Not really sure what that means, but I have gone up another level. Along with the secret handshake, I was also introduced to the inner workings of Arabic words. It *seems* that all words are derived from the root verbs. The root verbs are always given in the third person, masculine singular. By using defined rules, you can derive not only all the verb forms (participles, tenses, etc.) but also the noun forms of who does it, what object is involved, and where it is performed. So the verb “(he) wrote” gives rise to the nouns book and desk. Neat system eh? Of course there are 10 forms the verbs could come in (they call them measures) and there are 9 rules for each measure… Gah. This is good and bad. The bad part is obvious, that’s a lot of rules… The cool thing is that once I get it under control, I’ll have a much better understanding of the language. Tomorrow’s another day…
Isaac
One reply on “I’m at level three!”
A friend of mine who speaks Japanese superfluently says that there are tons of homonyms in Japanese, and it’s almost always context that clarifies the meaning. When pressed for details, he kinda shrugged and said “Depending on who’s talking to you, you just … know.”
This post reminded me of my Japanese speaking friend.
Asalaam Alaikum, Isaac.