Arabic vocabulary
How to say “food” in Arabic, with pronunciation and real example sentences from OpenArabic texts.
وبطنه عن الطعام والشراب،
and whose stomach abstains from food and drink,
الطَّعَامِ — food. In the genitive after 'from', definite. The first thing abstained from in the literal fast.
From: The Meaning of Fasting →هذا هو الصوم المشروع، لا مجرد الإمساك عن الطعام والشراب
This is the prescribed fasting, not merely abstaining from food and drink.
الطَّعَامِ — food. In the genitive after 'from', definite. The first item of mere physical fasting.
From: The Meaning of Fasting →ومن تملى من الطعام شيئا، غذا بدنه، وأشرت نفسه، وقسا قلبه
Whoever fills himself with food nourishes his body but makes his soul arrogant and hardens his heart.
الطَّعَامِ — food. This is the noun governed by 'from', in the genitive because of it and made definite by 'al-'. It names the food as the source the person takes their fill from.
From: Eating in Moderation →والطعام السخن مذموم، ونهى عنه صلى الله عليه وسلم
Very hot food is blameworthy, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) forbade it.
والسخن — and hot. This adjective 'hot' describes the food and agrees with it in being definite, which is why it also carries 'al-'. Arabic places the describing word after the noun and matches its definiteness, where English would just put 'hot' before the noun.
From: Eating in Moderation →فقيل لهم كل العبادات طعام وتعبد هذا دقيق الكيس،
It was said to them, "All acts of worship are sustenance, and this devotion is the finest of discernment."
طَعَامٌ — sustenance. This indefinite noun is what is said about the subject, the predicate, in the plain subject ending. Arabic joins a topic and its description with no separate 'is', so the bare noun here completes 'all worship is sustenance'.
From: Adam and the Rebel →وهجروا الرفث ثم أقبلوا على الطعام،
They would abandon indecent talk and then approach the food.
الطَّعَامِ — the food. The al- makes this definite, 'the food'. As the noun governed by the preposition 'to', it takes the -i ending Arabic assigns to objects of a preposition.
From: The Art of Eating Well →ليؤكل في الصيف البارد، وفي الشتاء الحار إدخال طعام على طعام آخر رديء
Cold foods should be eaten in the summer, and hot foods in the winter; introducing food upon another food is bad.
طَعَامٍ — food. This noun is the owner closing the pairing 'the introducing of food', set directly after the action-noun with no word for 'of'. As the possessor it takes the -in indefinite ending, keeping it general, 'food' rather than 'the food'.
From: The Art of Eating Well →ليؤكل في الصيف البارد، وفي الشتاء الحار إدخال طعام على طعام آخر رديء
Cold foods should be eaten in the summer, and hot foods in the winter; introducing food upon another food is bad.
طَعَامٍ — another food. This noun is governed by the preposition 'upon', so it sits in the post-preposition slot with the -in indefinite ending, 'another food'. The indefinite form keeps it general, any second food piled on the first.
From: The Art of Eating Well →الحركة قبل الطعام خير كله، كما أنها بعده شر كله
Movement before food is entirely good, just as it is after it entirely evil.
الطَّعَامِ — the food. The al- marks this definite, 'the food', and it sits in the possessed ending forced by qabla 'before' just ahead of it. Together qabla plus this noun form a tight 'before the food' unit, the second word locked into the shape the time-word requires.
From: The Art of Eating Well →واللذيذ أحمد لولا الإكثار منه وملازمة الطعام التفه
Delicious food is praiseworthy, were it not for overeating it, and sticking to bland food.
الطَّعَامِ — the food. The al- marks this definite, 'the food', and it sits in the possessed, 'of'-type ending because the action-noun before it owns it: 'sticking to the food'. The two nouns stand directly side by side with no word for 'of', the second taking this owned-half shape.
From: The Art of Eating Well →وَلَيْسَ عِنْدَنَا مِنَ الطَّعَامِ مَا نُطْعِمُهُمْ
We do not have any food to feed them.
الطَّعَامِ — the food. The food, made definite by al- and governed by the preceding 'of', so in the genitive. The case shows it is the whole that the partitive 'of' draws a (missing) part from.
From: The Barley Loaf That Fed Eighty →OpenArabic teaches words like طَعَامٌ through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
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