Arabic vocabulary
How to say “captive” in Arabic, with pronunciation and real example sentences from OpenArabic texts.
وإذا جلس كأنه أسير قدم لتضرب عنقه،
And when he sat, it was as if he were a prisoner brought forth to be executed.
أَسِيرٌ — a prisoner. This noun is the predicate of the 'as if', presented in the subject form as the thing he resembles. Its bare ending marks it indefinite, 'a prisoner', with no separate word for 'a'.
From: Grief of the Prophet's Grandson →فَقَالَ لِي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ مَا فَعَلَ أَسِيرُكَ الْبَارِحَةَ
The Messenger of Allah, may Allah send blessings and grant him peace, said to me, "What did your captive do last night?"
أَسِيرُكَ — your captive. A noun with the 'your' ending attached, naming the person addressed as the owner of the captive. The suffix points to the listener being spoken to, and the noun functions as the subject of the verb just before it, so the question turns on what this captive did.
From: The Verse of the Throne →OpenArabic teaches words like أَسِير through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
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