The Arabic passage below is an authentic text in Modern Standard Arabic. It’s a housing ad that any learner of Arabic traveling to the Arab world may have to deal with. The goal is to expose learners of Arabic to real-life Arabic texts.
This text is suitable for higher beginner of Arabic. It may fall right in between ILR level 1 and ILR level 2.
Although the sentences are very short and easy to follow, the vocabulary may be a little bit difficult due to lack of learner’s exposure to real-life passages. Mind you, this is an ad directed at native speakers of Arabic.
The key is to look at the text holistically as you look for clues to understand it. If you are still finding it hard, look up the words on an Arabic-English dictionary. If you don’t have one, I recommend Hans Wher, hands-down the best Arabic-English dictionary in terms of value and size. Al-Mawrid Al-Wasit is the best dictionnary out there but it is a bit bulky and inconvenient to carry around. However, it offers both Arabic-English and English-Arabic dictionaries in one.
Use this text as a learning opportunity and don’t get discouraged if you find it a bit difficult. If it’s too easy, you may want to look up additional Arabic reading practice passages available on this site under the ILR level 2 passages.
Table of Contents
Tips for Arabic reading :
- Use what you know to understand what you don’t know. Rely on the context first before resorting to a dictionary.
- Use cognates to increase your understanding of the text. For instance, you will encounter تليفون /tilifoon/ meaning telephone. Arabic text can contain a bun of cognates. Use them to your advantage.
- Read the text more than once before you start taking as stab at the questions.
- The answer key is available at the bottom of this page.
The Reading Passage:
المَدينَة : بَغْداد
الحَي : الدَّورَة
عَدَدُ الغُرَف: ٢ غُرفَتا نَومٍ
الحَمَّامات: حَمَّامٌ واحِدٌ
مَفروشَة/غَير مَفروشَة: غَير مَفروشَة
مَسَاحة البِناء: 135 م٢
َمسَاحة الأَرضِ: 175 م٢
عَدَدُ الطَّوابِقِ: طَابقٌ واحِدٌ
عُمرُ البِناءِ: 0 – 11 شَهر
مُدَّةُ الإيجارِ: شَهرِيٌّ
السِّعرُ: 650 دينار
مَزايا إِضافية : مُكَيِّفُ التَّدفِئَة + حَديقَةٌ
Comprehension Questions:
1- What city is the house located?
- a- Bassrah
- b- Cairo
- c- Baghdad
- d- Alexandria
2- How many rooms does the house have?
- a- Three bedrooms
- b- Two bedrooms
- c- Four bedrooms
3- The house is not furnished.
- True
- False
4 -The house was built:
- a-less than a year
- b- less than two years
- c- Less than four years
5- How many floors does the house have?
- a- Two floors
- b- Three floors
- c- One floor
- d- Four floors
6- How many bathrooms are in this house?
- a- Two bathrooms
- b- One bathroom
- c- Three bathroom
7- This house has a garden.
- True
- False
Useful Vocabulary:
| Furnished/ unfurnished | مَفروشَة/غَير مَفروشَة |
| Rent | الإيجارِ |
| Monthly | شَهرِيٌّ |
| Heater | مُكَيِّفُ التَّدفِئَة |
| Floor | طَابقٌ |
| Features | مَزايا |
For more reading practice and exercises, I recommend Arabic Stories for Language Learners . To expand your vocabulary, you may consider getting the Arabic Vocabulary workbook and practice regularly for a few weeks.
Answer Key:
1.b
2.b
3.False
4.b
5.c
6.b
7. True
