Arabic vocabulary
حَالٌstate in Arabic
حَالٌ is how you say “state” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in real example sentences from classical texts below.
Root ح و ل (ḥ-w-l)nounPronounced ḥāl
Meaning of state in Arabic
- state, condition — the condition a person or thing is currently in
- circumstance, situation
Ḥāl is the noun form built on the root's basic verb ḥāla, "to become altered or changed" — so it names the condition something is in at a given moment, a condition understood as liable to shift. The same root also gives ḥawl, "year," since a year passing is itself a kind of change.
Words from the same root
- حَوْلٌa year
- حَالَةٌa state, condition, case
- تَحَوُّلٌa changing, turning into something else
- حِيلَةٌa stratagem, trick, means
- حَيْلُولَةٌan intervening, coming between
Common questions
- How do you say "state" in Arabic?
- حَالٌ (ḥāl).
- What is the root of حَالٌ and what does it mean؟
- The root is ح و ل (ḥ-w-l), carrying the sense of changing, altering, or shifting from one condition to another.
Definitions synthesised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).
Example sentences
فَإذْ عَكَسْتَ الْحَالَ
So when you reverse the state,
الْحَالَ — the state. al- = 'the'; hal means 'state, condition'; the '-a' ending marks it as the object ('the state').
From: Resisting Temptation →فإذا اكتفى بدون الشبع، حسن اغتذاء بدنه، وصلح حال نفسه وقلبه
If he is content with less than satiety, his body is well-nourished, and his soul and heart are in good condition.
نَفْسِهِ — of his soul. This is 'his soul', the owner in 'state of his soul', in the genitive to mark possession, with the attached 'his' tying the state to the same person. It also chains into the next owner joined by 'and'.
From: Eating in Moderation →وَهَذَا حَالٌ كَثِيرٌ مِّنَ الْمُتَفَقِّرَةِ وَالْمُتَصَوِّفَةِ
Related words
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