnaq 1999; Abdel-Fattah 2005; Al-Qinai 2008; Almanna 2016a),

modality can be expressed by

! modalized particles, such as قد ,لعل ,سوف ,ســـ, etc.

! modalized verbs, such as ب ,ينبغي ,يتعي ن ,يجب ,ي فترض ح ,يتوج ,ي ستحسن ,ي رج

ل ,يستطيع ,ي حتمل .etc ,ي ستبعد ,ي حب ذ ,ي فض

! Modalized prepositions, such as لـ ,على, etc.


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! Modalized prepositional phrases, such as ح ,منالجائز ,منالممكن ,منالم رج

المفروض الواجب ,من الم حتمل ,من الم ستبعد ,من ,من ل الم فض حب ذ ,من الم من ,من

تعي ,الم ستحسن الم نمن ه , etc. (for more details, see Almanna ,بإمكان ه ,بمقدور

2016a: 95).

3 Translating modality

As Arabic does not have a well-defined class of modals precisely

corresponding to English modal verbs and expressions on the one hand, and

modality in general is characterized by ambiguity, contextuality, and

indeterminacy on the other (cf. Bybee and Fleischman 1995; Abdel-Fattah

2005; Almanna 2016a), special attention needs to be paid to identify the

function of the modal verb in question. Thus, in translating modality, we

would like to suggest the following four steps adopted with a slight

modification from Bell’s (1991) cognitive approach:

1. visual recognition (i.e., reading the original text with a view to

identifying the modal verb used)– this is an easy task.

2. identifying the function of modality in the S– this is the most difficult

and challenging task.

3. mechanism of lexical search – this requires translation trainees to

develop a contrastive competence.

4. encoding the draft semantically, pragmatically, lexico-grammatically

and stylistically in the TL – here, the translators need to take into

account the linguistic and stylistic norms of the TL.

By way of illustration, let us consider the following example:

I had to get up early yesterday; there were a lot of things to be done.

1. visual recognition: try your hand at identifying the modal verb used in

the source text: had to.

2. the function of the modal verb: obligation/necessity + in the past.

3. mechanism of lexical search: ‘had to’ can be translated in Arabic into

...فترضكان علي، كان ينبغي، كان من المفروض، كان ي 4. encoding the draft semantically, pragmatically, lexico-grammatically

and stylistically in the TL, as in:

ا أمس؛ إذ كان لدي الكثير من االلتزامات.بكر كان علي أن أستيقظ م


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4 Modality: different functions

As hinted above, modality can achieve wide-ranging functions; therefore,

translators need to give full consideration to these functions prior to adopting

their own translation strategy. In what follows, some light will be shed on the

main functions achieved by modality in both languages.

Obligation and necessity

To express obligation or necessity in English, one can use ‘must’, ‘have to’,

and ‘had to’, as in the following examples:

I haven’t visited my friend for three years, so I will have to visit her this

summer.

Due to the traffic system, you cannot turn right here, you must turn left.

He left before the end of the meeting; he had to go home early.

In Arabic, however, to express obligation or necessity, one can use the

following modalized verbs, prepositional phrases, and expressions:

يجب، يتعين، ينبغي، على، يتوجب، يفترض، من الضروري، من الواجب .. !

.. كان يجب، كان يتعين، كان ينبغي، كان يفترض، كان من المفروض، كان من الواجب !Consider the translations of the above sentences:

زيارتها هذا الصيف. علي صديقتي منذ ثالث سنوات، لذا لم أزر

)يجب عليك/ يتوجب عليك( أن يجببسبب االزدحام المروري، ال يمكنك أن تستدير يمينا هنا؛ تستدير يسارا.

أن يذهب إلى البيت مبكرا. كان ي فترضغادر المكان قبل انتهاء االجتماع ألنه

Lack of necessity and prohibition

To express lack of necessity or prohibition in English, one can use ‘must not’

and ‘do not have to’, as in the following examples:

She does not have to wear glasses when driving, but she usually does.

You mustn’t use your mobile during takeoff.

In order to apply for this job, you must speak two languages, but you

don’t have to have a degree in international relations.


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In Arabic, however, to express lack of necessity or prohibition, one can use

the following modalized verbs, prepositional phrases, and expressions:

لزما ... يجب أال، يتعين أال، ال حاجة إلى، ال داعي لـ، ليس لزاما )عليك(، ليس م !

Consider the translations of the above sentences:

أن تلبس نظاراتها )عويناتها( أثناء القيادة، ولكنها عادة ما تفعل ذلك. ال يتوجب عليها

ل نقالك )موبايلك( أثناء إقالع الطائرة. تستعم يجب عليك أال

أن تحمل شهادة في ليس لزاما عليكأن تتكلم لغتين، ولكن يتوجب عليككي تقدم على هذه الوظيفة العالقات الدولية.

‘Must not’ indicates that we still have a necessity and/or obligation not to do

something (prohibition) and that is why it is important to reflect such a necessity in

your translation as in:

…يجب أال .. يتوجب أال .. يتعين أال .. يفترض أال

However, ‘do not have to’ indicates that the necessity and/or obligation have been

removed; hence our suggestion:

…حاجة إلى .. ال داعي لـ ... ليس لزاما عليك ال

Advisability, opinion, and expectation

To express advisability, an opinion, or an expectation in English, one can use

‘should’ and ‘ought to’, as in the following examples:

The government should/ought to do more to help homeless people.

You look very tired; you ought to/should go to bed.

I believe that teachers should have higher salaries.

In Arabic, however, to express advisability, an opinion, or an expectation, one

can use the following modalized verbs, prepositional phrases, and expressions:

عليك،ينبغي،يتعي ن)عليك(،ي ستحسن.. !

منالمفروض،منالمتوقع،منالمقرر.. !



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الحكومة أن تعمل الكثير لمساعدة الناس المشردين )الذين بال مأوى(. على )ينبغي(

)يستحسن( أن تذهب إلى الفراش. عليكا جدا، تبدو متعب

أن يتقاضوا رواتب عالية. ينبغيأعتقد )في رأيي( أن المعلمين )المدرسين(

Lost opportunities

To talk about lost opportunities in English, one can use ‘should’ or ‘ought to’

followed by a past participle, as in the following examples:

We lost the match but we should have won because we were better than

them.

I feel sick; I should not have eaten so much rice.

You should have consulted your doctor a long time ago.

In Arabic, however, to talk about lost opportunities, one can use the following

modalized verbs, prepositional phrases, and expressions preceded by كان:

كانمنالمفروض،كانينبغي،كاني فترض،كانيتعي ن.... !


من المفروض( أن نفوز ألننا كنا أفضل منهم. )كان كان ي فترضلقد خسرنا المباراة، لكن

أال آكل الكثير من الرز. كان يتعين علي أشعر باإلعياء؛ إذ

)كان من المفروض/كان يفترض/ كان يتعين عليك( أن تستشير الطبيب قبل مدة. كان ينبغي

Possibility/likelihood

To express possibility/likelihood in English, one can use:

! ‘may’ or ‘might’

! ‘maybe’ or ‘perhaps’

! It is ‘probable’/‘possible’/‘likely’/‘unlikely’ that …

! ‘possibly’ or ‘probably’

as in the following examples:

She may be in the office. Have you called her?

He might be playing football now.

You might have left it in the shop.


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In Arabic, however, to express possibility/likelihood, one can use the

following modalized particles, verbs, prepositional phrases, and expressions:

قد،ي حتمل،منالم حتمل !

رب ما !

ح،منالم حتمل،منالم ستبعد ! منالم رج


)من المحتمل، يحتمل، ربما( تكون في مكتبها. هل اتصلت بها؟ قد

)ربما( أنه يلعب كرة القدم اآلن. من الم حتمل

)من المحتمل، يحتمل( أنك قد تركتها في المحل. ربما

In legislative texts, ‘may’ means ‘be allowed to’, thus it is translated intoيحق

.and the like يجوز ,لـ

The landlord may rescind the rental contract without the consent of the tenant

in case of emergency.

)يحق/يجوز(للمالكأنيفسخعقداإليجارمندونموافقةالمستأجرفيحالةالطوارئ.

The tenant may not assign the rental contract to a third party without the

written consent of the landlord.

اليحقللمستأجرأنيتنازلعنعقداإليجارللغير)طرفثالث(بدونموافقةخطي ة)كتابية(من

المالك.

للمستأجر... أواليجوز

ليسمنحقالمستأجرأن...

In religious texts, ‘may’ is used for supplication in this formula:

May + Allah/God + Verb 1

May Allah reward you.

May Allah rest him in peace.

In interrogative sentences, ‘may’ is used for asking permission; thus it is


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translated into

،هلبإمكانيأ ،أتسمحلي ن..هللي

May I open the window, sir?

May I use your pen, please?

Ability, lack of ability, and (not) giving permission

To express ability, lack of ability, and/or (not) giving permission in English,

one can use ‘can’, ‘could’, or ‘be able to’, as in the following examples:

She can speak three languages in addition to her mother tongue.

Although he spoke quickly, I could understand what he said.

She will be able to buy this house next year.

In Arabic, however, to express ability, lack of ability, or (not) giving

permission, one can use the following modalized verbs, prepositional phrases,

and expressions:

يستطيع،لهالقدرة،بمقدوره،يمكنه.. !


)بمقدورها( أن تتكلم ثالث لغات باإلضافة إلى لغتها األم. تستطيع

من فهمه. تمكنتعلى الرغم من أنه تكلم بهدوء، إال إنني

)بإمكانها/ باستطاعتها( شراء هذا المنزل في السنة المقبلة. بمقدورهاسيكون

Futurity

To express futurity in English, one can use ‘will’, ‘shall’, or ‘be going to’ as

in the following examples:

When will you know your exam results?

I am going to travel to London next week.

She won’t be able to attend the meeting.

In Arabic, however, to express futurity, one can use the following modalized

particles, verbs, prepositional phrases, and expressions:

سوف،ينوي،فيالني ة،لن...ســـ، !



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نتائج امتحاناتك؟ ستعرفمتى

السفر )في النية أن أسافر أو سأسافر( إلى لندن في األسبوع المقبل. أنوي

تتمكن من حضور االجتماع. لن

In legislative texts, ‘shall’ means ‘must’, thus it is translated into يتوج ب ,يجب,

etc. or just a simple present tense ,منالواجب يلتزم ..etc ,يتعه د ,

The tenant hereby shall make no structural alterations without the landlord’s

written consent.

ات من دون موافقة المالك الخطية. المستأجر بموجب هذا العقد أال يجري أي ترميم يلتزمThe first Party hereto shall conform to the conditions prescribed herein and

pay the rent in full not later than the tenth day of each month.

الطرف األول في هذا العقد أن يتقيد بالشروط المنصوص عليها في العقد ويدفع يجب على اإليجار كامال في مدة ال تتجاوز اليوم العاشر من كل شهر.

الطرف األول ... يلتزمأو

In interrogative sentences, ‘Shall I…?’ or ‘Shall we …?’ is used to express

suggestions, thus it may be translated into Arabic as ...مارأيك،هلتقترح or just

:as in the following example ,هل...

Shall we go to the cinema this evening?

)مارأيك(هلنذهبإلىالسينماهذاالمساء؟

It’s hot. Shall I open the window?

Shall we invite them to dinner when they arrive in the UK?

Polite request

To express a polite request in English, one can use: ‘Will you…?’, ‘Would

you…?’, or ‘Could you…?’, as in the following examples:

Would you switch on the light, please?

Could you tell me in detail what happened last night?

Can you pass me the salt, please?


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In Arabic, however, to express a polite request, one can use

+ an imperative sentenceمنفضلك،لوسمحت،رجاء.. !

+ an imperative sentenceبعضالعباراتالدينية)ربييخليك،باركهللافيك..( !

مبـ...هللكأن... ! أن..هلتتكر هللي


لو سمحت؟ /األنواراإلنارة بفتح. أو هل تتكرم /األنواراإلنارةافتح )لو سمحت( من فضلك

أن تخبرني بالتفصيل عما حدث البارحة؟ هل لك

ناولني الملح؟ فضلك من. أو جزاك اهلل خيراناولني الملح،

Preference

To express preference in English, one can use ‘would prefer’, ‘would better’,

or ‘would rather’, as in the following examples:

I would rather stay at home tonight than go out.

She would prefer to study translation than English.

I would prefer to travel by train.

In Arabic, however, to express preference, one can use the following

modalized verbs, prepositional phrases, and expressions:

ل، يحبذ، يستحسن، من المفضل، من المستحسن .. ! يفضل أن/ أحب ذ أن .. ! أفض


. أخرج على أن هذه الليلة البيت أن أبقى في أفض ل

تدرس الترجمة على أن تدرس اللغة اإلنكليزية. أن ت حب ذ

ل )أحب ذ( أن أسافر بالقطار. أفض

‘I’d better’ is different from ‘you’d better’ as the former is used to express

‘preference’ while the latter is used to express ‘advisability’. Consider the

following two examples:

I’d better get back to work.(preference)

You’d better tell her everything.(advise)


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ASSIGNMENT

Translate the following text titled ‘Thirty Facts about Islam’ adapted from

العبري paying special attention to the ,(final year project 2014/2015) سلطانة

modalized verbs, expressions, etc. utilized in the original text:

التي يجب على كل فرد مسلم التصديق بها ليكون األركان األساسيةوهي إن أركان اإلسالم ستة، مؤمنا. وهذه األركان هي:

اإليمان باهلل تعالى ورسله . - أكتب السماوية المنزلة على األنبياء ابراهيم، وموسى، وداوود، وعيسى، ومحمد اإليمان بال - ب

.عليهم الصالة والسالم .اإليمان بالمالئكة - ت التصديق باليوم األخر. - ث .هاإليمان بالقضاء والقدر خيره وشر - ج

ن اإلسالم إوبما . رهاب والعنف الال مبرر وقتل غير المدنيين وحتى الترويع والتهديداإليحرم اإلسالم سواء أكان سكانه من جلب السالم داخل البالد ينبغي لإلسالم هفهذا يعني أن مشتق من السالم، المسلمين أم ال. في ،رهاباإل؛ إذ إن فإنه ببساطة اليتبع اإلسالم ،تحت اسم اإلسالمفعال إرهابيا وكل من يرتكب

. لمبادئ اإلسالم انتهاك ، ما هو إالحقيقته

! The expression ... الكتب السماوية المنزلة على can be translated into ‘the

scriptures revealed to ...’.

! The proper nouns داود ,موسى and عيسى can be translated into ‘Moses’,

‘David’ and ‘Jesus’ respectively.

! The expressions اليوم اآلخر and القضاء والقدر lend themselves in such a context

to ‘the Day of Judgment’ or ‘the Hereafter’ and ‘Destiny’ respectively.

! The active structure يحرم اإلسالم اإلرهاب والعنف الال مبرر can be translated into

passive ‘Terrorism and unjustified violence are forbidden by Islam’.

! The expression الترويع والتهديد can be translated into ‘intimidating and

threatening’.

! The connector بما إن (sometimes بما أن) can be translated into ‘as’, ‘since’,

and so forth.


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lends itself to ‘anyone commits an act of وكل من يرتكب فعال إرهابيا تحت اسم ... !

terrorism in the name of …’.

! The noun ا نتهاك from the verb ا نتهك can be translated into ‘to breach’ or ‘to

violate’, and the like.

5 Revision

EX 1: Translate the following sentences into Arabic, paying special attention

to modality:

1. I will issue another cheque within two weeks.

2. I am going to study English at the University of Exeter in Britain next

year.

3. Those students should not be playing tennis at this time. They ought to

be at school.

4. You should improve your English if you decide to stay in the English

department.

5. She ought to consult her doctor immediately.

6. You can use my mobile.

7. He shouldn’t make a rushed decision.

8. You must keep it secret. You mustn’t tell anyone.

9. Could you please translate this sentence?

10. Would you like me to show you the city’s main landmarks?

11. Would you like to have your breakfast in the garden?

12. I am not sure if they will be able to come tomorrow.

13. You can write your CV, but you don’t have to do so immediately.

14. He was able to run ten miles without stopping yesterday.

15. You cannot smoke here.

EX 2: Identify the functions of the modal verbs (highlighted for you) and then

translate them into Arabic:

1. In order to apply for this job, you must speak English, but you don’t

have to have a degree in languages.

2. She has failed her exam; she has to retake it.

3. You mustn’t use your mobile in class.

4. Look! He is going to fall down the hole.

5. I sent the letter two weeks ago, so it ought to have arrived by now.

6. She has been studying hard for the exam, so she should pass it.

7. This is the best book that I’ve read. You must read it.

8. We ought to have called and invited her if we had known that.


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9. He would rather join the army than study at the university.

10. The weather is very cold outside. If you go out now, you will catch

cold.

EX 3: Identify the functions of the modalized verbs, particles, and expressions

and then translate them into English:

عليك أن تستأذن من والدك قبل الذهاب إلى الحفلة ألنك ال تزال صغيرا. .1 من المحتمل أن أبيع سيارتي وأشتري واحدة جديدة تناسب وضعي الجديد. .2ال ستتعرض إلى بإمكانك .3 أن تركن سيارتك هنا، ولكن يجب أال تتجاوز المدة المحددة، وا

مخالفة مرورية. أنوي السفر إلى الهند إلجراء فحوصات طبية. .4ال حاجة إلى أن تجلب معك قاموسا ألنهم سيوفرون قواميس كافية في قاعة االمتحان، ولكن .5

ئدة من قواميسهم.ن تجلب واحدا إن شعرت أنه أكثر فاأيمكنك لو كنت أعرف أنك قد عدت من سفرتك لكنت أول الحاضرين. ولكن، صدقني، لم يكن .6

عندي أي خبر. كان المفروض أن تتصل بي وتخبرني. من المستبعد أنها سمعت بخبر نجاحه ولم تأت لتهنئه. .7 يحق للمستأجر معاينة الشقة قبل إبرام عقد اإليجار. .8 يوما. 15ز و مدة ال تتجاتسليم الشقة في على البائع .9

للمشتري أن يطالب بتعويض إذا تأخر البائع في تسليم الشقة للمشتري. .11

EX 4: Translate the following legal text, paying extra attention to modality.

However, before embarking on translating the text, try to be familiar

with the technical terms used in this text and similar texts:

! to rent, to lease, to hire ! ا ستأجر ! to rent, to lease, to hire ! أجر ! tenant, lessee, leasee, leaseholder ! مستأجر ! lessor ! مؤجر ! rented property/estate/house/flat

leased property/estate//house/flat

to view …, to check …, to examine …, to

inspect to repair …, to fix …, to quit … to hand … over

المأجور/العين المستأجرة !

يعاين العين المستأجرة

يرمم العين المستأجرة

يخلي العين المستأجرة

يسلم العين المستأجرة

! rent ! األجرة/اإليجار


145

to pay the rent to fall behind/ to lag behind/ to be delay …

يدفع اإليجار يتأخر في دفع اإليجار

! Lease contract, rent contract, contract of

lease, contract of rent

to renew …

to terminate …, to rescind …, to revoke …

to sign …

to conduct …, to enter into …

إيجار عقد !

يجدد عقدا يفسخ عقدا

يوقع عقدا يبرم عقدا

! term of lease, term of rent, rental

period, مدة اإليجار !

عقد إيجار)المشار إليه فيما بعد "المؤجر"( والسيد .................أبرم هذا العقد بين كل من السيد

يما بعد "المستأجر"(. ويعتبر عقد اإليجار هذا ساري المفعول من )المشار إليه ف ................. تاريخ توقيعه.

يقر المستأجر أنه قام بمعاينة الشقة موضوع العقد وتسلم مفاتيحها. .1 يقر المؤجر أنه تسلم عند توقيع هذا العقد األجرة المتفق عليها لمدة ثالثة أشهر. .2قة أو جزء منها للغير بدون موافقة خطية من ليس للمستأجر الحق في استئجار الش .3

المؤجر. ال يحق للمستأجر أن يحدث أي تغيير في المأجور/الشقة، من هدم أو بناء أو .4

تغيير في األبواب إال بموافقة المؤجر الخطية.إذا تأخر المستأجر عن دفع اإليجار ألكثر من ثالثة أشهر، فيحق للمؤجر أن .5

يفسخ العقد.أجر أن يرم م الشقة واستقطاع نفقات الترميم من أجرة البيت شريطة أن يتم للمست .6

إبالغ صاحب العقار قبل البدء بالترميمات.

تحرر هذا العقد بنسختين.

! The verb أبرم is in the passive voice, thus lending itself to ‘this contract is

made between …’ or‘this contract is conducted between …’.

! The expression بعد فيما إليه العقد also) المشار فيهذا إليه أدناه or المشار إليه (المشار

lends itself to ‘hereinafter referred to as …’. Compare it with المشارإليهأعاله


146

which lends itself to ‘hereinabove referred to as …’.

! The expression المفعول ,’lends itself to ‘enter into force’, ‘effective ساري

‘valid’, and the like, as in ‘This contract shall enter into force/be

effective/be valid ….’.

! The verb يقر lends itself to ‘to acknowledge’.

lends itself to ‘the tenant has no right اليحقللمستأجر or ليسللمستأجرالحقفي !

to …’ or ‘the tenant may not …’.

! The particle إذا (also فيحالة) can be translated here into ‘in case …’, ‘in the

event that …’, or just ‘if …’.

! The conditional clause ... المستأجرعندفع تأخر lends itself to ‘in case of إذا

default of payment of the rent…’ or ‘if the tenant falls behind paying the

rent …’, etc.

! The verb يستقطع can be translated into ‘to deduct’.

! The expression شريطة (also شرط ,’lends itself to ‘provided (بشرط ,على

‘providing’, ‘provided that’, ‘providing that’, ‘on the condition that’, and so

forth.

! The expression العقد can be translated into ‘this contract has been تحررهذا

made’, ‘this contract has been written’, ‘this contract has been drawn up’,

and the like.

Chapter 7

Conjunction

Conjuncts introduced

Addition

Contrast

Purpose

Reason

Result

Time clause

Conditional clause

Focusing, linking and contrasting

It is + adjective/past participle + that

Back to simple sentences

Revision

Chapter seven: Conjunction

148

1 Conjuncts introduced

Conjunction is a cohesive device that makes segments of a given text hang

together as a cohesive text (see Halliday and Hasan 1976; Almanna and

Almanna 2008; Almanna 2016a). Generally speaking, conjunction can be

explicit or implicit. However, some languages, such as Arabic, prefer the

heavy use of connectors, while some other languages, such as English, prefer

the use of implicit conjunction. When a conjunct is used, then it is explicit and

the relationship is marked. However, when no conjunct is used, then it is

implicit and the relationship is unmarked (Almanna 2016a: 133). Traditional

grammarians classify conjunctions into two main types:

! Coordinating conjunctions, such as ‘and’, ‘moreover’, ‘but’, ‘yet’,

‘however’, ‘nevertheless’, ‘so’, ‘or’, ‘nor’, ‘either ... or’, and so forth,

are used to join independent clauses, as in the examples below:

Yesterday, the teacher asked a difficult question, and nobody was able to

answer it.

My mother felt sick last night, but she didn’t go to hospital.

My brother had a bad fever two days ago; however, he refused to go to any

doctor.

Get up early or you will miss the bus.

The teacher did not come to the lecture yesterday nor did he give an excuse.

The teacher neither came to the lecture yesterday nor gave an excuse.

She has resigned from her job recently, so she will apply for a new job soon.

! Subordinating conjunctions are used to join dependent clauses, as in

the following examples:

She sat down by a fallen tree trunk in order that she could smoke her pipe.

As he was walking on the shore, he met his friend.


149

Subordinating conjunctions are known by the modern grammarians as

‘conjunctive adverbs’. These conjunctive adverbs can be (adapted from

Collins Cobuild English Grammar 1990: 342-62; see also Almanna 2016a:

133-134):

! Adverbial clause of reason that begins with ‘as’, ‘since’, ‘because’,

etc.

! Adverbial clause of purpose that begins with ‘so that’, ‘in order that’,

‘lest’, etc.

! Adverbial clause of result that begins with ‘so that’, ‘so’, etc.

! Adverbial clause of time that begins with ‘before’, ‘after’, ‘as’,

‘while’, ‘since’, ‘as soon as’, ‘whenever’, ‘till’, ‘until’, etc.

! Adverbial clause of concession that begins with ‘although’, ‘though’,

‘even though’, ‘however’, ‘whenever’, etc.

! Adverbial clause of place that begins with ‘where’, ‘wherever’, etc.

! Adverbial clause of comparison that begins with ‘as … as’, ‘not as

(so) … as’, etc.

! Adverbial clause of condition that begins with ‘if’, ‘unless’,

‘whether … not’, etc.

! Adverbial clause of manner that begins with ‘as’, ‘as if’, ‘as though’,

‘like’, etc.

Arabic does have the potential resources for accommodating all English

connectives shown above to indicate the different relationships between

discourse units. Consulting an English-Arabic dictionary, for example Al-

Mawrid, one can easily find their equivalents in Arabic. However, it is worth

noting that de-contextualizing the original conjunctive element, and

translating it literally by relying on its dictionary meaning may distort the

relationship itself between the two chunks of information, shift viewpoint via

changing the line of argumentation, and strike the target-language reader as

unusual.


150

2 Addition

Single words and, then, also, moreover, further, furthermore,

besides, similarly

With ‘that’ after that, in addition to that, on top of that,

Correlative conjunction … not only …, but also ….

… not only …, but … as well.

With phrases as well as, besides, in addition to, on top of

In Arabic, additive connectors include:

و، فـ، ثم، أو، أم، كذلك، كما، كما أن، أيضا،

باإلضافة إلى ذلك، أضف إلى ذلك، بعد ذلك، فوق ذلك، زيادة على ذلك، زد على ذلك، فضال عن ذلك، إلى جانب ذلك،

لم )لن/ال( ... فحسب، بل ... أيضا/كذلك.

درس الفيزياء في جامعة البصرة. ثم درس الرياضيات في جامعة لندن وحصل على شهادة الماجستير. اذا في جامعة بغداد. بعد ذلك، تعين أست

! In this example, the connectors ثم and ذلك can be rendered into ‘then بعد

subsequently’ and ‘after that’ respectively.

! The verb تعي ن lends itself to ‘he was appointed/hired …’.

I like reading detective stories as well as romantic ones.

! The additive connector ‘as well as’ can be replaced with ‘in addition to’,

‘besides’. They all lend themselves to إلى ,وكذلك etc. Further, one ,باإلضافة

may go for

باإلضافة إلى ...، فإن .... ! The expression ‘detective stories’ can be translated into قصصبوليسية.

Linguists have disagreed in defining translation, as to whether it is an art or a

science. Similarly, they have disagreed in determining which form of

translation is better: literal or free translation.


151

! The verb ‘to disagree’ can lend itself to يختلف in place of the formal

equivalent يت فق there will be an example of ,يختلف When we opt for .ال

modulation.

! The expression ‘as to whether’ can be translated into فيماإذا.

! The word ‘similarly’, which can be replaced with ‘in a similar vein’, lends

itself to كما or something similar.

! The additive connector ‘or’ lends itself here to أم.

The subject matter of this conference is not confined to assessment of efforts

only, but includes the drawing up of a comprehensive strategy as well.

! In translating ‘not … only, but … as well’, try to use

ال ... فحسب، بل ... أيضا/كذلك. ! The phrase ‘subject matter’ lends itself here to موضوع.

! The expression ‘to be confined to’ or sometimes ‘to confine oneself to’ can

be translated into يقتصر or ينحصر.

He was not only working in the media, but was working as a university

lecturer as well.

! In English, after some connectors, such as ‘and’ and ‘but’, the subject can be

deleted when it refers to the same subject used in the previous clause. This is

an example of ellipsis, a linguistic phenomenon that occurs regularly in

English.

! Attention needs to be paid to verb tenses/aspects as the emphasis is on the

continuity of the action in a specified period in the past in both clauses: ‘was

working’ and ‘was working’. They can lend themselves respectively to

لم يكن يعمل/ لم يكن يزاول مهنة ...

كان يعمل/كان يزاول مهنة ....

EX: Translate the following sentences, paying extra attention to the

connectors used:

1. He had worked in different roles: first as a lawyer and then as a judge.

On top of that, he had been working as a journalist for one of the

Egyptian daily newspapers.


152

2. The war between the two neighbouring countries has caused not

only destruction and death but also generations of hatred between the

two communities.

3. Not only did she forget my birthday, but she also didn’t even

apologize for forgetting it.

4. Have you not realized that he told her implicitly that she was stupid?

On top of that, he told her frankly that she was unfriendly.

5. Apply for the job as soon as possible. Do not hesitate. As far as I know,

several benefits are being offered in addition to the high salary that

you’ll get.

6. Besides the selection of good books, there is one other reason for his

excellence in writing, for which he deserves unlimited credit.

BILINGUAL TEXT


text titled إلىبغداد and translated by Fred Pragnell as ‘The Train ,القطارالصاعد

Heading up to Baghdad’, paying extra attention to the additive connectors

used:

The train moved off sluggishly, as

though it did not want to surprise those

saying good-bye with its speed, having

been so long at rest in the station.

سار القطار متثاقال كأنه ال يود أن يفاجيء المود عين بسرعته بعد ركوده الطويل في

المحطة

From within, it started to let out hot

water and thick steam furiously. This

created a fearsome spectacle at the front

that was intensified by the terror of its

raucous and nauseating din. Its shrill

whistle tore through the surrounding air.

جوفه، بحنق، ماء حارا ذف من قوقد اخذ ي وبخارا كثيفا شكل في مقدمته منظرا مفزعا زادته رهبة قعقعته الخشنة المقززة، وكان

صفيره الحاد يمزق الجو الذي يغطيه.

I turned my head towards the city, and a

dark open space came into my view, in

which there shone far off, dreary

gloomy street lamps that stretched their

sickly shadows along the streets of

Basra bustling with people.

أدرت راسي صوب المدينة فاعترضت نظري برية معتمة تلمع فيها من بعيد مصابيح مستوحشة كئيبة تمد ظاللها

اس المريضة في شوارع البصرة الفوارة بالن


153

My craning face was enveloped by a

cold breeze; I shook with inward

pleasure and with a shudder brought my

head in, leaving the window wide-open

to be buffeted by clouds of dark, far-

reaching cold.

وحفت وجهي المتطل ع نسمة باردة غامضة، وأدخلت راسي فارتجفت، بلذة

بارتعاش وتركت النافذة فاغرة تتالطمها أنسام البرد المترامي المظلم.

ASSIGNMENT

Translate the following text into English, paying extra attention to connectors

used:

يعتصره وهو يودع قريته التي ولد األلم محطة القطار ... كان ودع أهله وقريته وذهب حزينا صوب فيها ...

الجميل ... ه وبيت ه أهل راح يدير رأسه صوب وأخرىبين خطوة

ابتعد عن قريته فأصبح ال يرى فيها إال مصابيح الشارع وضوءها المنكسر ...

ابتعد أكثر حتى صار ال يرى حتى أضواء المصابيح ...

ه لن يعود إلى قريته ثانية، فسقطت دمعته ...عندها، شعر أن

3 Contrast

With phrases in spite of, despite, none the less, with all

Coordinating but, yet, however, nevertheless

Subordinating though, although, even though, despite that

In Arabic, contrast connectors include:

...، إال إنه/فإنه ... على الرغم من، بالرغم من

لكن، مع إن/أن ، مع ذلك، إال إن/أن، بيد إن/أن، غير إن/أن

على الرغم من أنه ال يحب العيش في المدن الكبيرة، إال إنه انتقل مؤخرا للعمل في مدينة كبيرة ألسباب عائلية.


154

! Here إال ،... من الرغم إنهعلى (also فإنه ،... من ,lends itself to connectors (بالرغم

such as ‘although’, ‘though’, ‘but’, ‘however’, etc. However, note that in

English one cannot use two connectors (unlike in Arabic, in which the second

connector tends to be used with a ‘resumptive’ function). So, for example, it

is wrong in English to say: ‘Although …, but …’.

! Attention needs to be paid to tenses and aspects in the above sentence. While

in the first clause the emphasis is put on an unchanging situation or general

truth expressed by يحب thus lending itself to a simple present tense ‘he ,ال

does not like …’, the emphasis in the second clause is placed on the duration

of the action of moving to a big city, thus triggering a ‘recently’

interpretation.

! The expression ألسبابعائلية can be translated as ‘for family reasons’.

She invited all her friends to her birthday party, yet nobody came.

! Here, the connector ‘yet’ can be replaced with connectors such as ‘but’,

‘however’, ‘nevertheless’, etc. As such, it can be translated into عذلكم ,ولكن ,

.and so forth, depending on the complement of the sentence ,إالإن/أن ,غيرإن/أن

I sold my house and my car in order to enrol at the university, but I could not

pay the university fees.

! The verb ‘to enrol’ (also spelt ‘to enroll’) means to become or make

somebody a member of a club, school, college, university, etc. It lends itself

to ل .يسج

! ‘I could not’ lends itself to أتمك ن بمقدوري ,لم يكن أستطع ,لم etc. (for more ,لم

details, see Chapter 2 in this book).

! The connector ‘in order to’ here can be replaced with ‘to’, ‘so as to’ or ‘with

a view to’. They all lend themselves in Arabic to purpose particles, such as لـ,

.etc ,منأجل ,بغيةأن ,لكي ,كي

! While the connectors ‘to’, ‘in order to’ or ‘so as to’ are followed by the first

form of the verb, ‘with a view to’ is followed by the first form of the verb

plus ‘-ing’, as in:

I sold my house and my car with a view to enrolling at the university, but I

could not pay the university fees.

، معتمدا على عالقاته ملفت سم بشكل تمكن من إدارة الق فإنهخبرته في العمل اإلداري، عدم بالرغم من الطيبة مع زمالئه.


155

! As stated above, ف ،.... من ...إبالرغم نه lends itself to one connector. As the

connector من خبرته here is followed by a phrase بالرغم his lack of‘عدم

experience’, it can be translated as‘in spite of’ or ‘despite’ as these are both

followed by phrases.

Iraq is one of the richest countries in the world. However, its people have

been living in a state of poverty for three decades.

! The expression ‘one of the + a superlative degree’ which is followed by a

noun in a plural form takes a singular verb and lends itself to +واحد/واحدةمن

:as in ,صيغةالتفضيل

One of the richest countries is … ... واحد من أغنى األقطار One of the best students is … ... واحد من أفضل الطلبة One of the largest companies is … ... واحدة من أكبر الشركات

! The tense in the second sentence is present perfect continuous in which the

emphasis is shifted towards the duration of the described event or situation

that began in the past and is seen relevant to the present time and still in

progress. In Arabic, such a tense/aspect lends itself to a present tense, that is,

لمدة since’ in place of‘منذ but the emphasis can be reflected by the word ,يعيش

‘for (the period)’. Let us compare the above sentence with this next sentence

in which a present perfect ‘have lived’ is used:

Iraq is one of the richest countries in the world. However, its people have lived

in a state of poverty for three decades.

Here, the present perfect can be translated into a past tense, that is, عاش along

with لمدة to reflect the emphasis which is put in the source text on the duration

of the described event or situation that began in the past and is seen relevant

to the present time.


1. Kuwait is considered to be America’s principal supplier of oil despite

the decrease in its share of total American oil imports.

2. Although he has gone to London for treatment three times, he has

continued to suffer from shortness of breath.

3. Iran had declared that it was determined to use its agricultural

revenues to fund its nuclear programme. However, it has recently

withdrawn its declaration.


156

4. The crisis still remains and stagnation prevails throughout all sectors

of the country’s economy despite the Egyptian government’s attempts

to raise living standards.

5. Although the referee sent off the Brazilian goalkeeper 10 minutes

before the end of the match, Brazil managed to withstand the

Argentinian onslaught.

BILINGUAL TEXT


text titled ‘Banking Sector’ which has been translated for the purposes of this

study, paying extra attention to the connectors used:

In 2010, the banking sector witnessed

a number of positive achievements, in

addition to strong economic growth

resulting from an increase in oil prices

and an improvement in the

performance of non-oil sectors.

العديد 2010شهد القطاع المصرفي في عام نمو ، باإلضافة إلى من المنجزات اإليجابية

اقتصادي قوي بفضل ارتفاع أسعار النفط وتحسن أداء القطاعات غير النفطية.

These positive developments have had

their influence on the commercial

banks operating in the country. This

has led to a considerable rise in their

net profits.

ن هذه التطورات اإليجابية قد لقت بظاللها أوا على نشاط المصارف التجارية العاملة في

ى تصعيد أرباحها الصافية ، مما أدى إلالبالد بشكل ملحوظ.

Despite this, banking circles have

shown recently some hesitation for a

new reduction in the base lending rate,

which is used as a reference point for

all loans that banks grant.

صرفية األوساط الموعلى الرغم من هذا، فإن بعض التردد في خفض جديد قد أبدت مؤخرا

لسعر القرض األساسي الذي يستخدم كمرجع لجميع القروض التي تمنحها المصارف.


157

4 Reason

With clauses because, since, as

With phrases because of, due to, owing to, in view of, thanks to

Correlative conjunction As …, why don’t …

In Arabic, reason connectors include:

ألن، بسبب، نظرا لـــ، بفضل، حيث إن/أن، إذ إن/أن بما إن/أن ... ف)لم ال/لماذا ال( ...

اختنق عدد من أطفال إحدى المدارس االبتدائية بسبب ألسنة اللهب المتصاعدة من مكان الحريق.

! The verb قا ختن , which is in the active form, lends itself to a passive form ‘X

was/were suffocated’.

! The expression بتدائية can be rendered into ‘one of the primary إحدىالمدارساال

schools’.

! The connector بسبب can be translated as ‘because of’, ‘due to’, ‘owing to’ or

just the preposition ‘by’.

! The phrase ألسنةاللهبالمتصاعدةمنمكانالحريق can be translated into ‘the flames

emitted from the fire’.

Study hard today since you might not be able to do so tomorrow.

! Here, the connector ‘since’ can be replaced with ‘because’ or ‘as’. They all

are followed by a clause, that is, a subject + verb/tense; and they all lend

themselves to ألن.

! Further, in the second clause ‘you might not be able…’, likelihood and ability

are expressed by ‘might’ and ‘be able to’ respectively ـــ they can be

translated as

ستطاعتك ...ا حتمل أال يكون بيكون بإمكانك/ ي قد ال يكون بمقدورك/ ربما ال

All flights into Heathrow have been delayed due to thick fog.

! As can be seen, the tense in the above sentence, which is in the passive voice

expressed by ‘have been delayed’, is present perfect. It can be translated into:


158

تم تأجيل جميع الرحالت ... لت جميع الرحالت ... أج

! Here, the connector ‘due to’ which is followed by a phrase, can be replaced

with ‘because of’, ‘owing to’, thus lending itself to سببب or الـ In order to .نظر

change it to ‘because’, ‘as’ or ‘since’, you need to change the phrase ‘thick

fog’ into a clause, such as ‘there has been thick fog’, as in:

All flights into Heathrow have been delayed because there has been thick fog.

اجعة أقرب عيادة أسنان بسبب سقوط الحشوة من ضرسي. علي مر

! Here, the modalized preposition على is used to express necessity, thus lending

itself to ‘have to’, and the like.

! The connector بسبب, which is followed by a phrase, can be rendered by

connectors such as ‘because of’, ‘due to’, ‘owing to’, etc.

! When the noun مراجعة is translated into a verb, such as ‘to go’, ‘to visit’, and

so forth, then there will a class shift, that is, changing the parts of speech.

! The word حشوة lends itself to ‘filling’.

The patient’s life was saved thanks to the doctor’s skill.

! Here, a passive voice in the simple past tense, expressed by ‘was saved’, is

used. As such, it can be translated by using either تم followed by a noun ا نقاذ or

just a simple past tense in the passive voice نق ذت أ .

! The connector ‘thanks to’, which can be replaced with ‘because of’, has a

positive overtone here, thus lending itself to بفضل or just بسبب. However,

when it has a negative overtone, it lends itself to بسبب only. Consider the

following example:

Thanks to the storm, we did not have electricity last night.


1. Thanks to a variety of domestic political changes, Iraq has been

suffering from a great number of problems.

2. In view of his long service to the university, he was appointed head of

the English department.


159

3. I had to escort my father on his trip to Germany since he cannot speak

German.

4. As you are in need of money to buy a house, why don’t you take out a

loan or sell your car?

5. The market in the Gulf region has deteriorated recently because of the

strict import controls that have been imposed by various governments.

6. I won’t invite my neighbour to my birthday party in view of his silly

behaviour.

7. She told off her son because he had behaved badly at the party.

8. All shops were shut since it was a public holiday.

EX: Translate the following text into English, paying extra attention to

connectors used:

عمله ؛ إذ إن بعض الشيء إلى أسرته ويتفرغ العائلية، قرر أن يستقيل من عمله ه نظرا لكثرة التزامات الحالي في مدينة بعيدة جدا. األمر الذي اضطره أن يستأجر شقة قريبة من مكان عمله ويسافر إلى

عائلته في عطلة نهاية األسبوع فقط. ولكن، بسبب نجاحه في عمله لم تقبل استقالته بسهولة.

5 Purpose

With clauses in order that, so that, lest, for fear that

With phrases to, in order to, so as to, with a view to, in search of, for

fear of, for the purpose of, in hope of, with the aim of

In Arabic, purpose connectors include:

كيال، لكيال، لئال بغية أن، بحثا، سعيا، لــ، كي، لكي، حتى، من أجل،بحجة، بذريعة، بغرض، لغرض، بهدف، على أمل، خوفا )أن/من(، مخافة )أن/من(، خشية

)أن/من(

نحن مختلفان تماما، ألنني سافرت إلى أوربا سعيا وراء المعرفة، أما هو فسافر بحثا عن فرصة عمل.

! Here the purpose connectors سعيا and بحثا can be translated as ‘in search of’,

‘looking for’, etc.

! The word أما here lends itself to ‘as for’, ‘with respect to’, ‘in respect of’, etc.


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or just ‘however’.

وضع جميع نقوده في المصرف خشية أن يسرقها اللصوص.

! Here, the connector خشي ةأن is followed by a clause, thus lending itself to ‘for

fear that…’.

She woke up early for fear of missing the first lecture.

! As can be seen, the connector ‘for fear of’ is followed by a phrase ‘missing

the first lecture’. It can be translated into مخافةأن/من or خشيةأن/من. To replace

it with ‘for fear that’, you need to change the phrase ‘missing the first

lecture’ into a clause, that is, a subject + verb/tense, as in:

She woke up early for fear that she might miss the first lecture.

He often changes his address so that the police cannot find him.

! The adverb of frequency ‘often’ lends itself to غالباما at the beginning. Placing

.at the beginning will help to make the sentence more readable غالباما

! The connector ‘so that’, which is followed by a clause containing a modal

verb, such as ‘can’, ‘could’, etc., can be translated into كيال ,خشيةأن ,مخافةأن,

.and so forth, depending on the complement of the sentence ,لكيال

I wrote down all the doctor’s instructions lest I should forget them.

! The phrasal verb ‘to write down’ lends itself to ن ن/يدو .دو

! Attention needs to be paid to the connector ‘lest’ in terms of meaning and

use. In terms of meaning, it has a negative overtone (i.e., it means ‘so that …

not’), thus lending itself to لئال ,لكيال ,كيال, etc. Regarding its use in English, it is

normally followed by the modal verb ‘shall/should’. In translating the modal

verb ‘shall/should’ into Arabic, it is ignored.

He withdrew from the election for fear that he might not obtain votes in his

constituency.

! The word ‘vote’ lends itself to صوت which collocates well with verbs such as

.and the like ,يحصل ,يحصد

! The word ‘constituency’ lends itself to دائرةا نتخابية.


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He visits the dentist from time to time so as to have his teeth checked.

! Here, the connector ‘so as to’ can be replaced with ‘to’ or ‘in order to’, thus

lending itself to كي ,كي ,لـ etc.

! In English, there is a difference between ‘to have his teeth checked by

somebody else’ and ‘he checked them by himself’. In the above example,

there is an implicit doer, that is, ‘a dentist’ that can be added in this way:

He visits the dentist from time to time so as to have his teeth checked (by the

dentist).

In Arabic, however, we say يفحصأسنانه in both cases.

علم إال الشيء القليل منها. لقد عشت في فرنسا لمدة سنتين كي أتعلم اللغة الفرنسية، إال إنني لم أت

! The connector كي can be translated into ‘to’, ‘in order to’ or ‘so as to’.

! The connector إالإن (also إالأن) lends itself here to ‘however’.

The Minister of Finance held a press conference after his meeting with the

head of the Chamber of Commerce in order to shed light on the most

important steps that the ministry would take over the next few months.

! Here, the noun ‘conference’ مؤتمر collocates well with the adjective

‘press’ صحفي and the verb ‘to hold’ عقد/يعقد.

! The connector ‘in order to’, which is followed by a phrase, lends itself to كي,

.and so on ,لـ ,لكي

! The expression ‘to shed light on’, which is a synonym of ‘to cast light on’,

lends itself to يسل طالضوءعلى.

! The expressions ‘minister of finance’ and ‘chamber of commerce’ can be

translated as وزيرالمالية and غرفةالتجارة respectively.

! The verb ‘to take’ in this context can be translated as يت خذ or يتبن ى.


1. Kuwait decided to strengthen the bilateral relations between the two

countries so as to enhance regional security.

2. The Union of Chambers of Commerce in Saudi Arabia asked all

chambers in the Kingdom to instigate field studies of their industries,

which are to be submitted to the Ministry of Industry in order to be the

basis for developing a national industrial policy in the Kingdom.


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3. She is on a special diet, under her doctor’s supervision, in order to lose

weight.

EX: Translate the following text titled هروب into English:

عشرة أعوام بغية الحصول على فرصة عمل محترمة تضمن له هاجر أحد األطباء الى أوروبا قبلولعائلته العيش الكريم. في الحقيقة، لم يكن هذا هو السبب الوحيد لهجرته، بل كان أيضا يريد أن يهرب

من بعض المشاكل العائلية.

تزوج هناك إلى أوروبا حتى وجد عمال في إحدى المستشفيات وبراتب ال بأس به. وفعال، ما إن وصل ولكن ، وات األولىنمن طبيبة عربية تعمل معه في المستشفى ذاته. سارت األمور على مايرام في الس

مع ازدياد مسؤولياته العائلية والمهنية، قرر ذات ليلة أن يترك عمله وأسرته ويعود إلى قريته التي ولد ه غضبا شديدا عندما سمعت بقرار ه ت زوجت ها بحجة أنه ال يستطيع أن يعيش بعيدا عن أمه. غضبفي

...

... ه ألنها ال تستطيع أن تعيش بدون ، ه تعود معه إلى قريت تستقيل من عملها و قررت أن في الصباح

6 Result clause

With clauses so, therefore, thus, as such, as a result, as a consequence,

consequently, accordingly, for this reason, for this reason

+ that

such + a noun + that

With phrases hence, and hence

In Arabic, result connectors include:

لذلك، لذا، وبذلك، وعليه، ومن هنا، وهكذا، نتيجة لذلك، نتيجة لهذا، وبناء على ذلك، طبقا لذك، مما األمر الذي أدى إلى أدى إلى، )أن( ...، ... ما يكفي لـ... /بحيث)أن( ...، ... من ... لدرجة /بحيث... لدرجة

التهمت النيران معظم األدلة في القضية، لذلك ليس من السهل أن نبرهن أنه مذنب.

! The verb ا لتهم here can be translated as ‘to destroy’.

! The noun دليل/أدلة is a non-countable noun in English, thus best translated as


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‘evidence’.

! The verb برهن/ي برهن can be rendered into ‘to prove’.

The enemy forces intended to use nuclear weapons against us. Thus, the

United Nations intervened to put an end to these threats.

! The expressions ‘enemy forces’ and ‘nuclear weapons’ lend themselves to قوات

أسلحةنووية and العدو respectively.

! The verb ‘to intend’ used in the past can be translated into نوت ,أرادت or كانفي

.نيتها

! The connector ‘thus’ is normally used to link a reason with its result(s), with

the meaning of ‘for this reason’, thus lending itself to مما ,األمرالذيأدىإلى ,لذلك

.and so forth ,أدىإلى

He has lived two years in America, three years in Australia and six years in

Britain, hence his fluency in English.

! As can be seen, the connector ‘hence’ is followed by a phrase, thus lending

itself to ... ) جاء)ت هنا Here, it can be replaced with ‘and hence’ without .ومن

being preceded by a comma.

! The word ‘fluency’ can be translated into طالقة.


1. The dollar has fallen against the yen. As a result, Japanese goods have

become more expensive than the USA’s for Americans.

2. It was such a lovely day that we spent it all on the beach.

3. He has read a lot of Nageeb Mahfouz and Ihsan Abdulqudus, hence

his fictional style of writing.

4. We talked until the early hours and, consequently, I overslept.

5. She has spent most her life reading poems by the Abbasid poets. For

this reason, she decided to study Abbasid literature.

6. He over-exercised yesterday, ignoring the doctor’s instructions. As a

result, he had an angina attack.

7. Your brother has skipped school on many occasions. Accordingly he’s

failed his Math test.


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8. A great number of tourists visit this area in summer. As a

consequence, selling hand-made objects is the main source of income

for locals.

EX: Translate the following text titled إعالن into English, paying extra

attention to the connectors used:

مية بالغة في اإلعالن من العوامل المهمة للترويج عن منتج المؤسسة وخدماتها؛ إذ إنه يحتل أه يعد عملية التسويق كخطوة أولية لبيع هذه السلع أو الخدمات، لذلك على المدير الناجح أن يلم إلماما جيدا بعملية اإلعالن ونواحيها اإلدارية والفنية كي يستطيع أن يوظفها توظيفا ناجحا في تحقيق نتائج

اقتصادية كبيرة للمؤسسة.

! The verb يعد (also يعتبر) can be translated as ‘to be considered’ or just ‘to be’.

! The verb يحتل lends itself to ‘to have an important role’.

! The cognate accusatives ) جي دا( إلماما )ناجحا (يوظ فتوظيفا and يلم can be translated

as ‘to be fully aware of …’ and ‘to employ … successfully’ respectively.

! Technical terms such as نت ج ,ترويج ,إعالن can be translated مؤسسة ,مدير ,تسويق ,م

as ‘advertisement’, ‘to promote/promotion’, ‘product’, ‘marketing’,

‘manager’ and ‘institution’ respectively.

7 Time sequence

With clauses when/ while/ whilst/ as/ as soon as/ after/ before

With phrases immediately on/ immediately after/ before/ after/

shortly after/ shortly before/ during

Correlative conjunction hardly ... when .../ scarcely ... when .../ barely ...

when .../it was ... when .../ no sooner ... than ...

In Arabic, time connectors include:

عندما، بينما، حينما، في حين، حالما، بعد )أن(، بعد )ذلك(، بعد ما، بعيد )ذلك(، صبيحة )ذلك(، غداة )ذلك(، عشية )ذلك(، قبل )أن(، قبل )ذلك(، قبيل )ذلك(، عندئذ، وقتئذ، حينئذ، آنذاك

بث ... حتى ...، لم يلبث ... حتى ... ما ل ما كاد ... حتى ...، لم يكد ... حتى ...


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لم يمض ... حتى ... ما إن/أن ... حتى ...

الكمال دراسته هناك، قرر أن يطور لغته اإلنكليزية في أحد المملكة المتحدةإلى يسافر قبل أن المعاهد الموجودة في مدينته.

Here, the word قبل is followed by a clause; therefore, extra attention should

be paid to tenses and aspects. In the above sentence, there are two actions or

activities: one occurred before the other, that is, he decided to improve his

English before travelling to the UK.

After he had retired, he decided to work in the private sector

! In the above complex sentence, there are two clauses with two tenses ‘past

perfect’ after ‘after’ and simple past in the second clause. It can be rewritten

by using ‘before’ as follows:

He had retired before he decided to work in the private sector.

Or by changing it into a simple sentence as follows:

After having retired, he decided to work in the private sector.

Immediately after having retired, he decided to work in the private sector.

Having retired, he decided to work in the private sector.

! The verb ‘to retire’ lends itself to تقاعد/يتقاعد.

! The word ‘sector’ lends itself to قطاع.

Whilst I was watching the football match, thieves broke into the house and

stole all my money.

! In the above sentence, there are three clauses with three tenses/aspects ‘past

continuous = was watching’ after ‘whilst’, ‘simple past = broke into’ and

‘simple past = stole’.

! The phrasal verb ‘to break into’ can be translated into ا قتحم/يقتحم as it collocates

well with لصوص‘thieves’ in Arabic.

! Similarly, the verb ‘to steal’ lends itself to سرق/يسرق.

It was only a few months since her divorce when she got married again.


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! ‘It was only … when …’ which lends itself in Arabic to

لم يمض سوى/إال ... حتى ... can be replaced with ‘Hardly … when …’ or ‘Scarcely … when …’, as in:

Hardly had a few months passed since her divorce when she got married again.

Scarcely had a few months passed since her divorce when she got married again.

! Attention needs to be paid to the word ‘since’ in these structures as it lends

itself here to the preposition على.

Scarcely had two weeks passed since his wife’s resignation when he also

decided to resign from his job.

! Extra attention needs to be paid to the tenses and position of the subject when

using these structures ‘Scarcely … when …’, ‘Barely … when …’ or

‘Hardly … when …’, as follows:

Scarcely + past perfect (had + V3) … when + simple past (V2)

Hardly + past perfect (had + V3) … when + simple past (V2)

Barely + past perfect (had + V3) … when + simple past (V2)

! The noun ‘resignation’ which is derived from the verb ‘to resign’ lends itself

to استقالة.

No sooner had the lecture begun than the professor left the class due to the

bad behaviour of one of the students.

! ‘No sooner … … than …’ which lends itself in Arabic to

، ما كادت أن ... حتى ...ما إن/أن ... حتى ... can be replaced with ‘As soon as …, ….’, as in:

As soon as the lecture began, the professor left the class due to the bad

behaviour of one of the students.

! Attention needs to be paid to the tenses and position of the subject when

using these structures ‘No sooner … than …’ and ‘As soon as …, …’ as

follows:

No sooner + past perfect (had + V3) … than + simple past (V2)

As soon as + simple past (V2) …, simple past (V2)


167

! ‘Due to’, which can be replaced with ‘owing to’, ‘thanks to’, ‘because of’,

and the like, lends itself to بسبب or نتيجة.

حتى وجد عمال في إحدى الشركات وقت طويل قسم الترجمة ،من كلية اآلدابلم يمض على تخرجه الكبيرة.

... لم يمض ... حتى can be translated as ‘No sooner … than …’, ‘Scarcely …

when’, etc.

The preposition على in such a structure lends itself to ‘since’.

No sooner had the plane taken off than I felt tinnitus.

! The phrasal verb ‘to take off’ lends itself to تقلع/ as it collocates well with أقلعت

.plane’ in Arabic‘ طائرة

! The word ‘tinnitus’ lends itself to ) .طنين)فيأ ذني


1. After each meal, you should brush your teeth; otherwise, you will get

tooth decay.

2. After the accused in the case had been arrested, he was remanded in

custody for 24 hours under investigation.

3. When I was in Egypt last year, I visited the Pyramids.

4. My brother returned from Morocco after he had completed his studies

and graduated in Political Science.

ASSIGNMENT

Translate the following text titled ‘The War’, paying special attention to the

connectors along with the tenses used.

After the enemy forces had launched an aerial raid on our borders, our armed

forces held an emergency meeting to analyse the situation. It was only a few

days later when the enemy attacked our borders again. Therefore, after those

two attacks, a state of war was declared in our country. No sooner had the war

broken out than families decided to leave the cities and move to the

countryside. As soon as the war ended, the displaced families returned home.

However, it was not long since the cease fire when war broke out again.


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! Words like ‘enemy’ ’and ‘armed عدو ’collocate well with ‘forces م سلح . قوات

! The verb ‘to launch’ which collocates well with the noun ‘raid’ غارة lends

itself to شن.

! The phrasal verb ‘to break out’ lends itself here to ا ندلع.

! The expression ‘displaced families’ lends itself to العوائل النازحة.

! The word ‘ceasefire’ lends itself to وقف إطالق النار.

ASSIGNMENT

Translate the following text titled عامجديد into English, paying extra attention

to the connectors used:

ألفراد عائلتها تناول فطورها وتنظيف شقتها، خرجت إلى أقرب مركز تسوق لشراء هداياب بعد أن قامت من إيجاد موقف ، بصعوبة،نت إلى مركز التسوق وتمك . ما إن وصلت حلول العام الجديدبمناسبة

لذا قررت أن تعود إلى البيت. في البيت. وبطاقة االئتمان لسيارتها حتى اكتشفت أنها قد نسيت نقودها هي في طريقها نحو سيارتها، صادفتها جارتها. عندها قررت أن تقترض منها المبلغ كيال تذهب إلى و

في مثل هذا اليوم المزدحم. البيت

8 Conditional clause

With clauses if, if not, unless, as long as, in the event that, in case that,

on condition that, provided that, providing, the... the...,

whether ... or ...

With phrases in the event of, in case of

In Arabic, conditional clauses begin with connectors, such as:

، ، إذا لم، إن لم، شريطة أن، بشرطإذا، إن، لو، على أن، طالما، كلما، في حال، إال إذا، ما لم سواء ... أم ...، لوال ... لـ ....، على شرط

ال تؤجل عمل سى بعضا منها، لذا أنصح بأن "تنإن لم تقم بتجهيز جميع أوراقك في المساء، فإنك قد اليوم إلى الغد".


169

.’here lends itself to ‘if إن !

! The verb جه ز/يجه ز lends itself to ‘to prepare’.

! The word قد can be translated into ‘may’ or ‘may well’.

If you study hard, you will pass the exam.

If you had studied hard, you would have passed the exam.

Had you studied hard, you would have passed the exam.

! In the first example here (a typical ‘First Conditional’ sentence in English),

the connector ‘if’ can be translated as إذا or إن. However, in a sentence like

this:

If you had studied hard, you would have passed the exam.

Or this (a variant form of the English ‘Third Conditional’ type of sentence):

Had you studied hard, you would have passed the exam.

it lends itself to ...لو...،لـ, as in:

اال قدلوكنت بجد،لكنتقدا جتزت متحان.درست

Unless you study hard, you will not pass the exam.

! Here, the connector ‘unless’ means ‘if not’, thus lending itself to لم ,مالم ,إذا

and the like.

! As for ‘will not’, it lends itself to لن without سـ or سوف.

Unless my son’s health improves, I shall not travel tomorrow.

! As stated above, the connector ‘unless’ can be translated into لم ,مالم and ,إذا

the like.

! Like ‘will not’, ‘shall not’ lends itself here to لن without سـ or سوف.

If the contract is for an unspecified period, either party shall have the right to

rescind the contract, providing there is reasonable justification.

! Here, the connector ‘if’ is used in a legislative text; therefore, it can be

replaced with ‘in the event that’, thus lending itself to إن ,إذا or فيحال.

! The word ‘either’ lends itself here to كل or أي.


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! The modal verb ‘shall’ in this type of legal prescriptive usage has nothing to

do with futurity, thereby lending itself to a simple present tense يحق.

! In legal English, the verb ‘to rescind’ collocates well with the noun

‘contract’, and thus it can be translated as فسخ/يفسخ in Arabic.

! The word ‘providing’ can be replaced with expressions, such as ‘provided

that’, ‘on condition that’, and the like ـــ they all lend themselves to شريطةأن,

.etc ,علىشرط ,بشرط

In the event that the buyer fails to pay any due instalments, the remaining

unpaid instalments shall all become due together.

! As stated above, the expression ‘in the event that’ can be replaced with ‘if’,

thus lending itself to إذا or فيحال.

! The verb ‘to fail’ in legal Arabic lends itself to تقاعس/يتقاعسعن. Similarly,

the verb ‘to pay’ can be translated as سدد/يسدد/سداد/تسديد.

! The adjective ‘due’ meaning ‘having to be paid’ lends itself to واجب ,م ستحق

.and the like ,الدفع

! The word ‘instalment’ (also spelt ‘installment’) can be translated as قسط.

طالما إنك تسهر في الليل وال تهتم بدراستك، فصدقني، ستواجه مشاكل جمة هذه السنة.

! The word طالما can be translated as ‘as long as’, ‘since’, and so on.

! The verb سهر/يسهر can be rendered into ‘to stay awake till late at night’, ‘to

remain awake till late at night’, and the like.

You will not succeed in business as long as you bank on loans.

! The connector ‘as long as’ lends itself to طالما.

! The phrasal verb ‘to bank on’ on something/somebody can be replaced here

with ‘to rely on’, thus lending itself to يعتمدعلى.

! Attention needs to be paid to ‘will not’ as explained above.

The harder you work, the more money you earn.

! The structure ‘the more/-er …, the more/-er …’ can be translated into كل ما. It

can be changed into a simple sentence as follows:


171

Working harder, you will earn money more.

It is worth mentioning when we delete ‘the more/-er’, we need to insert the

modal verb ‘shall’ or ‘will’, if there is none, after the subject of the second

clause.

أكثر على التمارين في كتابك، أصبحت أكثر مهارة في الموضوع. كلما تمرنت

! The word ا here lends itself to ‘the more/-er …, the more/-er …’ (see كلم

above).


1. If I had been you, I would not have assigned my shares in that plot of

land.

2. In the unlikely event of a fire, alarms will sound and you should exit

immediately, so don’t worry.

3. Had she given full consideration to these issues, she would not have

made such a silly mistake.

4. In the evening, I either read a book or watch TV as long as I have

nothing else to do.

5. I will lend you this sum on condition that you pay me back within two

months.

6. I cannot finish the report unless you help me.

7. Had you visited the dentist earlier, you would not have suffered from

such a severe toothache.

BILINGUAL TEXT


contract, paying extra attention to the conditional clauses and the archaic

adverbials, such as ‘hereto’ and ‘herein’ used in the English version to replace

‘this contract’ and stand for هذاالعقد:

Both parties hereto agreed that in case

the second party pays the rent on the

date specified herein, this contract shall

be renewed automatically without the

need for the written approval of the first

أن على أنه في حالة طرفا العقد هذافق ت ا الطرف الثاني يدفع األجرة في الموعد المحدد

فإن العقد يتجدد تلقائيا من دون في العقد،


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party. الكتابية إلى موافقة الطرف األول الحاجة .

Both parties also agreed that in case of

the death of the second party, this right

shall be moved to his heirs who shall

replace him herein with all its

obligations and rights.

كما اتفقا على أنه في حالة وفاة الطرف الثاني فإن هذا الحق ينتقل إلى ورثته الذين يحلون محله في هذا العقد بكافة حقوقه

والتزاماته.

In the event of the cancellation of the

decision of the Prime Minister number

444/2012 for any reason, this contract

shall be changed automatically to a free

hold sale contract without the need to

refer back to the first party.

وفي حالة إلغاء قرار رئيس مجلس الوزراء ي سبب كان، فإن أل 2012لسنة 444رقم

هذا العقد يتحول إلى عقد بيع ناقل للملكية من دون الرجوع إلى الطرف األول.

9 Focusing, linking & contrasting

In English, there are a number of prepositions (be they simple or complex)

that can be used for the purposes of focusing, linking and/or contrasting. They

are:

! As for

! With respect to

! In respect of

! With regard to

! As regards

! Regarding

! Concerning

phrase

,

subject

verb/tense

…

As can be noticed, special attention needs to be paid to their use. They are

followed by a phrase and then a clause preceded by a comma, as in:

As for the advantages of using the Internet, it can be used by people to search

for information.


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However, there is one exception, that is, ‘as far as … concerned’. It is used in

this way:

As far as the advantages of using the Internet are concerned, it can be used by

people to search for information.

These words and expressions can be translated into Arabic, as follows:

.....................فـ، فإنه/ ...................................................أما فيما يتعلق بـ .....................، فإنه/ فـ....................................................أما فيما يخص ......................، فإنه/ فـ ......................................................أما بالنسبة لـ ......................، فإنه/ فـ .....................................................وفيما يتعلق بـ ......................، فإنه/ فـ ......................................................وفيما يخص ......................، فإنه/ فـ........................................................وبالنسبة لـ

Completing your MA study may be the one of the best things you can do right

now. With respect to opening a shop in the city centre, it’s hard to say the

same thing.

The subject of the first sentence, which is ‘completing your MA study’, lends

itself to إكمالدراسةالماجستير .إن

As stated above, ‘with respect to’ can be translated into أمافيما ,أمافيمايتعل ق

.and the like ,يخص

With regard to handling the complaints that you may receive, you need to

bear in mind that your customers are always right.

The expression ‘to bear in mind’ can be translated as عتبار اال بعين ,تأخذ تضع

.etc ,أاليغيبعنبالك ,ت عي ,ت عر ف,نصبعينيك

اتها إلى على وصول منتج سبيل المثال،فهو يساعد الشركات، على ،عديدة يقوم اإلعالن بوظائفالتي يزوده بالمعلومات اإلعالن المستهلك، فإنأماكن مختلفة. أما فيما يخص الماليين من الناس وفي

على تلك الوكاالت عن المنتج. وفيما يتعلق بوكاالت اإلعالنات، فإن اإلعالن يساعد قد يحتاجهاحل اتساع نشاطها التجاري ويحقق لها أرباحا مادية. أما بالنسبة للمجتمع، فإن اإلعالن قد يسهم في

مشكلة البطالة.


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The technical words نتج ,إعالن lend بطالة and ,ربح ,تجاري ,وكالة ,م ستهلك ,م

themselves to ‘advertisement/ad’, ‘product’, ‘customer’, ‘agency’,

‘commercial’, ‘profit’, and ‘unemployment’ respectively.

You know that working from home has many advantages. As regards its

disadvantages, it might be difficult to meet the deadline.

The word ‘advantage’, which is the opposite of ‘disadvantage’, can be

rendered into ميزة ,أمرإيجابي ,فائدة, and the like.

The word ‘deadline’ lends itself to دا لموعدالمحد .

As far as kids are concerned, they might give you a chance to get up early so

that you can get some exercise.

As stated above, ‘as far as … concerned’ can be translated into

أما فيما يتعلق بـ ...، فإنه/ فـ ... ه/ فـ ...أما فيما يخص ...، فإن

أما بالنسبة لـ ...، فإنه/ فـ ... وفيما يخص ...، فإنه/ فـ ... وبالنسبة لـ ...، فإنه/ فـ ...

ASSIGNMENT

Write 10 sentences on different topics in Arabic using expressions, such as أما

يتعل ق يخص ,فيما فيما لـ ,أما بالنسبة يتعل ق ,أما يخص ,وفيما لـ ,وفيما and then ,وبالنسبة

translate them into English.

1. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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10 It is + adjective/past participle + that ...

It is adjective/past participle that …

useful

expected

anticipated

known

possible

impossible

It is probable that …

likely

unlikely

feasible

easy

difficult

This structure ‘it is + adjective/past participle + that …’ lends itself to من

:in Arabic, as in التبعيضية

It is useful/important that … ... من األهمية بمكان/من المهم أن It is expected that … ... من المتوقع/يتوقع أن It is probable that … أن ... /ي رجحمن المرجح It is possible/likely that … ... من المحتمل/ي حتمل أن It is unlikely that … ... من الم ستبعد/ي ستبعد أن It is undisputable that … ... من المسلم به أن It is well-known that … ... من المعروف أن It is clear/apparent that … ... من الواضح أن It is clear/obvious that … ... من البديهي أن It is necessary that … ... من الضروري أن It is difficult/hard that … ... من الصعوبة بمكان/من الصعوبة أن It is an easy/straightforward (fact/matter)

that … من السهولة بمكان/من السهل ...

It is strange that … ... من الغريب أن It is decided that … ... من المقرر أن It is advisable that … ... من الم ستحسن أن It is rare/infrequent that … ... من النادر أن It is a prevalent fact that … ... من السائد أن It is regrettable that … ... من المؤسف أن It is a commonplace/fact/matter that … ... من الشائع أن


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It is understood that … ... من المفهوم أن It is agreed (upon) that … ... من المتفق عليه أن It is hoped that … ... من المؤمل أن

The following expressions can be translated differently, as in:

It is worth mentioning that … ... من الجدير بالذكر أن It is worth noting that … ... من الجدير بالمالحظة أن Needless to say ….

It goes without saying that … من نافلة القول إن ... من نافلة القول إن ...

جامعة أكسفورد واحدة من أكبر الجامعات في بريطانيا والعالم. من المعروف أن

! The expression ...منالمعروفأن lends itself to ‘It is well-known that …’.

! The expression أكبر...واحدةمن can be rendered into ‘one of the largest …’.

It is clear that co-operation between the UK and K.S.A in the field of

industrial and commercial development is in progress.

! Here, the expression ‘It is clear’, which can be replaced with expressions like

‘It is obvious’ or ‘It is apparent’, can be translated as ...منالواضحأن or يبدوجلي ا

.and the like ,أن...

! The expression ‘in the field of’ lends itself to فيمجال or فيحقل.

! The expression ‘in progress’, which can be replaced with ‘ongoing’, lends

itself to جارعلىقدموساق.

It is worth mentioning that the petroleum production of Iraq was a million

barrels a day last September.

! In English, the adjective ‘worth’, which means ‘having a particular value’, is

followed by a verb + ‘-ing’, as in:

It is worth mentioning

It is worth doing …

It is worth noting …

! Technical terms such as ‘petroleum’, ‘production’ and ‘barrel’ lend

themselves to ا نتاج ,بترول and برميل respectively.


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It is indisputable that the Mesopotamian civilization is one of the oldest

civilizations in the world.

! The expression ‘it is indisputable’, which can be replaced with ‘it is

unquestionable’, lends itself to ال ,اليختلفا ثنانعلى ,الغبارعلى ,الشك ,منالمسل مبه

.and the like, depending on the context in which it is used ,خالفعلى

! The adjective ‘Mesopotamian’ derives from the noun ‘Mesopotamia’, which

refers to بالدمابينالنهرين.

! The word ‘civilization’, derived from the verb ‘to civilize’, lends itself here to

.حضارة

It is probable that the Republican Party will win the forthcoming elections

that will take place next October.

! Here, ‘It is probable’ can be replaced with ‘It is possible/likely’ and ‘It is

unlikely’ as all of them are used to express likelihood. However, it is worth

noting that ‘It is probable’ is stronger than ‘It is possible/likely’, which is in

turn stronger than ‘It is unlikely’, thus lending themselves to ح المرج من ,من

.respectively منالم ستبعد and الم حتمل

! The adjective ‘republican’ جمهوري derives from the noun‘republic’ .جمهورية

However, here it refers to one of the two main political parties in the US, viz.

‘the Republican Party’ and ‘the Democratic Party’.

! The word ‘party’has multiple related meanings, such as 1) a social occasion to

which people are invited to eat, drink, enjoy their time 2 ,حفلة) a group of

people who have the same political aims and ideas زب and 3) a person who ح

forms one side of a legal agreement, contract, etc. طرف/فريق. As such, the word

‘party’ is an example of polysemy.

! The phrasal verb ‘to take place’ lends itself to ت جرى rather than تحدث or تقع as it

collocates well with the noun انتخاب‘election’.

من المقرر أن رئيس الوزراء الروسي سيزور العاصمة البريطانية زيارة قصيرة للتباحث في شؤون الشرق األوسط.

! The expression أ المقرر ...من ن can be translated into ‘It is/has been decided

that …’. However, a more idiomatic rendering of this journalistic-type

sentence could begin with: ‘The Russian Prime Minister is due/scheduled to

visit…’.


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Needless to say, helping the poor and the needy during the whole year, not

only in during Ramadan, will be rewarded.

! As stated above, ‘needless to say’ lends itself in Arabic to القول نافلة or a من

similar expression.

! In English, when an adjective is preceded by the definite article ‘the’, it is used

as a plural noun, typically referring to a group or category of people.

Therefore, ‘the poor’ and ‘the needy’ lend themselves to الفقراء and المحتاجون

respectively.

! To produce a rendering that runs smoothly and naturally, you may need to add

words like عمل or أمر, as in:

...إنمساعدة... /أمر .عمل


1. It is expected that the British Prime Minister will today arrive in Dubai

for a three-day tour.

2. It was decided that Jamaica would house the headquarters of the

International Sea-bed Authority according to the stipulations of the

Treaty on the Law of the Sea.

3. It is well known that there are Seven Wonders of the World, two of

which are in the Arab World: they are the Pyramids in Egypt and the

Hanging Gardens of Babylonin Iraq.

ASSIGNMENT

Write 12 sentences in Arabic, using the following expressions. Then, translate

your sentences into English:

من األهمية بمكان .1

من المتوقع .2

من المرجح .3

من المسلم به أن .4

من المعروف أن .5

من الواضح أن .6


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من البديهي أن .7

من الضروري أن .8

من الصعوبة بمكان .9

المستحسن أن من .10

من المؤسف أن .11

من الشائع أن .12

BILINGUAL TEXT


text titled ‘The Future of the Islamic Economic Order’ translated into Arabic

by الشريقي ميساء (final year project 2015/2016), paying extra attention to the

connectors used:

مواجهات السياسية والعسكرية باإلضافة إلى الت من الشرق متد في القرون الوسطى، والتي ا إلى إسبانيا ودول األوسط وشمال أفريقيا وصوال

البلقان، فإن من الواضح أن الدول المسيحية لصعيد ا كمنافس على اكانت تلعب دور

االقتصادي.

As well as in manifold political and

military confrontations in the Middle

Ages, from the Near East and North

Africa to Spain and the Balkans, it is

clear that the Christian world very

often also acted as an opponent in the

economic sphere.

11 Back to simple sentences

As stated earlier, in English, there are three main types of sentences, viz.

! Simple sentences consisting of one clause, i.e. one subject and one

verb injected with a tense and aspect.

! Compound sentences consisting of two independent clauses

conjoined by connectors, such as ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘so’, and so forth.

! Complex sentences consisting of two dependent clauses joined by

connectors, such as ‘therefore’, ‘because’, ‘although’, and so on.

It is very important for translation students and language learners to be fully

aware of these three types and how to use them. In this lesson, we will try to

learn how to change complex and compound sentences into simple ones and

vice versa. In order to change a complex/compound sentence into a simple


180

one, we need to learn how to change a clause into a phrase. Generally

speaking, a clause can be changed into a phrase by

! deleting the subject of the clause, providing it refers back or forward

to the same subject of the second clause,

! stripping the verb of the clause of its tense, thus having only one tense,

as in:

While TV last night, heard somebody knock on the

door.

While watching TV last night, I heard somebody knock on the door.

However, when there are two different subjects referring to two different

referents, sometimes we cannot delete the subject as the meaning will be

different, as in:

While I was watching TV, my friend came to visit me.

While watching TV, my friend came to visit me.

! in addition to these two steps, that is, deleting the subject and stripping

the verb of its tense, at times, the connector itself needs to be changed.

Let us consider the following example in which the clause ‘he left his country’

is changed into the phrase ‘the reason of/behind leaving his country’:

I could not understand his country.



Following are more examples:

After he had retired, he decided to work in the private sector

! The complex sentence can be changed into a simple one by deleting the

subject ‘he’ after ‘after’ and changing the helping verb ‘had’ into ‘having’,

as in:

After having retired, he decided to work in the private sector.

Immediately after having retired, he decided to work in the private

I was watching

watching

I

why he left

the reason for his leaving

the reason behind his leaving


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sector.

In addition to deleting the subject and changing the helping verb into

‘having’, you may delete the connector ‘after’, as in:

Having retired, he decided to work in the private sector.

He often changes his address so that the police cannot find him.

! To change such a complex sentence into a simple one, you can use ‘not to’,

‘in order not to’, ‘so as not to’, etc. followed by a phrase in the passive

voice, as in:

He often changes his address in order not to be found by the police.

He withdrew from the election for fear that he might not win votes in his

constituency.

! Here, the connector ‘for fear’ is followed by that-clause, thus, it is a complex

sentence. In order to change it into a simple sentence, you need to change

the clause into a phrase, as in:

He withdrew from the election for fear of not winning votes in his constituency.

It is probable that the Republican Party will win the forthcoming elections

that will take place next October.

! Here, in order to change this complex sentence that has three clauses into a

simple one, you may delete ‘It is probable that’ and change the first modal

verb ‘will’ into ‘may well’, and change ‘that will take place next October’

into ‘of next October’, as in:

The Republican Party may well win the elections of next October.

It is expected that the British Prime Minister will arrive in Dubai for a three-

day tour today.

! Here, in order to change this complex sentence into a simple one, you may

delete ‘It is expected that’ and change the modal verb ‘will’ into ‘is expected

to’, as in:

The British Prime Minister is expected to arrive in Dubai for a three-day tour

today.


182

If you study hard, you will pass the exam.

Unless you study hard, you will not pass the exam.

! In order to change a complex sentence containing a conditional clause

beginning with ‘if’ into a simple one, you need to change ‘if’ into the

preposition ‘by’, delete the subject and strip the verb ‘to study’ of its tense, as

in:

By studying hard, you will pass the exam.

! However, to change a complex sentence containing a conditional clause

beginning with ‘unless’ into a simple one, you need to change ‘unless’ into

the preposition ‘without’, delete the subject and strip the verb ‘to study’ of

its tense, as in:

Without studying hard, you will not pass the exam.

Whether you apply for the job electronically or not, you will not be short

listed.

! Here, in order to change a complex sentence containing a conditional clause

beginning with ‘whether’ followed by ‘or not’ into a simple one, you need to

change ‘whether … or not’ into ‘with or without’, delete the subject and strip

the verb ‘to apply’ of its tense, as in:

With or without applying for the job electronically, you will not be short listed.

The more you exercise, the healthier you feel.

! As stated earlier, the structure ‘the more/-er …, the more/-er …’ can be

translated into كل ما. It can be changed into a simple sentence as follows:

Exercising more, you will feel healthier.

It is worth mentioning that when we delete ‘the more’, we need to insert the

modal verb ‘shall’ or ‘will’, if there is none, after the subject of the second

clause.

In the lecture, she often writes down the teacher’s notes lest she should forget

them.

In the lecture, she often writes down the teacher’s notes for fear that she may

forget them.

! In order to change a complex sentence containing a purpose clause beginning

with ‘lest’ or ‘for fear that’ into a simple one, you need to change ‘lest’ or


183

‘for fear that’ into ‘in order not to’ or ‘so as not to’, and delete the subject

and the modal verb, as in:

In the lecture, she often writes down the teacher’s notes in order not to forget

them.

She will tell us about the accident when she arrives home.

She will tell us about the accident as soon as she arrives home.

! In order to change a complex sentence containing a time clause beginning

with ‘when’ or ‘as soon as’ into a simple one, you need to change ‘when’ or

‘as soon as’ into ‘immediately after’ or ‘immediately on’, delete the subject

and strip the verb ‘to arrive’ of its tense, as in:

She will tell us about the accident immediately after arriving home.

EX: Change the following complex sentences into simple ones. Then,


1. After I had done my homework, I decided to visit my neighbour.

Having ………………………………………………………………………….

2. If you attend all lectures, you will not fail in such an easy exam.

By ……………………………………………………………………….............

3. It is probable that most of the students will pass the final exam.

Most of the students ……………………………………..…………….……….

4. Although I did not answer two questions accurately, I passed the exam.

In spite of ……………………………………………………………………….

5. No sooner had she arrived home than she called her mother.

When ………………………………………………………...............................


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6. Though she has a lot of relatives and friends in the town, she feels

unhappy.

With all …………………………………………………………………............

7. My brother left home as soon as he finished his homework.

My brother left home immediately after ……………….……………………….

8. The questions in yesterday’s exam were so difficult that I could not

answer them all.

The questions in yesterday’s exam were too ……………………………….

9. I could not visit you last night because I was very tired.

I could not visit you last night because of ……………………….……..............

10. He has changed his address many times recently for fear that the

police may arrest him.

He has changed his address many times recently in order not

to ………………………………………………………………………….…….

11. His application has not been accepted by the company since he does

not have enough experience to perform such a role.

His application has not been accepted by the company owing to

………………………………………………………………………….………

12. My neighbour withdrew from the election two days ago for fear that

he might not win votes in his constituency.

My neighbour withdrew from the election two days ago for fear of

………………………………………………………………………….............

13. The weather in Germany last week was so cold that I could not go out

of the hotel.

The weather in Germany last week was too

……………………………………………………………….............................


185

EX: Re-write the following sentences without changing their meanings. Then


1. She invited all her friends to her birthday party. However, nobody

attended. (use ‘despite’)

2. Iraq is one of the richest countries in the world. However, its people

have been living in a state of poverty for three decades. (use

‘although’)

3. My brother’s life was saved thanks to the doctor’s skill. (use

‘therefore’)

4. In view of his long service to the college, he was appointed as a head

of the English department. (use ‘because’)

5. I wrote down all the doctor’s instructions lest I should forget them.

(use ‘in order to’)

6. He woke up early for fear that he might miss the first lecture. (use ‘in

order to’)

7. As soon as he graduated from the university, he got a job in one of the

biggest companies. (use ‘no sooner’)

8. All flights into Kuwait airport have been delayed due to the bad

weather. (use ‘because’)

9. He took out a loan with a view to enrolling at the university, but he

could not pay the university fees. (use ‘in spite of’)

10. The enemy forces intended to use nuclear weapons against us. Thus,

the United Nations intervened to put an end to these threats. (use

‘since’)

11. If the contract is for an unspecified period, either party shall have the

right to rescind the contract, on condition that there is reasonable

justification. (use ‘in the event that’ + ‘providing’)

12. As soon as the lecture began, the professor left the class due to the bad

behaviour of one of the students. (use ‘no sooner)

13. He decided to take out a loan to buy a new house in the centre of the

city. However, the bank refused his application on the ground that he

had no job. (use ‘though)

14. Our neighbours never parked their truck in front of their house in

order not to bother us. (use ‘for fear that’).


186

15. Barely had the company launched its new product when it went

bankrupt. (use ‘as soon as)

16. Despite searching everywhere, my brother couldn't find his wallet.

(use ‘although’)

17. She has travelled to the UK recently in search of a good job. (use ‘in

order to’)

12 Revision

Ex 1: Translate the following sentences into Arabic.

1. Having explained the topic to my students, I asked them a question.

But, unfortunately, none answered it.

2. Your failure in the exam was due to your laziness throughout the year.

3. No sooner had the teacher left the class than he heard one of his

students shout out to him: “You’re excellent”.

4. It was not long since his wife’s death when he too died.

5. Had he given full consideration to his studies in the past, he would not

have put himself and his family in such an embarrassing situation.

6. With or without preparing yourself for the final exam, you won’t pass

the exam because of the teacher’s negative attitude.

EX 2: Have a look at the translation of the following literary text titled البحث

حي عنقلب ‘Search for a Live Heart’ by محسنالرملي. Then, translate the

literary text titled قلق into English, paying special attention to the

connectors used and the differences between Arabic and English in

terms of the length of sentences:

Oh, my God, what about my mother’s

heart then. My mother who remains

pinned to the window day and night,

puffing on cigarettes, her tearful eyes

checking the road to see if he’s getting

out of a passing car ... he might get out at

any moment. He must get out because he

has to come back.

Neighbours, too, want to bring us news of

كيف قلب أمي إذا؟ .. أمي التي تسمرت جائر عند النافذة ليل نهار ترضع الس

وعيناها الدامعتان ترقبان الطريق .. تراه يترجل عن كل السيارات المارقة .. ينزل .. قد ينزل في أية لحظة .. بل حتما سينزل ألنه البد أن يعود، وحتى الجيران يودون لو ينقلوا لنا خبر عودته


187

his return as quickly as they can to put an

end to our sorrow as they realize that one

moment more of sorrow might be too

much for us.

بسرعة ليوقفوا حزننا، فهم يدركون بأن أية . لحظة حزن إضافية قد تقضي علينا

.. قلق تسمرت أمه عند الشباك تنتظر على أحر من الجمر وصول ولدها الوحيد. لم تكن المدينة آمنة لذا كانت قلقة عليه جدا. شعرت بالبرد، لذلك أغلقت الشباك وأخذت تتمشى داخل الغرفة. تمددت، بعد

انفجار الملل. ما إن سمعت صوت من حالة تقرأ كي تتخلص وراحت رواية ذلك، على السرير وفتحت رير وكأنها فتاة في العشرين من العمر لتفتح الشباك ثانية وتتسمر عنده من من الس حتى قفزت جديد ...

! The verb تسمر can be translated as ‘to pin to’, ‘to remain pinned to’, ‘to be

nailed to’, and the like.

! The idiomatic expression على أحر من الجمر lends itself in English to ‘on pins

and needles’ or ‘to be on tenterhooks’.

! Expressions like أخذ + فعل or راح + فعل can be translated as ‘to start/begin +

verb + -ing’.

! The verb تخلص/يتخلص lends itself to ‘to get rid of’.

! The expression قفز من السرير can be translated as ‘to rush to one’s feet’, ‘to

jump to one’s feet’, or just ‘to jump out of bed’, etc.

! The connector كأنها, which lends itself to ‘as if’ needs to be followed by the

past perfect tense ‘had been’ or ‘were’.

EX 3:The following text is extracted (with a slight modification) from a short

story titled ثالثقصصليستللنشر ‘Three Stories not for Publishing’ by

Try to identify.عبدالستارناصر

! The verbs used in Arabic along with their tenses, and then compare

them with their suggested translations.

! The connectors used in the source text and how they have been

translated.

! Then, re-translate the text using different connectors.

Once the king had restored the half of

the treasury’s revenues, he announced a

أعلن حتىأرجع الملك نصف أمواله، أن وما


188

mysterious and great ‘victory’ in which

tens of soldiers had died.

Despite that, all the townsfolk were

filled with happiness …

In this way the people carried on,

happy and contented. No one ever

mentioned the treasurer, the guard or

even the queen, who once had been the

mistress of all.

عن )نصر( كبير غامض، مات فيه عشراتالجنود.

السعادة كانت قد غمرت أهل المدينة لكن كلهم ...

عاش الناس في مسرة وابتهاج ... ولم لذلكيأت أحد على ذكر الوزير أو الحارس أو

ع ..التي كانت سيدة الجمي الملكة


following text titled استثمار translated for the purposes of this study,

paying extra attention to the translation of connectors:

In economics, an investment is the

purchase of goods that are not to be

consumed at the actual moment, but are

to be used in the future ــــ in this way,

wealth is created.

يعني االستثمار، في علم االقتصاد، شراء بضائع ال يتم استهالكها في الوقت الحالي، ولكنها ستستعمل في المستقبل، وبهذه الطريقة

ع الثروات. تصنIn finance, an investment refers to a

monetary asset purchased with the hope

that it will generate income or

appreciation in the future, thus being

sold at a higher price.

أما في المالية، فإن االستثمار يشير إلى أصل خلق مصدر مالي يتم شراؤه على أمل أن ي

دخل أو ترتفع قيمته في المستقبل، وبذلك يباع بسعر أعلى.

It is worth noting that there are always

risks involved in any investment in

shares. For instance, if you invest in a

small number of companies or a single

sector, then you can be more exposed to

the risk of losing money due to falls in

the share prices of those companies.

وتجدر اإلشارة إلى أن االستثمار في األسهم دائما ما يصاحبه مخاطر، فعلى سبيل المثال، عندما تستثمر في عدد من الشركات، فإنك ستتعرض إلى خطر فقدان المال بسبب

م في تلك الشركات. انخفاض قيمة األسه

Therefore, it is advised that you spread

your investments across different types

of companies in different sectors.

لذا ينصح أن تقوم بتوزيع استثماراتك على أنواع مختلفة من الشركات وفي قطاعات

مختلفة.

Chapter 8

Discourse markers

Summarizing & rounding off

Numbering & ordering points

Reformulation

Replacement and correction

Comparison: similarity

Comparison: dissimilarity

Exemplifying & narrowing down

Elaborating

Ignoring & discounting

Emphasizing

Order of importance

Particularizing

Generalizing

Balancing contrasting points

Attitude markers

Revision

Chapter eight: Discourse markers

190

In any language, there are a number of markers or language signals that can

be used by speakers or writers like traffic signs to ‘signpost’ or guide listeners

or readers through a text. Being fully aware of their functions, the translators,

as language users, can “understand the logical structure of what they read and

listen to, the order of the events, and the attitudes of the [writer or] speaker”

(Parrot 2010: 345). In this chapter, the commonly used discourse markers in

English and Arabic will be introduced and exemplified.

1 Summarizing & rounding off

in short, in brief, in summary, in conclusion, briefly, finally, eventually, all in

all, on the whole, to summarize, to sum up, to recap, to recapitulate, to

conclude, to cut a long story short, to round it off, etc.

إجماال، باإلجمال، على اإلجمال، عموما، على العموم، نخلص )إلى القول(، خالصة القول، يجاز، وفي الختام، وفي النهاية، وفي األخير ...إباختصار، ب

To sum up, some people like to work from home while others do not.

! ‘to sum up’ lends itself to خالصةالقول ,باختصار, etc.

باختصار وبدون لف ودوران، نحن وصلنا إلى طريق مسدود ولن نتمكن من العيش معا. لذا من األفضل لنا أن نفترق وبهدوء.

! How this Arabic phrase انبدونلفودور should best be translated will always

depend on the exact context and the level of formality indicated. The high-

register word ‘circumlocution’ would be right only for a very formal context,

and in this example additional ways to translate it could be, as in:

the long and the short of it is…

to come straight to the point…

to get straight to the point…

to cut to the chase…

In an informal, colloquial and highly idiomatic context such as literary or dramatic

dialogue, the Arabic phrase انباختصاروبدونلفودور could also be rendered as:

(with) no messing around

let’s not mess around

basically (In spoken British English this word is commonly used in this

sense)


2 Numbering & ordering points

first(ly), second(ly), third(ly), next, then, finally, and finally, last, lastly, etc.

أوال، ثانيا، ثالثا، ... في البدء، ثم، بعد ذلك، وأخيرا ...

The Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, visited three countries of the Gulf

Cooperation Council (GCC) last week; first he visited Kuwait, then Qatar,

and finally, Bahrain.

! The lexical item ‘president’ lends itself to رئيس. Related words include

‘presidency’ رئاسة and ‘presidential’ رئاسي .

! The expression ‘the Gulf Cooperation Council’ lends itself to التعاون مجلس

.الخليجي

! Note that while ‘first of all…’ is common as the beginning of a list in British

English, ‘second of all…’, ‘third of all…’, and so on are not considered

stylistically acceptable in this variety of English (but are gaining ground

internationally under the influence of American English). Like all writers,

translators need to be as aware as they can be of their target readership.

3 Reformulation

in other words, to put it differently, to put this differently, put differently, to

put it simply, in a sense, in simpler words, what I mean is …, cast in less

technical terms, that is to say, namely, etc.

أي، بمعنى آخر، بعبارة أخرى، بكلمة/بكلمات أخرى، أعني، بمعنى، ما أعنيه هو، أقصد، بكلمات أبسط، هذا يعني ....

Try not to be unsociable. In other words, try to do your best to go out and

make some friends in such a town.

! In English, the word ‘sociable’ which is the opposite of ,ا جتماعي


192

‘unsociable’ ا جتماعي غير , is used to refer to people being generally willing

and happy to meet, talk to and interact with other people, whether known or

unknown to them. Consider this example:

They’re a really unsociable couple – they never come to any of the staff parties.

‘Social’, on the other hand, has a range of uses and generally refers to

anything that is thought to be to do with, or to support, living in society with

happiness and wellbeing. This may include helping the more vulnerable

members of a society, as in:

My cousin’s a senior social worker in North London.

Its antonym ‘unsocial’ means the opposite, of course, but has limited uses

and collocations. Consider the following example:

Yes, this job’s well paid, but that’s mainly because of the unsocial hours (i.e. having

to work some evenings and/or weekends).

! The expression ‘to do your best’ (also ‘to do your very best’, ‘to do your

utmost …’, ‘to make every (possible) effort …’) can be translated into يبذل

.and the like ,اليد خرجهدا ,يبذلمابوسعه ,قصارىجهده

من األفضل أال تقدم شكوى بحقهم ألنهم ربما يعتذرون منك، وهذا، باعتقادي، ما تصبو إليه. بمعنى أخر، ال تستعجل األمور وحاول أن تتريث.

! The expression ...األفضل can be translated into ‘It is better …’ or ‘It is من

preferable …’.

الأ ! which means أنال lends itself here to ‘not to’.

شكوى ! ,thus lending itself to ‘to complain’. However ,يشتكي simply means يقد م

verbs such as ‘to bring’, ‘to lodge’ or ‘to make’ can be used as they collocate

well with the noun ‘complaint’ شكوى .

lends itself to the preposition ‘against’. In English we usually complain بحق !

about something or someone. We can also complain to (someone) about

(something), as in:

Jane complained to her boss about her excessive unsocial hours.

However, when using the noun rather than the verb, we generally

make/lodge/post a complaint about something and against someone. As an

illustration, the following example can be considered:

I lodged a complaint about the poor room service. Then, I posted a complaint against

the hotel management.

can be translated into ‘in other words’, ‘to put this differently’, ‘to put بمعنىآخر !

differently’, and the like.


تتريث ! أن األموروحاول تستعجل ,’can be merged into ‘Take your time over this ال

‘Try to proceed cautiously’ or ‘Try to proceed in a measured way’. ‘Don’t

rush to judgement (on this)’, ‘Don’t make a rushed decision’ or ‘Don’t make a

hasty decision’ would also be suitable as an idiomatic expression. We can also

say ‘Don’t act in haste’, and the idiomatic expression ‘Hold your horses’

would be OK in a suitably informal, colloquial context. ‘Give it time…’ is also

a fairly common expression of advice that might be suitable here.

4 Replacement & correction

instead, rather, but rather, or, alternatively, I mean, to be more precise, to be

more accurate, more accurately, etc.

نما، بل، وباألحرى، أو، بدال )من/عن ذلك(، عوضا )من/عن ذلك(، أعني، أقصد، كي أكون أكثر وا دقة، على نحو أدق ...

أكثر دقة، عليك أن غيير كي تخرج من المشكلة. وألكونإنها ليست نهاية العالم. قد تحتاج بعض الت تغير عملك.

can be rendered literally into ‘it is not the end of the world’ as إنهاليستنهايةالعالم !

it might be a calque from the English expression ‘it is not the end of the

world’. One could say instead: ‘Look, things could be a lot worse…’.

.’lends itself to ‘to be more precise’ or ‘to be more accurate ألكونأكثردقة !

! The verb خرج/يخرج here means يتغل ب or يتجاوز, thus lending itself to ‘to

overcome’. One could also say ‘deal with’ or ‘get over/round’ (the

problem/difficulty). There are many phrasal verbs in common use in English,

and the translator should probably try to use them especially if the context

suggests more informal language. It is worth noting that formal registers of

English tend to use more single, rather than multi-word vocabulary and also

more Latin-based words, and becoming aware of this fact should be part of the

translator’s training.


194

5 Comparison: similarity

similarly, and by the same token, but by the same token, in the same

way, comparably, likewise, equally, etc.

وعلى نحو مماثل، وبالمثل، أيضا، وللسبب نفسه، ولألسباب نفسها، وبالطريقة نفسها، وبالمقارنة، كذلك، والشيء بالشيء يذكر ...

Some colleagues believe that our head of the department is a real charmer,

but, by the same token, some others believe that he is not.

! The denotative meaning of the lexical item ‘charmer’ is ساحر. However, in

such a context, it can be translated into إنسانراق, or something similar.

! ‘but, by the same token’ can be translated into

...نفسهولكن،فيالوقت

...أخرى/ناحيةولكن،منجهة

عزيزي، أنك تعتقد أنهم سبب المشكلة، لكنهم، وللسبب نفسه، يعتقدون أنك أنت مصدرها.

,can be translated into ‘my dear’, ‘honey’, ‘sweet heart’,and the like عزيزي !

depending on the relationship between the in-text participants. Here, it is

not clear, thus lending itself to ‘my dear’.

lends itself to ‘but, by the same token’ or ‘but, for the same لكنهم،وللسببنفسه !

reason’.

.موسيقية، كذلك لديه قدرة فائقة على نطق الكلمات األجنبية نطقا صحيحا يملك أخي أذنا

يةموسيقيملكأ ذنا ! can be rendered into ‘to have a good ear for music’.

! The cognate accusative نطقا can be صحيحا along with the adjective ينطق

translated into ‘to pronounce (foreign words) properly or correctly’, ‘to

pronounce well’, and ‘somebody has good pronunciation (of foreign/English

sounds/words)’.


6 Comparison: dissimilarity

on the other hand, in comparison, by comparison, by contrast, in contrast,

however, on the contrary, in spite of that, despite that, yet, etc.

نقيض من هذا/ذلك، وعلى عكس هذا/ذلك، وعلى ومن جهة أخرى، ومن ناحية أخرى، وعلى ال خالف هذا/ذلك، إال إن/أن، غير إن/أن ...

منها.بل،علىالعكس،كانيشعر منالواضحأنهلميتضايقمنكلماتاللوموالتوبيخالتيصدرت

بتأنيبالضمير.

! The discourse marker الواضح can be translated into ‘it is clear’, ‘it is من

obvious’, ‘it is apparent’, etc.

! Here العكس على النقيض also) بل، على is used in Arabic to indicate that (بل،

something is the opposite of something which has been mentioned.

Therefore, it can be translated into ‘on the contrary’, ‘by contrast’, etc.

! The noun لوم, which is derived from الم/يلوم, can be translated into ‘to blame’

or ‘to criticize’.

! Similarly, the noun توبيخ, which is derived from وب خ/يوبخ, lends itself to

‘rebuke’, ‘reprove’, ‘scold’, ‘reproach’ and the like.

! The expression لضميرتأنيبا , which is used in Arabic to refer to a feeling of

uneasiness or anxiety of the conscience caused by a sense of guilt, can be

translated into ‘compunction’. Actually, the lexical item ‘compunction’ has

a very limited usage, as in the expressions

to have no compunction about…

with no compunction

To illustrate this point, the following may be considered:

He had no compunction whatsoever about cheating the tax authorities.

The human traffickers put the lives of their passengers at risk with no compunction.

Consider the following related phrases:

! a matter of conscience ! مسألةضمير

! a crisis of conscience ! أزمةضمير

! a pang of conscience ! وخزالضمير

! conscientious; ! صاحبضميرحي


196

scrupulous;

having scruples about… doing

something

! unscrupulous;

having no/few scruples

ضميرهمي ت !

To tell you the truth, the teacher did not seem offended by his colleagues’

criticisms. By contrast, he seemed to enjoy them.

! ‘To tell you the truth’ as an attitude marker can be translated into بصراحة,

أخفيك ,بأمانة etc. It is worth noting that this discourse marker can be ,ال

replaced with ‘Frankly’, ‘To be frank’, ’To be honest (with you)’, and the

like. The expression ‘If I’m honest (with you)’ is becoming increasingly

common in spoken informal English. The even more informal (and

somewhat vulgar) expression ‘Straight up…’ could also be a suitable

translation if the context were right.

! The lexical item ‘offended’ can lend itself here to منزعج or متضايق.

In the south of Iraq all the land is flat. In contrast, in the north of Iraq there

are hills and mountains.

! Here ‘in contrast’ (also ‘by contrast’) should be followed by a clause, thus

lending itself here to أما, as in ...أمافيشمالالعراق،فإن.

In order to change the clause into a phrase, ‘in contrast to’ or ‘by contrast

with’ can be used, as in:

In contrast to the south of Iraq, the north of Iraq is full of hills and

mountains.

By contrast with the south of Iraq, the north of Iraq is full of hills and

mountains.

7 Exemplifying & narrowing down

for example, for instance, such as, to illustrate, to elaborate, to illuminate, by

way of illustration, by way of demonstration, by way of explanation, by way

of elaboration, to make this (point) clear, to reinforce this (point), etc.

ومن باب اإليضاح، ومن باب التوضيح، ومن باب الشرح، على سبيل المثال، خذ على سبيل المثال، سهاب ...من باب اإلو ومن باب التوسع، ومن باب االستفاضة،


إال بنتي العزف على العديد من اآلالت الموسيقية، على سبيل المثال العود والقيثارة والبيانو. تستطيع ا إنها ال تعرف العزف على الكمان.

! The verb تستطيع can be translated into ‘can’ or ‘be able to’.

can be rendered into‘to play’, thus leading to class shift to use Catford’s العزف !

(1965) term, that is, changing parts of speech through the nexus of translation.

إن/أن which can be replaced here with ,(إالأن also) إالإن ! إن/أن ,غير and the ,بيد

like, can be translated into ‘however’.

! The musical instruments القيثارة ,الكمان ,العود, and البيانو lend themselves to ‘lute’,

‘violin’, ‘guitar’, and ‘piano’ respectively.

سبيل المثال قبل شهر قابلت المغنية الشهيرة نانسي قابلت في حياتي الكثير من المشاهير، فعلى عجرم والتقطت معها صورة.

! The word مشاهير can be translated into ‘famous people’ or ‘celebrities’.

! The emphasis in the original text is placed on the duration of the period

indicated by the phrase حياتي in my life’, thus lending itself to a present‘ في

perfect tense.

! The verb التقط can be translated into ‘to take’. However, here it might be best

to translate the latter part of the sentence as ‘I met the famous singer

Nancy Ajram and had my picture taken with her since it seems to be

implied that some third party actually took the picture unless it was a

selfie.

Most of the car companies, such as Toyota and Nissan, manufacture their

automobiles in many different countries around the world.

! The verb ‘to manufacture’ lends itself to يصن ع/تصن ع. Related words include

‘manufacturer’ نتج/الم صن ع الم or نتجة/الم صن عةالشركةالم .

! The word ‘automobile’ simple means ‘car’. It is worth noting that the lexical

item ‘automobile’ is really American usage. In UK English, it can be used in

formal written contexts as a high-register term for car.

إن سوء الفهم وارد في حاالت كثيرة. فلو رأت الزوجة زوجها، على سبيل المثال، في مقهى مع فتاة أخرى هذا قد يخلق مشاكل بين الزوجين وربما يؤدي إلى عواقب وخيمة.

.’lends itself to ‘misunderstanding سوءالفهم !


198

! The word وارد here can be translated into ‘to occur’, ‘to arise’, etc. as they

collocate well with the noun ‘misunderstanding’.

can be translated into ‘disastrous consequences’ as it is a very عواقبوخيمة !

common and natural collocation.

8 Elaborating

in this respect, in this regard, in this connection, with reference to this, with

this in mind, approach from such a perspective, building on this, on this

basis, to reinforce this (point), to elaborate, by way of elaboration, etc.

وفي هذا الصدد، وفي هذا السياق، وفي هذا المنوال، وبناء على ما تقدم، وعلى هذا األساس، ولتوضيح أكثر، ولمعلومات أكثر، ومن باب التوضيح، ومن باب اإليضاح، ومن باب التوسع، ومن

من باب اإلسهاب ...و باب االستفاضة،

لذي يتوقع أن يفتح في الشهر المقبل سيقيم عالقات وفي هذا الصدد، صرح وزير المالية أن المصرف امع مصارف إسالمية خارجية. وفي سياق متصل، أضاف الوزير أن الهدف الرئيس من إقامة مثل هذا

المصرف هو بغرض خلق مؤسسة مالية تعمل على وفق المبادئ اإلسالمية.

! The noun إقامة can be translated into a verb, such as ‘to establish’ or ‘to set

up’. This is an example of class shift to use Catford’s (1965) term.

! The expression في هذا الصدد (also في هذا السياق) can be translated into ‘in this

regard’, ‘in this respect’, ‘in this context’, and so forth.

! The expression ماليةوزير ال lends itself to ‘the minister of finance’.

9 Ignoring & discounting

apart from this, regardless of this, irrespective of this, etc.

بعيدا عن هذا/ذلك، بمعزل عن هذا/ذلك، ناهيك من/عن هذا/ذلك، بصرف النظر عن هذا/ذلك/ بغض النظر عن هذا/ذلك ...


بغض النظر عن أجور الموظفين المتدنية، فإن الموظفين يعانون من مشاكل عديدة تتعلق بساعات العمل المتغيرة وانقطاع التيار الكهربائي في الشركة.

which is used in Arabic to mean without regard ,(بصرفالنظر also) بغضالنظر !

to something else, can be translated into ‘irrespective of’ or ‘regardless of’.

! The verb يعاني lends itself to ‘to suffer from’.

can be translated into ‘power cut’. ‘Power outage(s)’ is انقطاعالتيارالكهربائي !

possible in more technical writing, but generally not a common usage in the

British English.

Regardless of people’s religions, the legislation must be applied to all people

in the country.

! ‘Regardless of’, which means without considering or taking into account,

can be translated into بصرف النظر or بغض النظر.

! The noun ‘legislation’, which is a non-countable noun in English, lends

itself to تشريعات in Arabic.

10 Emphasizing

actually, in fact, as a matter of fact, indeed, etc.

في الحقيقة، في الواقع، في الحقيقة والواقع، فعال، بالفعل، حقا ...

I think it would be a good idea to send her an email. In fact, you should sit

with her and explain to her what happened in the party face to face

! The discourse marker ‘in fact’ can be translated into في الحقيقة. However, in

this context, it can be rendered into فضلبل من األ ,بل األفضل ,واألفضل , etc.

! The phrase ‘face to face’ lends itself to وجها لوجه.

عدة مرات أال تدعوه إلى الحفلة. في الحقيقة أنا أعرفه تمام المعرفة فهو شخص يبحث عن أخبرتك المشاكل.

! The aspect is perfect indicated by the phrase عدة مرات, thus lending itself to


200

a present perfect tense.

.’can be rendered into ‘not to أن ال which means أال !

! The discourse marker في الحقيقة can be translated into ‘actually’, ‘in fact’,

etc.

.’lends itself to ‘very well تمام المعرفة !

11 Order of importance

most importantly, most significantly, primarily, initially, above all,

essentially, basically, etc.

... ، أوال، وقبل كل شيءشيء في المقام األول، بشكل أساس، أساسا، أوليا، بادئ ذي بدء، قبل كل

Basically, before I put any money in the project you’ve proposed, I want to

know more information about it.

! The discourse marker ‘basically’, which means the most important thing,

can be translated into وقبل كل شيء ،أوال or في المقام األول.

12 Particularizing

particularly, in particular, specifically, more specifically, to be more

specific, etc.

فعلى وجه الخصوص، وباإلخص، وبخاصة، وال سيما، وعلى نحو أكثر دقة ...

In some countries, people tend to argue about money-related issues. More

specifically, they argue when they are out of work.

! The expression ‘money-related issues’ means ‘issues which are related to

money’, thus lending itself to القضاياالمتعل قةبالمال or القضاياالمالية.

! The discourse marker ‘more specifically’ can be translated into وبخاصة ,تحديدا,

.etc ,وباألخص


There are many beautiful cities in Oman. In particular, tourists should visit

Nizwa and Sohar.

! Here ‘in particular’ and ‘particularly’ are used in English to highlight

something important, or individual. They can be replaced by ‘in specific’ and

‘specifically’ which are more formal.

13 Generalizing

generally, in general, generally speaking, broadly speaking, on the whole, by

and large, etc.

على العموم، عموما، إجماال، بشكل عام، على نحو عام ...

Generally speaking, there are five main asset classes including cash, fixed

interest, property, domestic shares and international shares.

! The technical words ‘asset’, ‘cash’, ‘interest’, ‘property’, and ‘share’ which

are used in business lend themselves to ملكية ,فائدة ,نقد ,أصل/مال, and سهم/حصة

respectively.

Broadly speaking, I agree with about most things you have just discussed.

! ‘Broadly speaking’, which can be replaced with ‘generally speaking’, ‘in

general’ or ‘generally’ can be translated into بشكلعام ,علىالعموم ,عموما, etc.

14 Balancing contrasting points

on the one hand, ...on the other (hand),

for one thing ..., for another

while/whereas …, …

من ناحية/جهة ...، ومن ناحية/جهة أخرى ... وبينما/وفي حين ...، فإن ...


202

On the one hand he’s looking for a job with a higher salary, but on the other

hand, he enjoys his current job.

! The word ‘salary’ lends itself to راتب. Related words include ‘wages’ أجور

and ‘pension’ راتبتقاعدي .

ومن القيادة، أثناء هاتفه يستعمل ما غالبا هوف ناحية من متهور. سائق ألنه معه الركوب أحبذ ال المرور. بإشارات يتقيد ال فهو أخرى ناحية

ل also) الأحب ذ ! .can be translated ‘I do not prefer’, etc (الأفض

! The verb يركب/ which literally means ‘to ride’, can be translated here ‘to ,ركب

be driven’ or ‘to be passenger with him’. It is worth noting that in UK

English, it would be more natural and idiomatic to say ‘I prefer not to be

driven by him’ or ‘I prefer not to be a passenger with him’. However,

American English speakers may well be happy to say ‘I’d rather not ride

with him’. ‘To give somebody a lift’, which means to provide transportation

for somebody, that is, to take him/her somewhere in your car, can also be

used here with some modulation.

! The lexical item ر ,’in such a context lends itself to ‘careless’, ‘reckless متهو

‘dangerous’, etc. ‘Reckless’ is a good adjective to describe some people’s

driving habits. This word and ‘dangerous’ are of course stronger than

‘careless’.

can be rendered into ‘on the one hand … and ومنناحيةأخرى... and فمنناحية... !

on the other (hand) …’ or ‘for one thing … and for another …’.

.can be translated into ‘to ignore’, ‘not respect’, etc اليتقي د !

شاراتالمرورإ ! lends itself to ‘traffic signs’.

My sister is a bad teacher. For one thing, she once fell asleep in class. For

another, she usually arrives late to class.

! ‘for one thing’ and ‘for another’ lend themselves to

ومن ناحية/جهة أخرى ... فمن ناحية/جهة ...،Note that ‘for one thing’, ‘for a second’, ‘for another’, etc. can be used to

introduce a list of reasons or identify a series of examples.


15 Attitude markers

Finally, there are a number of discourse markers that can be used by speakers

or writers to mark their attitudes. Following are the commonly used ones:

actually في الواقع، في الحيقة frankly/ clearly/

obviously وضوح بكل ،بصراحة، بوضوح

honestly/to be honest بصدقة، بأمان to tell you the truth فيكال أخ، صراحة بكل ، بصراحة of course حتما ، تأكيد بكل ، طبعا certainly/definitely قطعا ، من المؤكدد، بكل تأكي literally بالحرف الواحد، حرفيا fortunately لحسن الحظ unfortunately لسوء الحظ hopefully من المؤمل ،على أمل، نأمل basically أساسا، بشكل أساس surprisingly بشكل ،وما يثير الدهشة، بغتة ،باندهاش ،جأةف

دهشم not surprisingly طبيعا sadly ؤسفمن الم ، حزنمن الم admittedly/undeniably على نحو ال يمكن انكاره، ال أنكر، أقر ،أعترف

confidently بكل ثقة undoubtedly ذلك ال خالف على، حتما ، ال شك ،بال شك


204

in fact في الحقيقة preferably من المفضل ،يفضل regrettably حزنمن الم ،من المحبط ،لألسف، من المؤسف،

خيب لآلمالمن الم

Undoubtedly, these students had the right to complain about the teacher.

! The attitude marker ‘undoubtedly’ can be replaced here with ‘certainly’,

‘definitely’, ‘unquestionably’, etc., thus lending itself to ال ,الخالفعلى ,الشك

د ,يختلفاثنان تأكيد ,منالمؤك .etc ,بكل

I invited all my friends to my stag party. However, regrettably, no one

attended.

! The expression ‘stag party’ (also a ‘stag night’ or ‘bachelor party’), which is

a party held for men who are about to get married, shortly before their

wedding, is different from a ‘hen party’ (also known as a ‘hen night’ or

‘bachelorette party’), which is a party held for girls who are about to get

married, shortly before their wedding. Both lend themselves to حفلةالحن اء or

.ليلةالحن اء

! The discourse marker ‘regrettably’ is used here to indicate that something is

disappointing or regrettable, thus lending itself here to فمنالمؤس ,لألسف من ,

.etc ,المحزن

انتابني وأنا أقترب من مكتبه ألنني سمعت أنه سليط اللسان. الخوف قدال أنكر أن

أنكر ! can be translated into ‘undeniably’, ‘admittedly’ or ‘to tell you the ال

truth’.

! The verb انتاب, which collocates well with the noun خوف ‘fear’, lends itself to

verbs such as ‘to feel’, ‘to experience’, ‘to have’, or more idiomatically ‘to be

filled with’, ‘to be paralyzed by/with’, ‘to be trembling with’, and the like.

! The phrase سليطاللسان means showing no respect in the way that he talks to

somebody else. Depending on how strong the language used is, the Arabic

phrase could be translated as ‘sharp-tongued’ or ‘foul mouthed’ if involving

vulgar verbal abuse. The adjective ‘lippy’ suggested by some dictionaries is

very colloquial.


BILINGUAL TEXT


text titled البنتاغون ‘The Pentagon’, paying extra attention to discourse markers.

Sources close to the Pentagon

declared yesterday that one of the

Iraqi units stationed in the middle of

the highway between Basra and

Baghdad had announced that it was

in revolt.

The same source said that a great

number of Iraqi troops had been seen

two days ago leaving Baghdad and

heading for Basra in order to be

ready for any emergency.

ادر مقربة من البنتاغون أمس أن ذكرت مصإحدى وحدات الجيش العراقي المرابطة في منتصف الطريق بين البصرة وبغداد قد أعلنت

تمردها.

وأضاف المصدر نفسه أن وحدات كبيرة من القوات العراقية شوهدت قبل يومين وهي تغادر

.ئبغداد باتجاه البصرة تحسبا ألي طار

However, the Iraqi News Agency

contradicted the news as reported by

the source close to the Pentagon.

The agency added that the situation

in Iraq was stable, with the

exception of some sporadic clashes

between the Iraqi troops and

opposition forces in the north of

Iraq.

وكالة األنباء العراقية قد نفت ما جاء في إال إن ب من الخبر الذي أورده المصدر المقر

.البنتاغونوأضافت أن الوضع في الجنوب مستتب، إن

استثنينا بعض المصادمات المتفرقة التي وقعت بين القوات العراقية وقوات المعارضة في شمال

العراق.

Further, a source close to the

Pentagon declared that the US navy

was determined to step up military

manoeuvres in the days ahead.

ذكر مصدر قريب من البنتاغون أن البحرية هذا و األمريكية تعتزم اإلكثار من المناورات العسكرية

في قابل األيام.

In an unrelated context, the

spokesman for the Japanese police

announced that 25 people had been

killed and more than 100 people

injured following an explosion that

hit the capital, Tokyo.

أعلن الناطق الرسمي عن وفي سياق منفصل، قد الشرطة اليابانية أن خمسة وعشرين شخصا

قتلوا وأكثر من مئة شخص قد أصيبوا نتيجة جار عصف بالعاصمة اليابانية، طوكيو. انف

He added that work was in progress

to rescue the injured and remove the

dead bodies from under the rubble.

وأضاف أن العمل جار على قدم وساق النقاذ خراج الجثث من بين األحجار.ا ى و حر جال


206

16 Revision

EX 1: Translate the following sentences into Arabic, paying extra attention to

the discourse markers used.

1. Try not to be unsociable. In other words, try to do your best to go out

and make some friends.

2. I do agree with you that the new secretary is the best-dressed girl in the

company. Indeed, she has a really good taste in fashion.

3. You might need to change a few things. To be more precise, I think you

should travel somewhere.

4. I’ve told you many times not to invite the boss to the party. Actually, I

know him very well; he is a trouble maker.

5. All in all, you have to make sure before signing the contract that you

and your colleagues are happy with the job description.

6. If you need to get something off your chest, albeit in a professional

manner, you can do so in a private conversation with your manager.

However, there is no need to add lengthy explanations to your

resignation letter when deciding to quit a job.

7. By and large, there is much to be said for the new programme.

8. The weather was bad this week, particularly on Friday.

9. I have met many famous people. For example: one time I met Adel

Imam.

10. I like sleeping while listening to slow music. As a matter of fact, I can’t

fall asleep without it.

EX 2: Translate the following text into English, paying extra attention to the

discourse markers used.

كيف كان اختبارك أمس؟ هل كانت أجوبتك جيدة؟ -خفيك. على الرغم من أن االمتحان كان سهال جدا، إال إنني لم أتمكن من اإلجابة على ال أ -

جميع األسئلة. وذلك ألنني لم أقرأ جيدا لالمتحان.

خفيك أ ال ! can be translated into ‘to tell you the truth’, ‘frankly speaking’,

‘frankly’, etc.

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الزائلة.بغداد:دارالمأمونللترجمةوالنشر.البريكان،محمود)بالسنةنشر(.احتفاءباألشياء

ج.نزوى:جامعةنزوى.2114/2115الخنجري،مسعود) (.مشروعبحثالتخر

.لندن:مؤسسةالسياب.2119الرملي،محسن) (.البحثعنقلبحي

ج.نزوى:جامعةنزوى.2115/2116الرواحي،عزيزة) (.مشروعبحثالتخر

ر)بالسنةنشر(جاريةإلىاألبدلنأكون.الزين،بهاءالديننزا

ج.نزوى:جامعةنزوى.2115/2116السعدي،صفية) (.مشروعبحثالتخر

ج.نزوى:جامعةنزوى.2115/2116)الشقيري،ميساء (.مشروعبحثالتخر

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(.القطارالصاعدإلىبغداد.لندن:مؤسسةالسياب.2012عبدالوهاب،محمود)

.رائحةالشتاء.لندن:مؤسسةالسياب.)2112).—

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(.الطاووسذوالريشاألحمر.لندن:مؤسسةالسياب.2013زهراء،ناصر)

(.أوالدحارتنا.القاهرة:دارالشروق.1959/2006محفوظ،نجيب)

(.ثالثقصصليستللنشر.لندن:مؤسسةالسياب.2119ناصر،عبدالستار)

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