سَاعَةٌ Hour in Arabic
سَاعَةٌ is how you say “Hour” in Arabic.
Root س و ع s-w-ʿ. noun, feminine (pl. سَاعَات, سُوَاع). sāʿah.
Arabic
English
The audio uses AI voices.
Meaning of Hour in Arabic
- hour, one of the 24 divisions of a day and night an astronomical hour of fixed length, as opposed to sense 2
- a while, a moment, an indefinite short time the everyday sense — 'jalastu ʿindaka sāʿah' = I sat with you a while
- the Resurrection, or the time of it with the article, السَّاعَة; Qur'anic usage, e.g. 54:1, 7:187
- the moment of death, of a person or a generation figurative extension of the resurrection sense
Example sentence
باب مفتوح من السماء من أبواب الجنة ينزل من الجنات الرحمة على بيت المقدس كل صباح حتى تقوم الساعة
A gate from the gates of Paradise is open in the heavens, from which mercy descends upon Bayt al-Maqdis every morning until the Hour is established.
السَّاعَةُ the Hour
al- = 'the'; saa means 'the Hour (of Judgment)'; the '-u' ending marks it as the subject.
The English is machine-translated.
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How it is used
سَاعَة is used both literally, for a fixed hour, and loosely, for any short while or moment. With the definite article, السَّاعَة can mean simply 'now, the present time,' but in the Qur'an it is often a fixed term for the Resurrection or its appointed Hour.
Words from the same root
- سَاعَ to be left to roam untended, of camels
- أَسَاعَ to neglect, leave alone, or lose
- مُسَاوَعَةٌ hiring or working paid by the hour
- سَوْعٌ a period, or portion, of the night
- سَاعٌ an hour, or period of time
More example sentences
وهو من أشراط الساعة،
It is one of the signs of the Hour.
السَّاعَةِ the Hour.
Genitive owner of 'portents' — 'the Hour' (the Last Day); the signs of the Hour.
وكم من واعظ مفوه قد أبكى وأثر في الحاضرين تلك الساعة،
And how many eloquent preachers have moved the attendees to tears at that moment,
السَّاعَةَ moment
This noun is in the accusative to work as a time-adverb — 'during that hour' — not as an object. Arabic routinely drops a time-word into the accusative to answer 'when?'. The effect they had was real but lasted only 'that hour', the sentence's quiet point.
فَيُرِيحُهَا عَلَيْهِمَا حِينَ تَذْهَبُ سَاعَةٌ مِنَ الْعِشَاءِ،
So he leaves it to rest with them two when an hour of the evening has passed.
سَاعَةٌ an hour
An indefinite noun acting as the doer of 'passes'; its plain doer ending and lack of 'the' mark it as 'a/some hour'. It controls the feminine shape of the verb in front of it.
Common questions
- How do you say "hour" in Arabic?
- سَاعَة (sāʿah).
- Why does السَّاعَة sometimes mean "the Resurrection" rather than "the hour"?
- In Qur'anic usage the definite السَّاعَة is a set term for the Resurrection or its appointed time, since it will come suddenly, in an instant.
Related words
Definitions summarised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).