Grammar and the two translations (الإعراب والترجمة)

You want to write, in Arabic: The two researchers considered the results of the study convincing, and the teachers agreed with them. Decide the case of every noun, and say where the decision is visible in the writing.

1. 01Find the verb and its subject

   The verb is اعتبر, to consider, Form VIII. Its subject is the two researchers, a dual, and a dual subject of a verb takes the nominative in ان: الباحثان. But Arabic normally puts the verb first, and when the verb precedes its subject it stays singular — اعتبر الباحثان, not اعتبرا الباحثان. That is one of the most reliable accuracy signals in the language and it is easy to get wrong under pressure, because English word order pulls the other way.

2. 02Handle the double accusative

   اعتبر takes two objects: the thing considered and what it is considered to be. Both are accusative. نتائج الدراسة is the first, and نتائج is accusative but shows nothing, because it is a broken plural ending in a consonant and the fatha is not written. مقنعة is the second, feminine singular in agreement with the non-human plural نتائج, and it also shows nothing, because a word ending in ة does not take the accusative alif. So the case is entirely invisible here — and entirely obligatory.

3. 03Put the second term of the chain in the genitive

   نتائج الدراسة is a construct chain: نتائج carries no article because it is the first term, and الدراسة is genitive after it. Again invisible in writing. The visible consequence is the absence of the article on نتائج, and that absence is what an examiner checks. Writing النتائج الدراسة would be wrong in a way that is instantly readable; writing نتائج الدراسة with the wrong internal vowels would not be readable at all.

4. 04Now the visible decision: the sound masculine plural

   The teachers agreed is وافق المعلمون. المعلمون is the subject of a verb, so it is nominative and ends in ون. If instead the sentence had been إن المعلمين وافقوا — the teachers did agree — المعلمين would be accusative after إن and would end in ين, with the verb then agreeing in the plural because it follows its subject. Two forms, two spellings, and the difference is audible and visible. This is where the case system stops being theoretical.

5. 05Attach the pronoun and check the preposition

   وافقهم عليها or وافقوهم — Arabic has choices here, and the safe one is وافق المعلمون الباحثين على ذلك: وافق takes a direct object for the person agreed with, الباحثين, accusative dual in ين, and على for the thing agreed about. Prepositions are part of the verb and must be learned with it; a correct case with the wrong preposition still loses the mark. The finished sentence: اعتبر الباحثان نتائج الدراسة مقنعة، ووافقهما المعلمون على ذلك

6. 06Run the visibility check

   Ask of every noun: is my case decision visible? Here الباحثان and الباحثين, المعلمون, and any indefinite accusative would be. نتائج, الدراسة and مقنعة would not. Then check only the visible ones, because those are the marks you can still lose. This two-second triage is worth doing on every sentence of a Paper 2 Section A translation, and it is much faster than checking everything.

Result: اعتبر الباحثان نتائج الدراسة مقنعة، ووافقهما المعلمون على ذلك. The verb stays singular before a dual subject; اعتبر takes two accusatives; the second term of the chain is genitive and the first carries no article; المعلمون is nominative in ون as a verb subject, against المعلمين in ين after إن or as an object; and the whole case system is compulsory even where nothing on the page shows it.

Translate into Arabic. The minister of higher education opened the new headquarters of the national research centre on Monday. In his speech he described the building as the first result of a plan to raise the number of the country's research graduates, and he thanked the ministry's staff for their work.

1. 01The minister of higher education

   وزير التعليم العالي. A two-term chain with an adjective at the end. وزير carries no article and no tanwin; التعليم is genitive and definite, which makes the whole chain definite; العالي agrees with التعليم — masculine singular, definite — and therefore attaches to it, higher education, not to the minister. If you wanted the senior minister of education you would need العالي to agree with وزير instead, and since both are masculine singular the phrase would be ambiguous, which is exactly the situation the لـ periphrasis exists for.

2. 02opened … on Monday

   افتتح … يوم الاثنين. افتتح is Form VIII from فتح and means to inaugurate, which is more precise here than فتح, opened. يوم الاثنين is an adverbial accusative and a chain at the same time: يوم takes no article, الاثنين is genitive. Days of the week are all constructed this way — يوم الأحد, يوم الثلاثاء — and knowing that they are chains explains why يوم never carries the article in them.

3. 03the new headquarters of the national research centre

   المقر الجديد لمركز البحوث الوطني. Here is the reason the لـ periphrasis has to be learned. New belongs to the headquarters, and both المقر and مركز are masculine singular, so a direct chain — المقر الجديد مركز البحوث — is impossible and المقر مركز البحوث الجديد would attach الجديد to البحوث. So you break the chain with لـ: المقر الجديد, a complete noun-adjective phrase carrying its own article, then لـ plus مركز البحوث الوطني, itself a chain with الوطني agreeing with مركز. Two chains and one preposition, and every word unambiguous.

4. 04he described the building as the first result of a plan to raise the number of the country's research graduates

   ووصف المبنى بأنه أول ثمرة لخطة رفع عدد خريجي البحث العلمي في البلاد. وصف … بأنه is described it as, with the pronoun agreeing with المبنى. أول ثمرة is a chain, and أول behaves like a superlative first term. لخطة رفع عدد خريجي … is a four-term chain hanging off لـ: plan, raising, number, graduates — and خريجي is the crucial word, a sound masculine plural in the genitive inside a construct, so it loses its ن and takes ي. English needed twelve words; Arabic needs seven, and that compression is the range mark.

5. 05and he thanked the ministry's staff for their work

   وشكر موظفي الوزارة على عملهم. موظفي is again a sound masculine plural inside a chain, this time as a direct object, so it is accusative — and the accusative and genitive of a sound masculine plural are the same form, ي plus a dropped ن. Compare موظفو الوزارة, which is what you would write if they were the subject of a verb. شكر takes a direct object for the person thanked and على for the thing thanked for; getting the preposition wrong costs the mark even with the case right.

6. 06Check the chains before anything else

   Run one sweep looking only at chains. Every first term should have no article and no tanwin: وزير, يوم, مركز, أول, خطة, رفع, عدد, خريجي, موظفي — nine first terms in three sentences, which is normal for Arabic and is why this sweep is the highest-yield check available. Then check the two sound masculine plurals for their dropped ن. Then check that every adjective sits after its whole chain and agrees with the noun you intended.

Result: افتتح وزير التعليم العالي يوم الاثنين المقر الجديد لمركز البحوث الوطني. ووصف في كلمته المبنى بأنه أول ثمرة لخطة رفع عدد خريجي البحث العلمي في البلاد، وشكر موظفي الوزارة على عملهم

You meet this sentence in Paper 1 Section B with no dictionary. أعلنت الحكومة عن خطة لاستثمار متزايد في الطاقة المتجددة، بعد انخفاض ملحوظ في تكاليف الألواح الشمسية. وقد ناقش المؤتمر السنوي سبل جعل هذه المشاريع مستدامة، مشيرا إلى أن استيراد المعدات ما زال يشكل عقبة أمام التوسع. Work the unfamiliar words out from their roots and patterns.

1. 01استثمار and استيراد: the است signature

   Both begin with است, so both are Form X verbal nouns on the pattern استفعال. Strip the pattern's own letters — the ا, س, ت and the ا before the last consonant — and you are left with ث-م-ر in the first and و-ر-د in the second. ثمر is fruit or yield, and Form X often means to seek or to derive, so استثمار is seeking a yield: investment. ورد is to arrive or come in, so استيراد is causing to come in: importing. Two words decoded from one pattern signature.

2. 02انخفاض: the ان signature

   ان at the start marks Form VII, whose verbal noun is انفعال and whose sense is characteristically to undergo or to happen of itself. The remaining consonants are خ-ف-ض, lowering, which you may know from خفض, to lower. So انخفاض is a lowering that happens: a fall or decline. Notice that the pattern told you the voice — something declining rather than someone lowering it — before you knew the root, and the sentence confirms it, since costs decline rather than being lowered by anybody named.

3. 03متزايد, مستدامة, ملحوظ: participles carry م

   Any word beginning with م and not obviously a place noun is likely a participle. متزايد is Form VI, تفاعل, on زاد, to increase, and Form VI is reciprocal or progressive, so متزايد is increasing. مستدامة is Form X on دوم, to last, feminine because it agrees with the non-human plural مشاريع, so it is made to last: sustainable. ملحوظ is a plain Form I passive participle, مفعول, on لحظ, to notice: noticed, hence noticeable. Three participles, three forms, one prefix.

4. 04سبل and المعدات: the plurals

   سبل is a broken plural on the فعل pattern, from سبيل, a way or path, so it is ways or means. المعدات is a sound feminine plural in ات, from معدة, itself a place-or-instrument noun from ع-د-د, preparing, so it is equipment. Sound feminine plurals are the easy case: the ات ending is unmistakable, and it takes the same form for accusative and genitive, so it never needs an alif.

5. 05المؤتمر and التوسع: the last two

   المؤتمر begins with م and has a hamza, which is the signature of a Form VIII participle from a root beginning with hamza — أ-م-ر, ordering or conferring — giving the place or occasion of conferring: a conference. التوسع has the ت plus doubled middle consonant of Form V, from و-س-ع, breadth, so it is the act of becoming broad: expansion. Now read the sentence again and every content word is accounted for.

6. 06Check the guesses against the sentence, not against a feeling

   Substitute all seven guesses and read it whole: the government announced a plan for increasing investment in renewable energy, after a noticeable fall in the costs of solar panels; the annual conference discussed ways of making these projects sustainable, pointing out that importing the equipment still constitutes an obstacle to expansion. Everything coheres, the register is consistent, and no guess contradicts another — which is the test. If one word had refused to fit, that is the one to re-derive.

Result: The government announced a plan for increased investment in renewable energy, after a noticeable fall in the costs of solar panels. The annual conference discussed ways of making these projects sustainable, pointing out that importing the equipment still constitutes an obstacle to expansion.

You are translating into Arabic and reach: By the time the committee met, the ministry had already published the report, and the results were being discussed in the press. Every clause needs a decision. Make them.

1. 01By the time the committee met

   عندما اجتمعت اللجنة. اجتمع is Form VIII from ج-م-ع, gathering, and Form VIII's reflexive flavour is exactly right: they gathered themselves, they met. Form I جمع would mean to collect something, and Form II جمّع to assemble things — the wrong verbs entirely. اجتمعت is feminine singular agreeing with اللجنة. عندما plus a perfect verb gives when in a past narrative; بحلول الوقت الذي would be a literal calque and reads as translated English.

2. 02the ministry had already published the report

   كانت الوزارة قد نشرت التقرير. This is the pluperfect, كان plus قد plus a perfect verb, and it is the whole point of the sentence: the publication preceded the meeting. Appendix 2 lists the pluperfect explicitly and candidates almost never use it, so a correct one is disproportionately visible. كانت agrees with الوزارة. نشر is Form I and is the ordinary verb for publishing; أنشر does not exist for this sense and Form IV would be an invention.

3. 03and the results were being discussed

   وكانت النتائج تناقش. Two decisions at once. كان plus an imperfect gives the past continuous, were being. تناقش is the internal passive of the Form III verb ناقش, and in unvocalised writing it is spelled identically to the active — which is precisely why the sentence must supply the context that tells a reader which it is. There is no agent, النتائج is doing nothing, and the meaning is unambiguous. If you wanted to be certain you could add a partial vocalisation, which the specification permits where there is genuine ambiguity.

4. 04in the press

   في الصحافة. الصحافة is the press as an institution, a generic definite where English also uses the article. Note that في الصحف, in the newspapers, would be a different claim — the institution against the individual publications — and translators reach for the plural too readily. The finished sentence: عندما اجتمعت اللجنة، كانت الوزارة قد نشرت التقرير، وكانت النتائج تناقش في الصحافة

5. 05Check the decisions in the order that finds errors fastest

   First, forms: is اجتمع really VIII and is ناقش really III? Both yes, and both are attested in exactly these senses. Second, tenses: does the sentence need a pluperfect, and did you build it as كان plus قد plus perfect? Third, voice: is the passive intended, and is there genuinely no agent? Fourth, agreement: اجتمعت and كانت with feminine singular subjects, and النتائج non-human plural taking تناقش feminine singular. Four sweeps, about forty seconds, and they catch nearly everything this sentence can get wrong.

Result: عندما اجتمعت اللجنة، كانت الوزارة قد نشرت التقرير، وكانت النتائج تناقش في الصحافة. Form VIII for the reflexive sense of meeting; the pluperfect كان قد for the action that preceded; كان plus an imperfect for the past continuous; the internal passive of a Form III verb, spelled identically to its active and disambiguated only by the syntax; and the generic definite on الصحافة.

Translate into English, with a recommended 20 minutes. تشير تقارير عدة إلى أن الطلب على المياه في المنطقة يزداد أسرع مما تزداد مواردها. ولا يعود ذلك إلى النمو السكاني وحده، بل إلى تغير أنماط الاستهلاك أيضا. وقد اتخذت بعض الحكومات إجراءات لترشيد الاستعمال، من بينها تسعير الماء ودعم تقنيات الري الحديثة، غير أن تطبيق هذه الإجراءات يواجه صعوبات اجتماعية واضحة. ولن يكون الحل تقنيا فحسب، ما دام السلوك اليومي جزءا من المشكلة

1. 01Parse the first sentence before writing a word

   The verb is تشير, feminine singular, so its subject is a non-human plural: تقارير عدة, several reports. أشار إلى أن is to indicate that, and أن introduces a nominal clause whose subject الطلب is accusative. Inside that clause, يزداد is the verb and الطلب its subject, and أسرع مما تزداد مواردها is a comparative followed by مما, than what, with its own verb. Only now is the sentence translatable. Several reports indicate that demand for water in the region is rising faster than its resources are.

2. 02Read the negative-plus-بل as one unit

   ولا يعود ذلك إلى النمو السكاني وحده، بل إلى تغير أنماط الاستهلاك أيضا. عاد إلى is to be attributable to. وحده is alone, agreeing with النمو. لا … بل … is not … but rather, and the two halves must be translated as a pair or the sentence loses its point. تغير أنماط الاستهلاك is a three-term chain: the change of the patterns of consumption. This is not attributable to population growth alone, but also to a change in patterns of consumption.

3. 03Unpack the third sentence's chains

   وقد اتخذت بعض الحكومات إجراءات لترشيد الاستعمال. اتخذ إجراءات is the fixed phrase for to take measures. لترشيد is لـ plus a verbal noun of purpose, rationalising. من بينها, among them, resumes with a pronoun referring to إجراءات. تسعير الماء ودعم تقنيات الري الحديثة gives two verbal nouns each heading its own chain, and الحديثة agrees with تقنيات, so it is modern irrigation techniques, not modern irrigation. Some governments have taken measures to rationalise consumption, among them pricing water and supporting modern irrigation techniques.

4. 04Catch غير أن and the abstract subject

   غير أن تطبيق هذه الإجراءات يواجه صعوبات اجتماعية واضحة. غير أن is but or however, with an accusative subject — here تطبيق, a verbal noun heading a chain, the application of these measures. يواجه is masculine singular agreeing with تطبيق, not with إجراءات, and reading the agreement is what tells you which noun is the subject. صعوبات اجتماعية واضحة is an indefinite noun with two agreeing adjectives. But the application of these measures faces clear social difficulties.

5. 05Handle لن and ما دام in the last sentence

   ولن يكون الحل تقنيا فحسب، ما دام السلوك اليومي جزءا من المشكلة. لن plus the subjunctive is the emphatic future negative, will not. يكون takes an accusative predicate, تقنيا, with its visible alif. فحسب is merely. ما دام is a sister of كان meaning as long as, and it too takes an accusative predicate, جزءا, again with the alif. Two kana-sisters and two accusative predicates in one short sentence. The solution will not be merely technical, as long as everyday behaviour is part of the problem.

6. 06Check the English against the four things this passage could break

   Did you find the subject of every verb by agreement rather than by position — تقارير, تطبيق, السلوك? Did you keep لا … بل as a pair? Did you attach الحديثة to techniques rather than to irrigation? And did you render both accusative predicates as predicates rather than as objects? Four checks, thirty seconds, and they cover every place where this passage is genuinely capable of going wrong.

Result: Several reports indicate that demand for water in the region is rising faster than its resources are. This is not attributable to population growth alone, but also to a change in patterns of consumption. Some governments have taken measures to rationalise consumption, among them pricing water and supporting modern irrigation techniques, but the application of these measures faces clear social difficulties. The solution will not be merely technical, as long as everyday behaviour is part of the problem.