العربية (al a'arabeah - Arabic)

Well, that should be all I have to say!  OK I'll go into a little more detail.

It is so frustrating and I'm not sure if I will ever get this language.  I thought I was doing well.  I mean, I can read (as long as the vowel marks are there, or I already know the word) and write (albeit quite slowly and you really have to stretch out the sounds for me to spell correctly), but hey I was making progress.  Right?!  Yes, I was.  So, what's the problem?  Speaking and listening.  And I thought those 2 were supposed to be the easiest and develop the first. 

I started my new Arabic class this week.  She's very nice and she is giving me new material; which is good.  She has never taught someone Arabic before so she is learning as well.  Well, she is a 2nd grade teacher so she teaches in Arabic and she teaches Arabic, but to native Arabic speakers.  She is using a lot of the strategies that she uses in class with me.  I guess that's a good thing.  Anyway, I told her that I wanted to work on conversation so she tried.  It was rather funny.  I say funny because I couldn't understand what she was saying so I just stared at her or tried to answer and my answers didn't match the questions she was asking.  So she translated, but I still couldn't answer because I didn't know how to say what I wanted to say in Arabic.  So there goes conversation.  I just don't know enough.  I need more words, especially verbs.  Here's the few that she's taught me so far:

لعب - la'iba - he played (to make all past tense verbs feminine just add ت /t/ at the end, easy enough)
قال - quala - he said
ضحك - dauheka - he laughed
قدم - quaddama - he presented
أخذ - akhtha - he took

So those are the past tense verbs that I read about on Thursday.  It was a nice little story about a boy and girl playing a pretend game, like having a tea party.  There were more from today's lesson, but as of right now I can't remember them.  I know 'make' was one of them, but what is it in Arabic?  Who knows?  Hopefully I'll learn it by Monday. 

In order to make the verbs present tense you need to add ي (ya) at the beginning for masculine and ت (ta) for feminine.  Should be easy enough, right?  Sounds easy but in reality it's a bit more difficult. I guess it's difficult hearing them and speaking them.  She is making me do a lot of reading and then asking me to identify the verbs.  I am trying to follow the same rules that I just explained and locate them in the text, but it's difficult.  Don't even get me started on what if it's I..., you..., we..., they... and what if you start with a noun instead of a verb (which they don't like to do, but they do every now and again).  After I read she asks comprehension questions, but it's difficult to answer them when I don't understand what I read!  She helps, she does.  After I read one paragraph today she explained it and had me summarize in Arabic.  Good, but then I had to read the other paragraph and all  my mental energy was going into sounding out those weird Arabic words and I forgot what the first paragraph was about.  I should mention that what I am reading is on a 1st and/or 2nd grade level so it's not difficult, but again I just don't know the words.  Then there's the fact that she ends with conversation, or I should say attempts to end with conversation, because it really isn't a conversation when I have no idea what she's saying, or how to respond.

So to sum up; I need to learn more Arabic words! 

Now you know Arabic verbs!  Or as much about Arabic verbs as I do!  Which isn't all that much!  Amy, you should take this information to work and show them what you know!!!