بِئْرِwell of

Example sentences

• فَإِذَا هُوَ جَالِسٌ عَلَى بِئْرِ أَرِيسِ،

  Then when he was sitting by the well of Aris.

  بِئْرِ — well of. The first noun of an 'of' pair, 'well', borrowing definiteness from the owner-name to follow. The two nouns abut with no word for 'of'.

  From: Three Companions Promised Paradise →

• وَتَوَسَّطَ قُفَّهَا، وَكَشَفَ عَنْ سَاقَيْهِ وَدَلَّاهُمَا فِي الْبِئْرِ،

  And he placed his cloak in the middle, and uncovered from his two legs, and let them both hang down in the well.

  الْبِئْرِ — the well. The al- here makes the noun definite, 'the' rather than 'a', and its oblique ending is forced on it by the preposition sitting just before. Definiteness frames it as a specific, already-known thing, while that case-vowel is Arabic's way of showing the preposition governs it - a job English does purely by position.

  From: Three Companions Promised Paradise →

• وَدَلَّى رِجْلَيْهِ فِي الْبِئْرِ،

  And he lowered his two feet into the well.

  الْبِئْرِ — the well. The al- here makes the noun definite, 'the' rather than 'a', and its oblique ending is forced on it by the preposition sitting just before. Definiteness frames it as a specific, already-known thing, while that case-vowel is Arabic's way of showing the preposition governs it - a job English does purely by position.

  From: Three Companions Promised Paradise →