Arabic vocabulary
خَيْرgood
How to say “good” in Arabic, with pronunciation and real example sentences from OpenArabic texts.
Example sentences
فَهُوَ خير الصَّحَابَة
For he is the best of the companions.
خَيْرُ — the best of. This word serves as the superlative 'best', and it heads an 'of' pairing, 'the best of the companions'. As the predicate it takes the '-u' ending; placed bare before its partner it needs no 'of' and draws definiteness from that partner.
From: The Prophet's Refuge in the Cave →فَقَالَ إِنَّك إِن تضحك وَأَنت مقرّ بخطيئتك خير من أَن تبْكي وَأَنت مدل بعملك
He said, 'It is better for you to laugh while acknowledging your sins than to cry while boasting of your deeds.'
خَيْرٌ — better. This is the main predicate, 'better', completing 'truly, that you laugh... is better'. The word serves as the comparative 'better', and it sets up a 'than' to name what it is preferred over.
From: Contentment with What God Wills →٢ ومنهم من يقصد الدعاء إلى خير ويحتج بآية من غير أن تظهر له دلالة لما قاله
2 - And among them are those who aim for good, and cite an Ayah without clear evidence for what they claim.
خَيْرٍ — good. 'good,' indefinite, in the -i form after 'toward.' His aim is to call people to some good — the wholesome motive that sets him apart from the first type, even though his method still fails.
From: How Scholars Read Scripture →قل متاع الدنيا قليل والآخرة خير لمن اتقى
Say: The enjoyment of this world is little, and the hereafter is better for those who fear Allah.
خَيْرٌ — is better. This is an elative — 'better' — the predicate of 'the hereafter'. It is one of a handful of irregular comparatives that use a short, fixed shape rather than the usual 'more...' mold. It pairs with 'for whoever' to name who it is better for.
From: Intention in Islam →وقالت ملائكة العذاب إنه لم يعمل خيرا قط،
The Angels of Punishment said, 'He has never done any good.'
خَيْرًا — any good. This is the object of 'did', in the accusative — 'any good'. The accusative marks it as what he never did. Their charge: not a single good deed to his name.
From: Righteous Company →فلا يبقى على وجه الأرض أحد في قلبه مثقال ذرة من خير أو إيمان إلا قبضته،
No one will remain on the face of the earth with an atom's weight of goodness or faith in their heart except that the wind will take their soul.
خَيْرٍ — goodness. Genitive after 'of', this is 'goodness' — the first thing an atom's weight of which marks a believer. Its ending follows from the partitive.
From: The Return of Jesus →فاجتمعنا إلى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال إنه لم يكن نبي قبلي إلا كان حقاً عليه أن يدل أمته على خير ما يعلمه لهم،
We gathered to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and he said: "There was no prophet before me except that it was his duty to guide his nation to the best of what he knew for them,"
خَيْرِ — the best of. This is 'best of' as the first half of a pairing with the relative 'what' that follows, 'the best of what...'. Its possessor-form pairing supplies the 'of', and it stands as the object of the preceding preposition; the superlative idea is carried inside this single word.
From: A Prophet Warns His People →ورجع السماء هو إعطاء الخير الذي يكون من جهتها حالًا بعد حال على مرور الأزمان
The returning of the sky is the provision of good that comes from it from time to time over the ages.
الخَيْرِ — of good. The owner half of the pairing, 'good/benefit', which the giving is of. As the possessed-of term it sits in the genitive ending and keeps its own 'the'.
From: Oaths of Provision →والخير كله من قبل السماء يجي لما كان أظهر الخير المشهود بالعيان المطر
And all good comes from the sky because evident good is primarily the rain.
وَالْخَيْرُ — and all good. A noun 'the good', the subject, with a leading 'and' tying it to the passage. It takes the nominative ending and its own 'the', and it is immediately reinforced by the emphasis word that follows.
From: Oaths of Provision →والخير كله من قبل السماء يجي لما كان أظهر الخير المشهود بالعيان المطر
And all good comes from the sky because evident good is primarily the rain.
الْخَيْرِ — good. The owner half of the superlative pairing, 'the good', so 'the most evident of good'. As the possessor it sits in the genitive ending and keeps its own 'the'.
From: Oaths of Provision →ورجع السماء هو إعطاء الخير الذي يكون من جهتها حالًا بعد حال على مرور الأزمان ترجعه رجعًا أي تعطيه مرة بعد مرة
And the sky's return is the provision of good which comes from it continuously over time, returning repeatedly, meaning it gives repeatedly over and over.
الْخَيْرِ — of good. The owner half of the pairing, 'good/benefit', which the giving is of. As the possessed-of term it sits in the genitive ending and keeps its own 'the'.
From: Signs of Resurrection →والخير كله من قبل السماء يجي لما كان أظهر الخير المشهود بالعيان المطر فسر الرجع به ومقابلته بصدع الأرض عن النبات
And all good comes from the sky, and since the most evident visible blessing is rain, the 'return' is interpreted as such, contrasted with the earth's splitting for plant growth.
وَالْخَيْرُ — and the good. A noun 'the good', the subject, with a leading 'and' tying it to the passage. It takes the nominative ending and its own 'the', and the emphasis word that follows reinforces it.
From: Signs of Resurrection →والخير كله من قبل السماء يجي لما كان أظهر الخير المشهود بالعيان المطر فسر الرجع به ومقابلته بصدع الأرض عن النبات
And all good comes from the sky, and since the most evident visible blessing is rain, the 'return' is interpreted as such, contrasted with the earth's splitting for plant growth.
الْخَيْرِ — of the blessings. The owner half of the superlative pairing, 'the good', so 'the most evident of good'. As the possessor it sits in the genitive ending and keeps its own 'the'.
From: Signs of Resurrection →ورجع السماء هو إعطاء الخير الذي يكون من جهتها حالًا بعد حال على مرور الأزمان ترجعه رجعًا أي تعطيه مرة بعد مرة
The return of the sky is the giving of good that comes from it, time after time, as it keeps returning — meaning it gives again and again.
الْخَيْرِ — the good. This is the owner noun 'the good' closing 'giving of the good', in the genitive of the possessive pair, made definite by 'the'. It names what is given and lends definiteness back to 'giving'.
From: Oaths That Seal the Truth →والخير كله من قبل السماء يجي لما كان أظهر الخير المشهود بالعيان المطر
All goodness comes from the sky, as the most apparent good seen with the eye is rain.
وَالْخَيْرُ — and all goodness. This joins 'and' to the noun 'the good', made definite by 'the'. It stands first as the subject of an equational sentence about where good comes from, and the word right after it reinforces it as 'all of it'.
From: Oaths That Seal the Truth →والخير كله من قبل السماء يجي لما كان أظهر الخير المشهود بالعيان المطر
All goodness comes from the sky, as the most apparent good seen with the eye is rain.
الْخَيْرِ — good. This is the owner noun 'good' closing 'most evident of good', in the genitive of the possessive pair, made definite by 'the'. Pairing a superlative with a following genitive is how Arabic says 'the most X of the Ys'.
From: Oaths That Seal the Truth →قال بخير والحمد لله، وقد اشتريت دارًا بعشرة آلاف درهم
He said: I am well, praise be to Allah, and I have bought a house for ten thousand dirhams.
بِخَيْرٍ — in good. A noun with the 'in' prefix attached, 'in good [state]', a set phrase for 'I'm well'. The prefix governs it into the genitive, and the whole is an idiomatic answer with the 'state' left understood.
From: The Reward of Giving →وَقَوْلُهُمْ خَيْرُ الْأُمُورِ أَوْسَاطُهَا، مَذْكُورٌ فِي قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى وَلَا تَجْعَلْ يَدَكَ مَغْلُولَةً إِلَى عُنُقِكَ وَلَا تَبْسُطْهَا كُلَّ الْبَسْطِ
And their saying: 'The best of matters is its middle' is mentioned in His saying: 'And do not make your hand chained to your neck, nor open it completely.'
خَيْرُ — the best. This is 'the best of' heading a possessive pairing with the noun after it. It is built on the comparative-superlative pattern, so the single word carries 'best' without a separate word. As the owner-term it takes its definiteness from the owned noun that follows and serves as the topic.
From: When Scripture Answers Proverbs →فما أولاك بالخير والتوقير ،
Then how deserving you are of goodness and respect,
بِالخَيْرِ — of the goodness. The prefix bi- 'of, with' opens the word and forces the following noun into the possessed ending, while al- marks it definite: 'of the good'. The bi- ties the deserving to its content, naming what the addressee merits.
From: True Devotion →فإن انتفعت وعقدت مع الله عقدا ، فقد توسمت فيك الخير ،
For if you benefit and make a covenant with God, then I have perceived goodness in you,
الخَيْرَ — the goodness. The al- marks this definite, 'the good', and it is the direct object of 'I have discerned', in the object ending. The ending flags goodness as the thing perceived in the addressee.
From: True Devotion →تمرق مارقة على خير فرقة من الْمُسلمين يقتلهُمْ أدنى الطَّائِفَتَيْنِ
A group will defect from the best faction of the Muslims, and the closer of the two parties will kill them.
خَيْرِ — the best. This is a comparative-superlative shape meaning 'best', built into the word from the root, and it heads a possessive pairing 'the best of factions'. As the front of the pair it sits in the genitive after the preposition and reaches to the owner next.
From: Sincerity and Hypocrisy →وَإِنْ رَأَى خَيْرًا مِنْهُ سَرَّهُ ذَلِكَ
And if he saw any good from him, that pleased him.
خَيْرًا — any good. An indefinite noun for 'good' in the accusative as the object of the seeing-verb, with a tanwin ending marking it as 'some good, any good'. The accusative flags its object role. It is what he might spot in another person within the condition.
From: On Reason and Temptation →قَالَ أَنْ تُؤْمِنَ بِاَللَّهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ، وَتُؤْمِنَ بِالْقَدَرِ خَيْرِهِ وَشَرِّهِ
He said: 'It is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and to believe in predestination, its good and its bad.'
خَيْرِهِ — its good. A noun 'its good' with an attached '-its' pointing back to predestination just named. It stands in apposition to that earlier word, spelling out one side of it, and so picks up the same (genitive) ending. The suffix tracks the owner across the gap to keep the reference clear.
From: When Gabriel Came to Teach →لا صبحك الله بخير
May God not grant you morning with good.
بِخَيْرٍ — with good. The preposition bi- 'with' attached to an indefinite noun 'good/wellbeing', forming an adverbial phrase 'with good'. It tells the manner the morning was wished to come - or here, denied: not a morning attended by good. The bi- governs the noun into the genitive ('of') form and links the quality to the wish.
From: Sincere Worship →
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