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The Interrogative Particle
By ArabicTree | October 27, 2007
In English, to ask a question, you need to use an interrogative particle–”IS that a bike?” “ARE you from Egypt?” “DO you understand?” and so on.
In Arabic, this is greatly simplified–there is a single (well, two roughly equivalent) interrogative particles. These are alif-with-hamza (َأ) and “hal” (هَل). They both mean the same thing, and the meaning depends on what you’re asking.
أَ هَاذَا دَرَجَةٌ - Is that a bike?
أَ مِنَ الهِندِ أنتُم أم مِنَ اليَبَانِ - Are you from India or from Japan?
أَ قَرَأتُ القُرانَ الانَ - Did you read the Qur’an today?
What’s the difference between the two particles? Allahu ‘alim, there is no difference! And as for how you ask “who” or “where” or “how,” that’s a story for another day … !
November 6th, 2007 at 2:24 am
You wrote that the other interrogative particle is “حل” whereas it is spelt “هَل”.
November 6th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Jazakumullahu khayran for the clarification!