Today we are going to see just a new chapter and
this is about definiteness and indefiniteness in
English and Arabic. we are going to see the
definiteness system how nouns are defined in
English and Arabic definiteness is available in
all languages but some languages have overt system
and some other languages have covert system
Chinese for example does not have any overt system
there are no equivalence for a or n or the or any
article of definiteness or indefiniteness in any
in a language like English. So Chinese does not
have articles. It has only zero articles, covert
articles. Arabic has no articles no indefinite
articles but it has the definite article l however
in English we have the overt system the
indefiniteness and definiteness system a n this is
the indefinite article and the plus the zero
article Today we are going to navigate on the
definiteness and indefiniteness systems to
discover its secret, how definiteness and
indefiniteness are constructed in English and
Arabic. So we need to touch the indefiniteness
system first. We mean, the morpheme AN. This is
one article. A and N are one article. It is
indefinite article. However, A and N are
allomorphs of the same morpheme, the indefinite
article. Okay? This is used in English to single
the ideas expressed by the noun directly following
it. Once upon a time, there was a king. Once upon
a time, once upon a time, there was a king. A king
here is preceded by the indefinite article A
because it refers to a single idea. Okay, once
upon a time there was a king, the king was named
Shahrayar. So once you repeat the same thing, it
must be preceded by the definite article, the.
Okay? The indefinite a and n article semantically
holds the sense of any. The earth is like a ball.
The room is like a sequoia.
Any square, any ball.
So, A and N are used to express a
single idea that refers to one noun And
semantically, it holds the sense of any as well.
So the room is like a square, which square? Any
square.
Semantically, the indefinite article A and N has
specific meaning and generic meaning. So we have
generic or specific meaning. Once it refers to a
certain idea or object, then it is specific.
However, if you speak generically about
Anything, any idea, this means that you refer or
you have or A and N have the function, the generic
function. I'm looking for a book on computer
technology. I'm looking for a book on computer
technology. Which book? Any book. So it is
generic. I need to read a story. Which story? Any
story. Okay. It's generic. Okay. I need to buy a
book in linguistics. Which book? Any book. So it
is of generic meaning. Now, I bought a book in
linguistics. I bought a book in linguistics. This
is specific. A certain book. Okay. For example, it
is the minimalist program for Noam Chomsky, for
example. So one book. I know it. It is specific.
Fine. I rented a flat. I rented a flat.
Which flat? One flat. So is this specific or
generic? It is specific. A guest came to visit us
last night. What do you say? A guest. Specific
guest. I know him. Okay.
Okay.
The indefinite article A and N It's also used with
singular countable nouns to refer to countable
nouns that have neither been mentioned in this
course before nor
situationally identified.
There was a queen named Elizabeth. There was a
queen named Elizabeth. Okay. A queen. Is it
countable or uncountable? Countable. Okay. It
refers to a certain person. Does it work here
specifically or generically? Specifically. So it
is of specific function semantically.
Now in the sentence, there was a queen. Is the
noun mentioned before? No, this is the first time
you hear it, okay? So any noun, any concrete or
any countable noun mentioned for the first time
must be preceded by a or n, okay? But if it is
heard before, if it is mentioned before, then a
and n must be repeated by the. Okay. I have a son
and a daughter. I have a son and a daughter. And
the son and the daughter are students at the
Islamic University of Gaza. Okay. For the first
time, it is a, a. However, for the second time, it
is the, the. Okay. We have a cat and a dog. A cat
and a dog. The first time, the cat and the dog are
very beautiful. Okay. Once I repeat, I replace the
indefinite article with a definite article there.
Okay. I'm reading a good book. I'm reading a good
book. The book is on linguistics. So for the first
time, a book for the second time, the book.
Now, the indefinite article indicates a class
relationship. Therefore, it precedes singular
countable nouns used as representative members of
the class. A cat can be beautiful, which cat?
Any cat so here is it specific or generic? It's
generic Okay, now a cat is a representative It
is a representative Member of Hair class, all cats
Plants are beautiful I say for example A tree is
beautiful. Which tree? Any tree Okay Now
once the noun is preceded or modified by
attributive adjective preceded by adjective it
must be or it can be preceded by a or n I say
Christine is becoming a nice girl I
can't say Christine is becoming nice girl a nice
girl because this is adjectival adjectival now
okay Hoda is becoming a clever girl is becoming
clever gear, a clever gear. So we have here an
adjectival noun. Any adjectival noun accepts A or
N according to its morphological construction.
Either preceded by beginning with vowel or
consonant. In case of vowel, it is N. In case of
consonant, it's A. For example, I say university.
Is it A or N?
It is A, a university I say. It's a university.
This is Ya consonant. Ah.
Okay. However, ice cream, an ice cream. Engineer?
Okay.
Now, all professions and adjectives denoting
religions are preceded by A or N. I say I am a
professor. I am a professor. I am a professor. So
this is my profession. You are a student.
He is a mason. He is a windscatter.
He's a doctor. Okay. So all professions and
handicrafts are preceded by A or N. My father is a
teacher. Your father is an engineer, for example.
Your dad is a doctor. your dad accountant okay he
is an accountant okay he's an accountant okay your
dad okay he's also an accountant your dad a lawyer
okay he's a lawyer he is an advocate Okay, so we
have all professions and handcrafts are preceded
by the indefinite article A or N Okay adjectives
of religions I say أنا مسلم how could you
translate it? I am a Muslim She is she is a
Christian He is a Jew So religions are preceded by
A or N. Okay? Now all expressions or some
expressions of quantity and measurements are also
preceded by A or N. For example, a pair of shoes.
A pair. A. A little. We have little and a little.
Which is larger than the other? Little or a
little? No, no. A little is larger than little. A
few, a few, few, few. A few is larger than few.
Okay. A couple of minutes, a few, a hundred, a
thousand, three tablets a day. Now we speak about
the duration. Three tablets a day. I drove 80
miles an hour. So day, hour, minute are preceded
by the indefinite article A or N. So three tablets
a day. The child has to have the medicine by
taking three teaspoonfuls a day. Okay. Three
tablets a day, 80 kilometers an hour. The material
is $10 a meter. $10 a meter. Okay. The apples
cost two dollars a kilo okay a pound so all means
of quantity okay or measurements units of
measurements are perceived by a or n type
now the proper nouns which are Used as adjectives
in the sentence in the singular proper noun used
as an adjective Must be preceded by a or n He's a
Napoleon He's a Napoleon She's
a Shakespeare And she is like Shakespeare he and
his courage is like Napoleon Okay So if you use a
noun in place or if you have a noun functioning as
an adjective, then it must be preceded by A or N
if it is singular.
Now, the adverbial expressions of time must be
preceded by A or N. He sat for a while. He sat for
an hour. He sat for a day. He stayed for a month.
He stayed with us for a year. Do you get that? Do
you understand? Hold on for a minute. Hold on for
a minute. Okay. Hold on for a moment. Hold on for
a second. So you have A.
Now greetings must be preceded by, must be
preceded by A or N. I say have nice time or have a
nice time? Have a nice time. Have a nice day. Have
a nice stay with us in Gaza. Have a nice weekend.
Okay. Have a nice exam. Have a good exam Once
you have greeting expressions, they are preceded
by A or N Okay Now
a
Merry Christmas to you and a Happy New Year It's
greeting Merry Christmas. It's preceded by A Happy
New Year It's also preceded by A because this is
part of greeting. أتمنى لك عيدا سعيدا. Is this
available in Arabic? We don't have A or N in
Arabic or equivalence of A and N. Okay, we only
have the definite article. We have covert system
of indefiniteness and the nonation ولدا رأيت ولدا
يمشي في الشارع Waladan here with the nonation is
for emphasis is not for indefiniteness. So the
nonation Tanween in Arabic is not used for
indefiniteness. It is only for emphasis.
Okay. في يوم من الأيام كان هناك ملكا هذا
الملك يدعى شهريار ملك is not preceded by anything.
It is zero. Once I repeat, I use ال التعريف. هذا
الملك يدعى. Okay. So English is not like Arabic.
This must be taken very seriously once you
translate from English to Arabic or from Arabic to
English. Otherwise, you commit serious errors.
Okay.
Because the definiteness or indefiniteness have
semantic meaning, which is very, very important.
It changes the meaning of the whole sentence.
This is
what we understood. But the original decision, the
original solution, okay, issued by the Security
Council was like so.
Which Arab
territories does it mean? okay so the whole
sentence changed completely okay this is why we
reject it okay anyway the
definite article the has very important semantic
rule in English and قل التعريف in Arabic has the
same rule however the translation of قل التعريف
does not necessarily mean that in all situations
and that cannot be translated with Arabic in all
situations it depends on the structure of the
sentence so you have to take care about the
context of the sentence or the context where these
indefinite or definite articles used okay I
say For expressions of time I sat for a while It
is zero in Arabic while in English must be
preceded by the indefinite article A Hold on for a
minute A minute
Okay
Hold on for a moment.
With greetings and good wishes. I say have a nice
time.
It is zero. However, in English, it must be
translated by using the indefinite article the.
Have a nice time. Have a nice day. Have a good
exam. Have a nice stay here with us in Gaza. Have
a nice return journey to your country. Okay?
Now similes take A or N mainly after the particle
as or like. He fought like a lion. He fought like
a lion. I don't say he fought like a lion He
vanished like a ghost So
I translate
it using the definite article I
can say اختفى كشبح So it is not necessarily to
translate A and N with what is called zero article
in Arabic.
Okay.
But in English, you have to say, you can't say he
fought fiercely like the lion like a lion okay so
you have to take care about this once you
translate okay the cardinal numbers or the
cardinal number one replaces the indefinite
article a or n for emphasis i can cross out a or n
and replace one instead just for emphasis He
bought one suit and two shirts. One suit. I can't
say a suit. I emphasize that he bought only one
suit. One suit. Okay. He bought one suit. Okay.
One here is for indefiniteness.
These, now, اشترى بدلة واحدة و قميصين but it is
zero okay so now we have overt indefiniteness
system in English represented or translated in a
or n while in Arabic we have zero indefiniteness
however for translating I cannot be bound to have
equivalence okay because in Arabic we don't have
indefiniteness system. It is covert. Some
sentences, mainly in similes, in some sentences,
we translate the A and N into in Arabic. So if you
have this sentence to be translated into English,
you have to say, he fought like a lion. We don't
say he fought like the lion. it's not accepted
okay so as you see Arabic is different from
English the two languages are semantically and
grammatically different from each other okay now
the definite article we have the definite article
the in English it's equivalent to التعريف in
Arabic but semantically they are not the same. You
can't translate the ال التعريف by the in all the
times. You can't translate the into ال التعريف in
all times mainly because the function of each one
of these definite articles in the two languages
differ from each other. Let's see the function of
the in English. Okay. First, you know that that
precedes the nouns like A and N. Okay. The noun
phrase.
It refers to the noun which refers to an entity
known by the speaker and the listener, meaning the
addresser and the addressee. If you too speak
about a certain entity or a certain thing known by
you all, then you must precede this noun by using
the. Okay? The professor is absent today. The
professor is absent today. You know, what do I
mean? Okay. I mean your professor whom you are
familiar with. So I say the professor. Okay.
The prime minister greeted
the released prisoners yesterday. You know him.
Okay. So you say the prime minister. Okay. I say
the legislative council. You know what I, what do
I mean? Okay. You know what I mean? The
legislative council. How many legislative councils
are there in Gaza? One. So it is proceeded by
them. Okay.
So I say the prime minister, the legislative
council, the parliament. Okay. The university.
You know, you know it. Okay. So once you speak
about an entity or a noun phrase known by the
speaker and the listener, then you use the. Okay.
Now, if you have a noun preceded by, or the
noun is followed by relative clause, relative
particle, complementizer, like who, whom, whose,
which, that, then this noun, which precedes the
complementizer has the. I say, for example, the
man who was standing there is my uncle. The man
who was. I can say man who was. Since you have who
as a complementizer or as a relative pronoun as
you name it, then it is preceded by the definite
article, the.
The car which I bought yesterday was very
expensive.
The car. I don't say car which was. Since you have
which, then the noun preceding it must be preceded
by the definite article there. Okay? Now, if you
have also a noun followed by preposition phrase
Then it must be preceded by the definite article
that I say the 10th of April of April preposition
phrase. The 10th of April. 10th is a noun. So it
must be preceded by main that. Okay.
Okay.
Most of the food was consumed. Why do we have the
here before the noun food?
Why does the noun food have the?
Most of
the food was consumed. Now you enter your kitchen,
And you find, you open the fridge, okay? And you
say to your mom, most of the food was consumed.
The food. The food is an entity known by the
speaker and the listener. So it is there.
Now proper names usually don't have any article.
Ahmed, Mohammed, John, Mary, Chris, don't have any
article, okay? However, some names of countries,
cities or localities are preceded by the definite
article the. I say the Sudan, the United States,
the Congo, I say the West Bank, the Gaza Strip.
The United Nations. The compound nouns are
preceded by the definite article there. We cannot
say Gaza Strip. The Gaza Strip. I can't say West
Bank. The West Bank. Okay. The Arab, the United
Arab Emirates. Okay. Now, names of oceans, seas,
rivers, deserts are always preceded by the
definite article, the. Okay? I say the Atlantic,
the Pacific, the Nile, the Red Sea, the Euphrates.
Okay. So once you speak about water, about seas
and oceans, you must use a definite article. البحر
الأبيض المتوسط. I say the Mediterranean Sea. I
can't say Mediterranean Sea, the Mediterranean
Sea. Okay.
I say بحر الشمال, the North Sea. Okay.
Now the definite article precedes the plural names
and family names followed by a noun. The Johnson's
bought a new house last month. The family of
Johnson's. Username can be preceded by the
definite article there. Okay.
I met the Masturbator family when I visited Japan.
The Masturbator family here, the surname is
preceded by the definite article the. You have
this in the Arab Gulf countries. So instead of
saying Walid Amir, If I teach just in Qatar or in
Saudi Arabia or whatever, they must say Dr. Walid
Al Amir as a sort of respect, it seems. So their
dialects do not accept zero article before the
surname. They accept always the ال التعريف. So
here we have this in English. The family name.
can have the definite article, okay? Once used,
I mean, the plural name, the family name, the
plural name has
the definite article if followed by a noun. The
Johnsons bought a new house. Okay? The Mustapara
family.
Mustapara plus family. A surname plus a noun.
Okay.
The definite article precedes things or entities
which exist in the universe as unique as when I
see the sun. The moon. How many moons are there?
One. How many suns? One. So the sun, the moon, the
Quran, the Holy Quran.
The plural nationalities must be preceded by the
definite article the. I say the Japanese, the
French, The British. So what's the difference
between the English and English? English refers to
language. The English refers to nationality. Okay.
So we as Palestinians, is it available to say
Palestinians or the Palestinians? What's the
difference in translation? Once I say the
Palestinians, we mean that we are people, we are a
nation confessed by all people. However, if we say
Palestinians, like the CNN or our enemies call us,
this means that we refer gangs or groups of people
that cannot be identified as a nation. Okay? So
you as Palestinian translators must say about
yourselves as Palestinians or the Palestinians?
The Palestinians. Okay?
So this is taken once you translate from English
to Arabic from the BBC, you must use what is
called managing in translation. Okay, insert your
own beliefs, your own ideas.
Now, we have also the abstract adjectives used as
nouns. Abstract adjectives. The rich must
Give money or give donations to the poor, to the
needy. You must be highly kind to the aged.
The poor is an adjective. It stands here in place
of a noun. So it must be preceded by the definite
article there.
Okay. So the
poor need the help of the rich. The aged are
subject to more aphasia than others. Language
diseases, aphasia.
Okay. The aged are subject to more aphasia than
others. The aged. Okay. Now that is also precedes
the compass directions. I see the North, the East,
the South, the West. Okay.
So I was born in the Middle East. In the Middle
East. Middle East. It's direction. So it is there.
I say Palestine lies off the Mediterranean Sea to
the West. Sorry, to the West. Yes. And Syria and
Lebanon To the North, Jordan to the East and Egypt
to the South. So I say the North, the South, the
West, the East. Okay. All directions are preceded
by the. Okay.
We have the definite article used for or they are
used for body parts. Okay. John hit Mary in the
eye. Eye is part of the body. Okay.
He captured him from the shoulder, the shoulder.
The policeman took the criminal by the arm and
led him away. So the arm, the shoulder, the eye,
all parts of the body can be perceived by the
definite article, The.
Now, this is similar to Arabic.
But if
you have a clitic, the clitic stands for آل
التعريف.
Refers, it stands as a critic. It refers to the
definite article there.
Okay.
So you have this in both languages.
Now that precedes the object in the immediate
situation use.
That precedes the object in the immediate
situation use. Now I need to cover my eyes and you
need to warn me about the steps. Okay. You say
mind the gap or mind the stairs. Mind the steps.
Mind the gap. This is immediate situation use. So
it precedes the object in the immediate situation
use. Who's going to mind? someone you this is a
subject so we speak about the object mind the gap
the gap is an object it is used here the in the
immediate situation mind the gap mind the steps
mind the stairs okay mind the cup okay
mind the cup you see
Now, don't go there. The police are looking for
you. The police. The, because it is immediate
situation. It's plural. You see? So, next time we
are going, we need to terminate here and next time
we are going to complete with a zero article and
need to touch Arabic and make a comparison or
contrast between the two languages. Okay, that's
it for today. Thank you.