Asking questions: who, what, where
Arabic · Key Stage 2 · The School
Five question words
مَن who. ما what. أَيْن where. مَتَى when. كَيْفَ how. Each one sits at the very start of the question, and the rest of the sentence follows in its normal order — nothing else moves.
Yes or no questions
For a plain yes/no question, add هَل to the front of a normal statement. أَنْتَ هُنا, you are here, becomes هَل أَنْتَ هُنا؟, are you here? The statement inside does not change at all; hal simply marks it as a question.
Answering back
نَعَم means yes. لا means no. A full answer often just repeats part of the question: أَيْن الكِتاب؟ — الكِتاب هُنا, where is the book, the book is here. Short answers are completely normal in real conversation, not a shortcut for beginners only.
Five questions, five answers
مَن هذا؟ — هذا أَخي, who is this, this is my brother. أَيْن البَيْت؟ — البَيْت هُناك, where is the house, the house is there. مَتَى المَدْرَسة؟ — المَدْرَسة غَداً, when is school, school is tomorrow. Notice each answer reuses a word straight from the question — that reuse is the fastest way to build a confident answer.