Learn Arabic › A1 › أَوَّل
أَوَّل
first /ˈʔaw.wal/
adjectiveA1#143 most common
Also: foremost, earliest, beginning
Example sentences
هَذَا أَوَّلُ يَوْمٍ لِي هُنَا.
This is my first day here.
هِيَ الطَّالِبَةُ الأُولَى فِي الصَّفِّ.
She is the first student in the class.
وَصَلْتُ إِلَى الْمَطَارِ فِي أَوَّلِ الصَّبَاحِ.
I arrived at the airport in the early morning.
قَرَأْتُ الْكِتَابَ مِنْ أَوَّلِهِ إِلَى آخِرِهِ.
I read the book from its beginning to its end.
فِي أَوَائِلِ الْقَرْنِ الْعِشْرِينَ تَغَيَّرَتِ الْمَدِينَةُ كَثِيرًا.
In the early years of the twentieth century the city changed a lot.
كَانَ أَوَّلَ مَنْ دَعَا إِلَى الإِصْلَاحِ فِي بَلَدِهِ، وَلَكِنَّ أَحَدًا لَمْ يَسْتَمِعْ إِلَيْهِ فِي الْبِدَايَةِ.
He was the first to call for reform in his country, but no one listened to him at first.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | أَوَّلُ | أَوَائِلُ |
| Genitive | أَوَّلَ | أَوَائِلَ |
| Accusative | أَوَّلَ | أَوَائِلَ |
| Vocative | يَا أَوَّلُ | يَا أَوَائِلُ |
Word family
أُولَىfirst (feminine singular)
أَوَّلًاfirstly, at first
أَوَائِلearly parts, beginnings
أَوَّلِيّprimary, initial
آلَto return to, to end up as
Etymology
Arabic أَوَّل comes from the triliteral root ʾ-w-l, which carries the sense of returning to an origin or starting point. Grammarians treat it as an elative form on the pattern afʿal, originally أَأْوَل, with the two early consonants assimilating into the doubled waw. Its feminine is أُولَى. The same root gives the verb آلَ, to return to or end up as.
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