ARB 101–113: the themes, language structures and skills that connect the journey.
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Reading 101 is a separate course for new readers. Courses ARB 101 through ARB 113 build your Arabic through one connected program. Your placement assessment confirms where you begin.
ARB 101
Read, write & introduce yourself
Connect the Arabic you read with words you can use. Build everyday vocabulary, ask simple questions and write your first introductions.
Topics: Build an everyday vocabulary; Connect sounds with written words; Turn words into simple sentences; Start a short conversation.
Ṣarf · word forms
Recognize masculine and feminine forms in familiar words. Formal word derivation develops later in the program.
Naḥw · sentence structure
Use “this” for masculine and feminine nouns, basic pronouns and who, what and where questions in short sentences.
Give yes/no answers, describe familiar objects, and join simple ideas with “and.”
Reading, listening & literacy: Arabic letters and connected shapes; short and long vowels, sukūn, shadda, tanwīn and sun/moon letters. Read familiar words, numbers to 100, colors, days and short introductions.
Learning outcomes
Introduce yourself and respond (speaking). Greet someone, ask how they are, exchange names and countries, and close a short conversation. Adapt familiar model questions and answers to the person you are speaking to.
Connect the sounds you hear with words (listening & pronunciation). Match familiar spoken words to pictures and recognize the questions in a short introduction. Practise similar sounds, short and long vowels, and doubled consonants so you can distinguish and repeat them.
Read familiar words and short exchanges (reading). Recognize letters in their connected shapes and read vowelled words and simple sentences you have practised. Use vowel marks and sun/moon letter patterns when reading aloud.
Write joined letters and model sentences (writing). Form Arabic letters from right to left and join them into familiar words. Copy short sentences and adapt simple models with your name, country or a familiar object.
Name and describe everyday things (vocabulary). Name familiar people, occupations, food, clothing and belongings. Use basic adjectives, colors, numbers to 100 and calendar words in short, supported exchanges.
Ask questions and give simple information (sentence patterns). Choose basic pronouns and masculine or feminine forms of “this.” Ask who, what and where, answer yes/no questions, and link two familiar ideas with “and.”
Move beyond a memorized greeting. Share personal details, describe family relationships and ask questions that keep a short conversation going.
Topics: Exchange more than a greeting; Describe the people in your family.
Ṣarf · word forms
Change present-tense verbs to match who is acting: one person, two people or a group.
Form masculine and feminine nationality adjectives when introducing people.
Naḥw · sentence structure
Use personal and attached pronouns to show who you mean and whose family you are describing.
Match demonstratives to masculine, feminine, singular, dual and plural nouns.
Ask for personal information and quantities using question words, including “how many?”.
Reading, listening & literacy: Read personal and family descriptions, identify details in dialogues, and practice connected pronunciation and Naskh handwriting.
Learning outcomes
Introduce people and ask about their lives (speaking). Share your nationality, age, occupation and where you live, then ask for the same information. Describe your family and introduce someone else, using the pronouns and present-tense forms practised in the level.
Pick out personal and family details (listening). Identify who is speaking or being described in a short, familiar exchange. Pick out names, personal details and family relationships, and use that information to answer questions.
Understand profiles and family descriptions (reading). Read short profiles and find a person’s age, nationality, occupation or contact details. Follow a family description and work out who the pronouns refer to and how the people are related.
Introduce yourself and your family in writing (writing). Record personal information in the appropriate fields. Use a family chart and a model to write a short paragraph describing relatives, their relationships and familiar personal details, with suitable pronouns and noun forms.
Take part in simple exchanges about study and food. Ask for what you need, explain a preference and connect short statements in speech and writing.
Topics: Ask for what you need while learning; Talk about meals and make a choice.
Ṣarf · word forms
Form requests and instructions with the imperative, and say not to do something with lā.
Recognize sound and broken plurals when talking about classroom objects and foods.
Naḥw · sentence structure
Build nominal sentences: name a person or thing, then say something about it.
Use iḍāfah to connect two nouns, and laysa or lā to make the negative statements taught in this level.
Use ordinal numbers to 12 and study how numbers 3–10 combine with nouns.
Reading, listening & literacy: Read study and food texts, follow requests and preferences in listening, and practice Naskh letter connections.
Learning outcomes
Make requests and explain your preferences (speaking). Describe your studies and the things around you, ask what something is called, and say what is or is not available. Discuss eating habits and make a simple food request using the sentence patterns you have practised.
Understand instructions and food choices (listening). Follow familiar classroom requests and short exchanges about meals. Identify the item or action requested and the food or drink a speaker chooses, using the vocabulary and question patterns from the level.
Use a study schedule and a menu (reading). Find subjects and days in a short account of someone’s studies. Read food categories, dishes and prices on a menu, and use the information to answer practical questions or make a choice.
Connect sentences about studies and meals (writing). Use questions and models to write short descriptions of your studies and eating habits. Join related statements with “and,” apply the noun-sentence and possession patterns you have studied, and produce a menu with prices.
Handle times and amounts, discuss a vacation and explain what happened. Learn to change verb endings and connect events in a short account.
Topics: Understand times, prices and amounts; Describe a trip and what happened.
Ṣarf · word forms
Change past-tense endings to show who completed an action.
Distinguish a completed action from a present-tense action in familiar verbs.
Naḥw · sentence structure
Use time expressions and prepositions to locate an event and ask questions about it.
Combine numbers with nouns and use expressions of time and place.
Describe past situations with kāna and make past-tense negatives with mā.
Reading, listening & literacy: Read vacation accounts and practical time or money information; listen for trip details and practice Naskh handwriting.
Learning outcomes
Discuss arrangements and recount a trip (speaking). Ask when an activity begins or ends and how much something costs. Explain a vacation plan or describe a past trip, choosing familiar past-tense forms and adding the time, place and reason for an activity.
Catch times, amounts and travel details (listening). Identify the time or amount mentioned in a short exchange. Follow familiar vacation material and pick out the destination and main activities, distinguishing the details needed to answer the accompanying questions.
Find practical details and follow a travel account (reading). Locate times and amounts in a table. Read a vacation email and identify where the writer is staying, what they have visited and what they plan to do, using time expressions to follow the sequence.
Write practical information and a vacation email (writing). Write times and amounts clearly, then use a plan to compose a short vacation email. Include where and when events happened, link the activities in order, and use the past-tense and purpose expressions practised in the level.
Describe your routine, weather and clothing in connected sentences. Explain what you do and why, while making your verbs and descriptions more precise.
Topics: Explain how your day unfolds; Describe conditions and explain your choice.
Ṣarf · word forms
Compare past, present and imperative forms of familiar verbs.
Use these verbs in the positive, negative and purpose expressions introduced in this level.
Naḥw · sentence structure
Build verbal sentences with an action, its subject and, when needed, its object.
Match adjectives to nouns; explain purpose with li-, reasons with li-ʾanna and contrast with lākinna.
Distinguish negatives with mā, lam and lan, and practise answering yes/no and negative questions.
Reading, listening & literacy: Follow routine and weather texts and recordings; connect pronunciation practice with Naskh writing.
Learning outcomes
Describe your day and explain your choices (speaking). Give an ordered account of your routine and say how often you do things. Ask about someone else’s day, report their answers, and discuss weather or clothing with a reason for your preference.
Follow routines and weather descriptions (listening). Identify the activities and timing in a familiar account of someone’s day. Understand the main weather conditions and clothing choices mentioned, connecting actions with the reasons or preferences expressed.
Follow an interview and a climate description (reading). Match questions to answers in an interview about daily life and find the writer’s reasons. Read about a city’s weather across the seasons and connect each condition with the activities described.
Describe routines and build a practical dialogue (writing). Use a model to write about your routine or free time, with a clear order and expressions of frequency. Write a weather-and-clothing dialogue from prompts, checking verb forms, adjective agreement and links between ideas.
Ask for the information you need when travelling or looking for accommodation. Describe places precisely, complete practical forms and begin systematic word building.
Topics: Handle arrivals and accommodation; Describe a home and discuss renting.
Ṣarf · word forms
Connect an action verb with its maṣdar, the noun that names the action.
Study verbal-noun patterns for basic verbs, selected derived forms and four-root-letter verbs.
Naḥw · sentence structure
Identify a person or place with “who/which” clauses using alladhī and allatī.
Ask someone to choose between options; study an with a present verb, laysa and changes in subject–predicate order.
Use dual nouns for two things and recognize how their endings change within a sentence.
Reading, listening & literacy: Read hotel and housing information, connect details across descriptions, and practise tanwīn spelling, open and closed tāʾ, and introductory Ruqʿah handwriting.
Learning outcomes
Ask for travel and accommodation information (speaking). Explain what you need at an airport or hotel and ask for or give familiar directions. Discuss a home’s location, facilities and rent, then ask follow-up questions and describe the features that matter to you.
Identify the details needed for a stay (listening). Follow familiar travel and housing exchanges and identify the place, room or arrangement being discussed. Pick out specific details about location, rooms and belongings so you can answer questions about the accommodation.
Understand accommodation information (reading). Read a text about hotels and identify their services and how they have developed. Follow a housing description or advertisement and find the location, features and living arrangements that help you understand the offer.
Complete forms and describe a rental property (writing). Enter personal and stay details in arrival and hotel forms. Use a plan to write a rental advertisement with location, rooms, facilities and price, applying the descriptive sentence patterns and relative clauses practised in the level.
Explain a health concern, follow advice and compare products when shopping. Learn the sentence patterns and word forms that make these exchanges clearer.
Topics: Explain a health concern and follow advice; Compare products and explain a preference.
Ṣarf · word forms
Form verbal nouns from longer verb patterns, including tafaʿʿala, iftaʿala and istafʿala.
Build active participles from basic and derived verbs, including words for people doing an action.
Naḥw · sentence structure
Study how inna and related particles, kāna and mā zāla affect a sentence.
Compare options with comparative and superlative forms, and contrast topics with ammā…fa.
Use sound feminine plural endings and practise instructions with lām al-amr (li-) and a jussive verb.
Reading, listening & literacy: Read health accounts and recipes, listen for health and shopping details, practise final alif spelling, and develop Ruqʿah handwriting.
Learning outcomes
Explain a problem and compare choices (speaking). Describe familiar symptoms and recount a visit to the doctor, including the advice received. Discuss shopping habits, ask about quantities and prices, and compare products or places with reasons for your preference.
Follow advice and purchase details (listening). Follow the main events in a familiar health account and identify the problem or advice. In shopping exchanges, recognize questions about products, quantities, prices and payment and connect them with the appropriate answers.
Understand a health account and a recipe (reading). Find the complaint, events and advice in a health-related text. Read a recipe and identify the ingredients, amounts and sequence of actions, using the linking expressions to follow how the dish is prepared.
Write advice, a story continuation and instructions (writing). Write short health advice and continue a story from a given opening. For a familiar dish, separate the ingredients from the method and write ordered instructions that another reader can follow, using the supplied model.
Explain work responsibilities, prepare a CV from a template and describe a visit. Add detail with relative clauses and distinguish doing an action from receiving it.
Topics: Explain work and prepare for an interview; Recommend a place and describe a visit.
Ṣarf · word forms
Form passive participles from basic and derived verbs to describe what receives an action.
Compare active and passive participles so you distinguish the doer from the thing affected.
Naḥw · sentence structure
Study sound masculine and broken plural endings in different sentence roles.
Recognize subjects and objects as nouns or pronouns, and use the appropriate subject case markers.
Choose relative pronouns for a wider range of people and things when adding detail.
Reading, listening & literacy: Read a work-related narrative and a trip itinerary; practise hamzat al-waṣl and hamzat al-qaṭʿ, initial hamza spelling, and Ruqʿah handwriting.
Learning outcomes
Discuss work and support a recommendation (speaking). Explain how a person found work and respond to familiar questions about a role or application. Recommend a place to visit, organizing your reasons and adding descriptive information through the sentence patterns studied.
Recognize job-search and destination details (listening). Identify ways of looking for work in the listening activities. Recognize a city from a spoken description and pick out information about its location, climate and landmarks to answer questions about the place.
Follow a work story and a trip itinerary (reading). Track the events and decisions in a story about a job applicant. Read an itinerary and find its purpose, destinations, times and planned activities, using those details to answer practical questions about the trip.
Prepare a CV, interview and trip report (writing). Complete a CV template with personal details, qualifications, experience and skills, and write a short interview dialogue. Organize a trip report using prompts for participants, travel, purpose, events and observations, expanding sentences with useful detail.
Move from short descriptions to organized accounts. Discuss sports, retell memories and use sequence, contrast and passive sentences to guide your listener or reader.
Topics: Discuss interests and recount an event; Turn a memory into a connected account.
Ṣarf · word forms
Change familiar verbs from active to passive to focus on what happened.
Recognize common diptote noun patterns and the special ending rules they follow.
Naḥw · sentence structure
Use object case markers and relative man and mā; review the negative forms studied so far.
Apply adjective agreement, iḍāfah endings and the case rules for diptotes.
Build exclamations and passive sentences, including the noun that takes the subject’s place.
Reading, listening & literacy: Follow memories and sports accounts, practice medial and final hamza spelling, and refine Ruqʿah handwriting.
Learning outcomes
Explain an interest and recount a memory (speaking). Describe a sport, its main features and why you enjoy it. Recount a personal memory with people, places and events in order, comparing past and present and adding your reactions.
Identify main ideas and follow a sequence (listening). Identify the main point and selected details in familiar passages about sport. Follow the order of information in a spoken account, using repeated listening to connect the events and people mentioned.
Follow explanations and personal memories (reading). Find specific information in a description of a sport. Follow a longer personal memory, identify the writer’s reactions and explain how a person or experience influenced them, supporting your answer with details from the text.
Develop connected accounts in paragraphs (writing). Plan paragraphs about a sport and a personal memory, giving each paragraph a clear focus. Connect events with time and contrast expressions, add relevant descriptions, and revise the sequence, sentence forms and spelling.
Describe appearance and character, discuss religious occasions and organize comparisons. Use roots and word patterns to understand related vocabulary.
Topics: Describe someone beyond their name; Explain traditions and compare occasions.
Ṣarf · word forms
Identify roots and related word families, and use the morphological scale (wazn) to compare word patterns.
Distinguish sound and weak verbs and recognize their main types before studying their changes in more depth.
Naḥw · sentence structure
Review noun case markers and the special forms of the five nouns.
Study how subjunctive and jussive particles change present-tense endings and sentence meaning.
Reading, listening & literacy: Read character and cultural texts, discuss viewpoints, and compare Naskh and Ruqʿah handwriting while reviewing spelling and punctuation.
Learning outcomes
Describe people and compare traditions (speaking). Describe someone’s appearance and character, ask questions to identify a person and explain similarities or changes. Discuss how an occasion is observed, including preparations, activities and your own preferences.
Identify a person and follow occasion details (listening). Match spoken descriptions with the people they describe, using the distinguishing features you hear. Pick out the main details in listening material about religious occasions and use them to answer focused questions.
Understand descriptions and supporting details (reading). Identify the main ideas in texts about character, family influence and religious traditions. Connect descriptive details and examples with the point being made, then refer to the text when explaining your response.
Plan and revise a clear comparison (writing). Collect observations and organize paragraphs comparing two people or two celebrations. Use links for similarity, contrast and sequence, then review your ṣarf and naḥw, spelling and punctuation so the comparison is easy to follow.
Make an account clearer through sequence, detail and description. Work with humorous stories and environmental texts while developing longer writing and more complex verb forms.
Topics: Retell a story so the point is clear; Explain an issue using information.
Ṣarf · word forms
Conjugate final-weak verbs with attached subject pronouns.
Practise the changes in doubled and hollow verbs rather than treating every verb as regular.
Naḥw · sentence structure
Study the five present-tense forms in -āni, -ūna and -īna, including when the final n stays or drops.
Use the present-tense endings of verbs whose last root letter is weak.
Add ḥāl as a word, phrase or clause to describe someone’s state while an action happens.
Reading, listening & literacy: Interpret humorous and environmental texts, track narrative links, and practice both Naskh and Ruqʿah handwriting.
Learning outcomes
Retell an incident and explain a problem (speaking). Retell a humorous incident with its setting, sequence and characters’ reactions so the point is clear. Discuss an environmental problem, its visible effects and possible responses, using relevant examples and the language studied.
Follow events and organize factual details (listening). Follow the events in a humorous account. In material about natural disasters, identify when and where events happened and distinguish human losses from material damage, organizing the information to answer questions or compare reports.
Explain a story and discuss a poem (reading). Follow the events and meaning of a humorous story, using context to explain selected expressions. Read a nature poem with guidance, work through its vocabulary and discuss the ideas and images it presents.
Build a narrative and a sourced report (writing). Plan and revise a multi-paragraph story with a problem, reactions and an ending. Develop a factual report on a nature or environmental topic, organizing information and sources, including brief interview views, and drawing the report together in a conclusion.
Go beyond a literal translation. Discuss cultural practices, explain proverbs in context and develop your own ideas through connected paragraphs and conditional sentences.
Topics: Compare customs and explain an experience; Understand what an expression means in context.
Ṣarf · word forms
Form nouns for times, places and instruments by recognizing their patterns.
Review verbal nouns and derived forms, distinguishing basic from augmented verbs.
Naḥw · sentence structure
Expand descriptions using adjectives, phrases and clauses.
Use sentence complements to explain purpose, time, place or how an action is carried out.
Build conditional sentences and learn when to introduce the result with the linking fāʾ (fa-).
Reading, listening & literacy: Read cultural comparisons and figurative language, explain meaning in context, and refine both handwriting styles.
Learning outcomes
Explain experiences and expressions in context (speaking). Discuss cultural situations and language-learning experiences with specific examples. Explain a familiar proverb, describe when it fits, compare it with an expression you know and give reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with its message.
Choose a response that fits the situation (listening). Recognize familiar social expressions and connect them with an appropriate response. Match a spoken situation to a proverb, then explain which details in the situation make that expression suitable.
Understand personal accounts and figurative meaning (reading). Follow an account of learning Arabic and identify the experiences that shaped it. Read about proverbs and sayings, distinguish an expression’s original story from its later use, and explain its meaning using the surrounding context.
Develop an explanation with examples (writing). Paraphrase selected poetry and use an outline to write about language learning, supporting your ideas with reasons and experience. Write situations or a continued dialogue using proverbs, then review the connections, conditional forms and language.
Bring your skills together in researched writing and discussion. Present a person’s contribution, consider an educational problem and support your response with relevant details.
Topics: Present a person’s life and contribution; Discuss a learning problem and a response.
Ṣarf · word forms
Distinguish verbs that take an object from those that do not, and explore the meanings of augmented verb patterns.
Study maqṣūr, manqūṣ and mamdūd noun forms and make nisba adjectives to express an association.
Naḥw · sentence structure
Use tamyīz to clarify a quantity, comparison or description.
Study categorical negation with lā and express exceptions with illā, ghayr, siwā and related forms.
Reading, listening & literacy: Interpret historical and educational texts, discuss evidence and responses, and review linking, punctuation and both handwriting styles.
Learning outcomes
Present a contribution and explain your view (speaking). Give a structured account of a person’s background, achievements and influence, adding reasons for your view. Compare educational experiences and opinions, describe a difficulty and explain how it could be addressed.
Follow biographical and learning accounts (listening). Identify a person from the biographical details given in the material. Follow a story about learning, pick out the events and main message, and use relevant details when discussing what you heard.
Connect ideas with their supporting evidence (reading). Read a biography or text about teaching and distinguish its main ideas from supporting events and examples. Explain the person’s contribution or the educational point being made, using details from the text to support your answer.
Write for different purposes (writing). Use gathered facts to write a short biography with a clear structure and concluding reflection. Write a thank-you letter and a paragraph proposing a solution to an educational problem, choosing suitable openings, links and endings and revising the language.
This guide outlines the intended learning outcomes of Hiwar’s curriculum. Your starting point is confirmed through a placement exam reviewed by a Hiwar academic advisor.
