Arabic Yes/No Questions – Particles of Interrogation
Arabic Interrogation – The Interrogation – الاسْتِفْهَامُ
Yes/No Questions
Yes/no questions are formed in Germanic languages, of which English is one, by inverting the subject and the verb of the sentence; e.g. “you are” becomes “are you?” and “you can” becomes “can you?” etc. Of course modern English has its own way with the verb “do,” which is used before the subject in place of most of the verbs.
Turning a sentence into a yes/no question is easier in Arabic than in English. Here we will not need to invert the subject and the verb or anything like that. We will just put a particle in front of the sentence and that will turn it into a yes/no question. No changes in cases or moods are required.
There are two particles that we can use to create yes/no questions, or multiple choice questions with the addition of “or.”
Here are those two particles:
| Particles of Interrogation حَرْفَاْ الاِسْتِفْهَاْمِ | ||
| Is it that ? | ‘a- | أَ |
| hal | هَلْ | |
Those particles resemble in meaning the French est-ce que = “is it that?”
Lets have some examples.
1) Positive Questions
| Positive Sentence خَلِيْلٌ هُنَاْ khaleel(un) hunaa = Khalil (is) here Translation: Khalil is here
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| Positive Question أَخَلِيْلٌ هُنَاْ ؟ ‘a-khaleel(un) hunaa = is it that Khalil (is) here Translation: is Khalil here?
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| Positive Question هَلْ خَلِيْلٌ هُنَاْ ؟ hal khaleel(un) hunaa = is it that Khalil (is) here Translation: is Khalil here?
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| Positive Answer نَعَمْ خَلِيْلٌهُنَاْ na”am khaleel(un) hunaa = yes Khalil (is) here Translation: yes Khalil is here
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| Negative Answer لا خَلِيْلٌ لَيْسَ هُنَاْ laa khaleel(un) lays(a) hunaa = no Khalil is/exists not here Translation: no Khalil is not here
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| Negative Answer لا لَيْسَ خَلِيْلٌ هُنَاْ laa lays(a) khaleel(un) hunaa = no is/exists not Khalil here Translation: no Khalil is not here
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Note that there are many alternatives for forming a negative answer. I used here ones commonly used in modern standard Arabic. (See negation for more information)
More examples:
| Positive Sentence الْطَّقْسُ مُشْمِسٌ ‘at–taqs(u) mushmis(un) = the weather (is) sunny Translation: it is sunny
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| Positive Question آلْطََّقْسُ مُشْمِسٌ ؟ ‘aa–t–taqs(u) mushmis(un) = is it that the weather (is) sunny Translation: is it sunny?
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| Positive Question هَلِ الْطََّقْسُ مُشْمِسٌ ؟ hal(i) (‘a)t–taqs(u) mushmis(un) = is it thatthe weather (is) sunny Translation: is it sunny?
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| Positive Answer نَعَمِ الْطَّقْسُ مُشْمِسٌ na”am(i) (‘a)t–taqs(u) mushmis(un) = yesthe weather (is) sunny Translation: yes it is sunny
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| Negative Answer لا الْطَّقْسُ لَيْسَ مُشْمِسًا laa (‘a)t–taqs(u) lays(a) mushmis(an) = no the weather is/exists not (as) sunny Translation: no it is not sunny
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| Negative Answer لا لَيْسَ الْطَّقْسُ مُشْمِسًا laa lays(a) (‘a)t–taqs(u) mushmis(an) = no is/exists not the weather (as) sunny Translation: no it is not sunny
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The purple vowels, barring the first one, were added for phonological reasons, namely to prevent still letters from directly following each other.
However, the first purple vowel was added for a different reason which is to clarify that the statement was a question. This vowel will always be added when attaching interrogative ‘a- to the definite article (‘a)l-, and the combination will become ‘aa–l-.
| Attachment of Interrogative ‘a- to ‘al- | |
| آلْقَمَرُ | الْقَمَرُ |
| ‘aa–l–qamar(u) | (‘a)l–qamar(u) |
| is it that the moon? | the moon |
| آلشَّمْسُ | الشَّمْسُ |
| ‘aa–sh-shams(u) | (‘a)sh-shams(u) |
| is it that the sun? | the sun |
More examples:
| Positive Sentence تَتَكَلَّمُ الْعَرَبِيَّةَ tatakallam(u) (‘a)l-“arabiyya(ta) = (you sing. masc.) speak the Arabic Translation: you speak Arabic you are speaking Arabic
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| Positive Question أَتَتَكَلَّمُ الْعَرَبِيَّةَ ؟ ‘a–tatakallam(u) (‘a)l-“arabiyya(ta) = is it that (you sing. masc.) speak the Arabic Translation: do you speak Arabic? are you speaking Arabic?
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| Positive Question هَلْ تَتَكَلَّمُ الْعَرَبِيَّةَ ؟ hal tatakallam(u) (‘a)l-“arabiyya(ta) = is it that (you sing. masc.) speak the Arabic Translation: do you speak Arabic? are you speaking Arabic?
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| Positive Answer نَعَمْ أَتَكَلَّمُ الْعَرَبِيَّةَ na”am ‘atakallam(u) (‘a)l-“arabiyya(ta) = yes(I) speak the Arabic Translation: yes I speak Arabic yes I’m speaking Arabic
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| Negative Answer لا لا أَتَكَلَّمُ الْعَرَبِيَّةَ laa laa ‘atakallam(u) (‘a)l-“arabiyya(ta) = no not(I) speak the Arabic Translation: no, I don’t speak Arabic no, I’m not speaking Arabic
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