Arabic vocabulary
How to say “called” in Arabic, with pronunciation and real example sentences from OpenArabic texts.
وَهَذَا هُوَ الَّذِي يُسمى فِي اللُّغَة كلمة كَقَوْلِه
And this is what is called in language (a word) as his saying:
يُسَمَّى — is called. PASSIVE present — 'is named, called', not 'names'. The inner-vowel shape marks the passive; the namer is left unstated — 'what is called...'.
From: The Declaration of Faith →وكل من هَذِه الْأَقْسَام يُسمى حرفا
And each of these categories is called a letter.
يُسَمَّى — is called. PASSIVE present — 'is called, named', not 'names'. The inner-vowel shape marks the passive; no namer stated — 'each one is called...'.
From: The Declaration of Faith →وَهَذَا هُوَ الَّذِي يُسمى فِي اللُّغَة كلمة كَقَوْلِه
And this is what is called in the language a 'word', as in his saying:
يُسَمَّى — is called. PASSIVE present — 'is named, called', not 'names'. The inner-vowel shape marks the passive; namer unstated.
From: Small Deeds, Great Reward →وكل من هَذِه الْأَقْسَام يُسمى حرفا لَكِن خَاصَّة الثَّالِث أَنه حرف جَاءَ لِمَعْنى لَيْسَ باسم
And each of these categories is called a particle, but the distinguishing feature of the third is that it is a particle that conveys a meaning and is not a noun.
يُسَمَّى — is called. PASSIVE present — 'is called, named', not 'names'. The passive vowel-shape leaves the namer unstated.
From: Small Deeds, Great Reward →وبين ما يسميه هو عقليات من الأمور المأخوذة عن بعض الطواغيت من المشركين وأهل الكتاب وغير ذلك من أنواع الاعتبار
And between what he calls 'rationalities' taken from some tyrants among the polytheists, People of the Book, and other forms of consideration.
يُسَمِّيهِ — he calls it. Present 'he names it', with 'it' attached as object; form-II 'dub, label'; an emphatic subject 'he' follows.
From: Judging by Revelation →فذلك لأن أصحاب مالك يسمون هذه سنناً،
This is because Malik's followers call these sunnas.
يُسَمُّونَ — they call. Present 'they call, name', the -una 'they'; form-II; it takes two objects (call X Y).
From: Required Remembrance →فذلك لأن أصحاب مالك يسمون هذه سنناً،
This is because the followers of Malik refer to these as recommended practices,
يُسَمُّونَ — refer to. Present 'they call, name', the -una 'they'; form-II; it takes two objects (call X Y).
From: Praise and Petition in Prayer →فَحَمِدَ اللَّهَ وَسَمَّى،
Then he praised God and named it.
وَسَمَّى — and named it. Opens with the linking wa- and continues with a finished-action verb whose object is dropped because the listener can supply it from context. The 'he' subject is built into the verb. Arabic comfortably leaves an obvious object unspoken, so the naming has a target even though no word for 'it' appears, a gap the reader fills in.
From: Generosity to the Poor →إذهبوا إلى نوح، فيأتون نوحا فيقولون يا نوح ، أنت أول الرسل إلى أهل الأرض، وقد سماك الله عبداً شكوراً،
Go to Noah, so they go to him and say: "O Noah, you are the first messenger to the people of the earth, and Allah has named you a grateful servant."
سَمَّاكَ — has named you. A past-tense verb with 'he' inside it and a 'you' pronoun fused on as its object, meaning 'named you'. The divine name in the next word is the subject, and the attached 'you' is the one named, so Adam is the receiver.
From: The Prophet's Intercession →فذلك لأن أصحاب مالك يسمون هذه سنناً، والسنة عندهم قد تكون واجبة إذا تركها أعاد،
This is because Malik's followers call these practices Sunnah, and a Sunnah in their view can be obligatory; if it is left, it must be repeated.
يُسَمُّونَ — they call. A present-tense verb that already contains its 'they' subject in the ending, so no separate pronoun is needed. The plural ending here is the marker that the subject is a group, the followers just mentioned.
From: Praise and Supplication in Prayer →OpenArabic teaches words like سَمَّى through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
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