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Answer 1

There is no Arabic word for is. The concept is conveyed by the context of the sentence.

Answer 2

It does not exist in common parlance. Arabic does not conjugate the present tense of the verb "to be" in the indicative. (The present tense is conjugated in the subjunctive and jussive moods and in other tenses like past or future.) Theoretically, it would be yakuno (يكون) - based on how it is conjugated in the other tenses/moods, but this is not used and is considered improper grammar.

"Is" is inferred by context. For example, you would say "Hadha rajel" (هذا رجل), literally meaning "This man" to mean "This is a man." If I want to attach the words, e.g. to say "That man is beautiful", I would have to say "Hadha al-rajel jamil" (هذا الرجل جميل), literally meaning "This the-man beautiful". The inclusion of the "al"/"the" before the word rajel/man attaches "man" to "this" and makes clear that there is no "is" between them (as there was in the first example). If I want to attach more words, they need to take the "al"/"the" as well, e.g. If I want to say "This beautiful man is a friend", I would have to say "Hadha al-rajel al-jamil sadiq" (هذا الرجل الجميل صديق), literally meaning "This the-man the-beautiful friend."

The only occasion when a word is used in the place of "is" (other than subjunctive or jussive uses), is when the object of the sentence is definite. The "huwa"/"he" or in the case of a feminine subject "hiya"/"she" serves to split the definite subject and the definite object. For example, if I want to say "This man is my friend", "my friend" is definite in Arabic, so I would have to say "Hadha al-rajel huwa sadiqi" (هذا الرجل الجميل هو صديقي), literally meaning "This the-man he my friend".

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9y ago

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