Language/Standard-arabic/Grammar/The-definite-and-indefinite-articles

The definite and indefinite articles in Arabic

Definite and indefinite articles in Arabic, as in other languages, are used to specify the application of a noun or an adjective. In Arabic, it is the same as in English except that there is not really an indefinite article.

Recall that in English the indefinite articles are “a“, “an” as in “a book” “an apple“. The definite article is “the” as in “the book”.

In Arabic, it is much simpler because there is only one article. It is the definite article, which is valid for the singular, the plural, the masculine and the feminine.

It is "al" = ال in front of the word.

For example “the book” is called “al-kitâb“, while “the books” is called “al-kotob“.

As for the indefinite article, to say “a book“, or “books“, we do not put anything in front of the word and that is enough:

• a book = كتاب

• the book = الـكتاب