Arabic vocabulary
عَجِبَ is how you say “to wonder” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in real example sentences from classical texts below.
والحور الْعين يعجبن من سوء اختيارك عَلَيْهِنَّ
And the wide-eyed maidens wonder at your poor choice over them.
يَعْجَبْنَ — they wonder. A present-tense verb with the feminine-plural '-na' ending carrying 'they (women)' — the houris marvel. The '-na' is the subject built into the verb.
From: Overcoming Desire →عجبت لمن يعجب بصورته وينسى مبدأ أمره
I am amazed at the one who admires his appearance and forgets his origins.
عَجِبْتُ — I am amazed. A past-tense verb with the ending that marks an 'I' subject, so the speaker is built into the verb. Arabic shows the first-person doer by this ending alone, where English needs a separate 'I'.
From: A Path to Mercy →فَعَجِبْنَا لَهُ يَسْأَلُهُ وَيُصَدِّقُهُ
We were astonished that he asked him and then affirmed him!
فَعَجِبْنَا — we were astonished. A past-tense verb 'we marvelled' fronted by fa-, which here ties the wonder to the scene just described as its natural upshot, 'and so we marvelled'. The '-na' ending is the built-in 'we' subject. The fa- gives the reaction a sense of following on from what was witnessed.
From: When Gabriel Came to Teach →OpenArabic teaches words like عَجِبَ through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
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