Arabic vocabulary
وَزِيرminister in Arabic
وَزِير is how you say “minister” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in real example sentences from classical texts below.
Example sentences
كان الجصاص تاجرًا أحمق، فدخل على ابن الفرات الوزير،
Al-Jassas was a foolish merchant who entered upon the minister Ibn Al-Furat.
الوَزِيرِ — the minister. A noun, 'the minister', placed after the name as a further identification of the same man, a kind of restatement. It shares the genitive of the name it explains, telling us his office.
From: The Reward of Giving →فقال له الوزير كيف حالك؟
The minister said to him: How are you?
الوَزِيرُ — the minister. The speaker, 'the minister', named after the speech-verb in the usual verb-first order, carrying the subject ending and definite with 'the'.
From: The Reward of Giving →قال الوزير بارك الله لك، وأين هذه الدار؟
The minister said: May Allah bless it for you, and where is this house?
الوَزِيرُ — the minister. The speaker, 'the minister', named after the speech-verb in the usual verb-first order, carrying the subject ending and definite with 'the'.
From: The Reward of Giving →فتعجب الوزير وقال وكيف اشتريت دارًا في الجنة؟
The minister was amazed and said: How did you buy a house in Paradise?
الوَزِيرُ — the minister. This noun is the doer of the verb just before it, and Arabic flags the subject of a verb by giving it the -u ending you hear at the end here. Because the verb already came first and held 'he' inside it, this word names who that 'he' actually is.
From: The Reward of Giving →فضحك الوزير وأعطاه عشرة آلاف درهم أخرى
The minister laughed and gave him another ten thousand dirhams.
الوَزِيرُ — the minister. This names the doer of the verb before it and so takes the -u subject ending. Since the verb already held 'he', this word tells you which 'he' laughed.
From: The Reward of Giving →قال من عند الوزير ابن الفرات
He said: From the minister Ibn Al-Furat.
الوَزِيرِ — the minister. Definite by al- and forced into the genitive -i by the words governing it. It then heads an 'of' chain with 'son of Al-Furat' that follows, naming whose minister this is.
From: The Reward of Giving →فذهب إلى الوزير وقال له إني اشتريت قصرًا في الجنة بعشرين ألف درهم
So he went to the minister and said to him: I have bought a palace in Paradise for twenty thousand dirhams.
الوَزِيرِ — the minister. Definite by al- and pushed into the genitive -i by the preposition before it; it names where he went.
From: The Reward of Giving →فقال الوزير أحسنت، اذهب فقد سبقك الجصاص إلى الجنة، فالقصر الذي اشتريته هو لصاحب الدار، فاذهب واقبضه منه
The minister said: Well done, go, for Al-Jassas has preceded you to Paradise, and the palace you bought belongs to the owner of the house, so go and collect it from him.
الوَزِيرُ — the minister. Names the doer of the verb before it and takes the -u subject ending, identifying the speaker.
From: The Reward of Giving →
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