Arabic vocabulary
How to say “mother” in Arabic, with pronunciation and real example sentences from OpenArabic texts.
فَرَأَتْ أُمُّ ابْنِ صَيَّادٍ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَهُوَ يَتَّقِي بِجُذُوعِ النَّخْلِ
Then the mother of Ibn Sayyad saw the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, while he was taking shelter by the trunks of the palm trees.
أُمُّ — mother of. A noun heading a 'mother of' pairing, the subject of the verb before it. As the head it gives up its own 'the' and leans onto the following name-phrase to complete 'mother of so-and-so', drawing its definiteness from that owner.
From: A Night with the Companions →وَالْحِزْبُ الْآخَرُ أُمُّ سَلَمَةُ وَسَائِرُ نِسَاءِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ،
And the other group was Umm Salama and the remaining wives of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
أُمُّ — Umm. The 'mother-of' element that opens a teknonym (a by-name built from 'mother of...'); it heads the nickname and links to the part after it. As the leading piece of that pairing it borrows its definiteness from the name that follows.
From: Wives of the Prophet →فَكَلَّمَتْهُ أُمُّ سَلَمَةِ بِمَا قُلْنَا،
Then Umm Salama spoke to him about what we said.
أُمُّ — mother of. This noun is the doer of the speaking, the delayed subject placed after its verb; its ending marks it nominative. It also heads a teknonym pairing with the name after it, identifying the speaker as 'Umm Salama', mother-of-Salama.
From: Wives of the Prophet →فَلَمَّا رَجَعَ أُمَيَّةُ إِلَى أَهْلِهِ قَالَ يَا أُمُّ صَفْوَانِ،
So when Umayya returned to his household, he said, 'O Umm Safwan,'
أُمُّ — mother of. A 'mother of' name-word (kunya) heading an 'of' pairing with the name next; in this address it names the woman by her child. As head it draws its definiteness from the name that follows.
From: Warning Before the Battle of Badr →ثُمَّ قَالَ أُمَيَّةُ يَا أُمُّ صَفْوَانِ جَهِّزِينِي
Then Umayya said, "O Umm Safwan, prepare me."
أُمُّ — mother of. A 'mother of' name-word (kunya) heading an 'of' pairing with the name next; in this address it names the woman by her child. As head it draws its definiteness from the name that follows.
From: Warning Before the Battle of Badr →وَالَّذِي رَدَّتْ عَلَيَّ أُمُّ سَلَمَةِ،
And Umm Salamah answered me,
أُمُّ — mother of. A title meaning 'mother of' that opens a possessive pairing and is grammatically incomplete on its own. It is the doer of the verb just before it, yet it still demands the following name to finish the 'X of Y' chain it begins.
From: Umar and the Prophet's Wives →وَعَصَرَتْ أُمُّ سُلَيْمٍ عُكَّةً لَهَا فَأَدَمَتْهُ،
And Umm Sulaym squeezed a skin of clarified butter for her, and she seasoned it.
أُمُّ — mother. 'Mother of' -- front of the 'X of Y' teknonym leaning on the name that follows, and the doer of the squeezing. It owns 'Sulaym' next, naming the woman.
From: The Barley Loaf That Fed Eighty →وَهِيَ أُمُّ عَائِشَةِ، عَمَّا قِيلَ فِيهَا مَا قِيلَ
She was Aisha's mother; as for what was said about her, whatever was said.
أُمُّ — mother. This is the first half of 'mother of ___', here serving as the predicate ('she is the mother of...'). It leans onto the name after it for its meaning and takes its definiteness from it, the two words binding directly with no separate 'of'.
From: Aisha Cleared of Slander →OpenArabic teaches words like أُمُّ through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
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