FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE

MODERN WRITTEN

ARABIC

VOLUME III

o EPA R T MEN T 0 F S TAT E

 MODERN WRITTEN

ARABIC

VOLUME III

A. NASHAT NAJA

FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE

WASHINGTON. D.C.
1978

o EPA R T MEN T 0 F S TAT E

 FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE
BASIC COURSE SERIES
Edited by
MARIANNE LEHR ADAMS

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Washington, D.C. 20402
Stock No. 0«-000--01683-4
 PREFACE

Modern Written Arabic, Volume III, is based on materials which have been used at
the Foreign Service Institute Arabic Language and Area School in Beirut and Tunis for a
number of years to help members of the U. S. Foreign Service learn to read the modern
Arabic press.

A. Nashat Naja~ a member of the teaching staff of the School in both its locations~
planned and carried out the work in its present form, building on the second volume. In
1974 he began a complete re-write of the materials then in use. He continued the work
through the difficult 1974-1975 period in Beirut~ subsequently completing it at the new
location in Tunis. Mr. Naja carried out his work under three school directors: James A.
Snow, Harlie L. Smith, Jr., and Margaret K. Omar.

Camera copy for this volume was prepared in Washington where the work was co-
ordinated by Marianne L. Adams, the FSI Publications Officer~ who consulted with Dr.
Snow and worked with Naguib Guirgis who typed the Arabic. Proofreading was done by
Naim Owais with assistance from Grace Shahid, Souria H. Haddad~ and Mohamed
Achalaoune, all of the FSI Washington Arabic staff. In addition~ Mr. Owais compiled the
materials for the glossary. Maryko Deemer typed the English glosses. Dr. Smith and Dr.
Snow contributed final editorial suggestions and checking.

James R. Frith~ Dean

chool of Language Studies
Foreign Service Institute
Department of State

iii
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
PREFACE. . iii
INTRODUCTION . vii

Lesson
65. 1
66. 13
67. 28
68. 40
69. 52
70. .
. 65
71. 76
72. 89
73. .103
74. .117
75. .131
76. .147
77. .161
78. .179
79. .191
80. .204
81. .217
82. .231
83. .247
84. .260
85. .273
86. .286
87. .301
88. .313
89. .330
90. .346
91. .361
92. .378
93. .395

v
Lesson Page
94. .413
95. .431
96. .450
Glossary .465

vi
 INTRODUCTION

This third and final volume of Modern Written Arabic (MWA)

builds on the previous two volumes and completes a set of
materials designed to teach members of the Foreign Service to
read the modern Arabic press.

Continuing the purposes noted in the Introductions to

volumes I and II, this volume is intended to provide recogni-
tional mastery of many additional vocabulary items and more exten-
sive exposure to complex morphological and syntactic patterns as
well as to a wide range of sophisticated Arabic prose styles.

The format of Volume III essentially follows the format of

Volume II. Each lesson presents several selections based on Arabic
newspaper materials followed immediately by a word list. This
list draws the student's attention to new idioms and expressions
as well as vocabulary items. It isolates proper names and easily
recognizable words which the student may not have seen before.
It also presents derivations of common root forms to help the
student decipher meanings using knowledge already gained. Gram-
matical references are omitted in this volume.

It is assumed that students can already read live newspaper

materials as a result of Volume II and that Volume III will lead
them to handle increasingly sophisticated prose with greater
independence.

vii
 Abbreviations and Symbols

abstr. n abstract noun per perfect

acc accusative pers personal
act, actv active pI plural
adj. adjective PN, pn proper noun
adv adverb prep preposition
colI collective prn. pron pronoun
comp comparative pol political
conj conjunction ptcp participle
d dual reI relative
def definite sg singular
dem demonstrative s.o. someone
f, fem feminine s.pl. someplace
gen genitive s.th. something
impf imperfect subj subject
impv imperative subjnc subjunctive
indef indefinite trans transitive
intr intransitive vb verb
juss jussive vn verbal noun
lit literally voc vocative
m, masc masculine 1, 1st first person
mil military 2, 2nd second person
n noun 3, 3rd third person
neg negative I, II, Form I, Form II, ...
obj object 1 , 11 Form I, Form II
4 4 quadriliteral
o.s. oneself (raised) 2 diptote
pass, passv passive

viii