Learn ArabicA1 › بَدَل

بَدَل

substitute /ˈba.dal/

nounA1#628 most common

Also: replacement, allowance, alternative

Example sentences

هذا بَدَل جيد.
This is a good substitute.
شربتُ الماء بَدَلاً من العصير.
I drank water instead of juice.
طلبتُ بَدَلاً عن الجهاز المعطوب.
I asked for a replacement for the broken device.
يحصل الموظفون على بَدَل سكنٍ شهري.
The employees receive a monthly housing allowance.
البَدَل في النحو تابعٌ يحلّ محلّ متبوعه في الإعراب.
In grammar, the badal is an appositive that takes the place of its antecedent in case marking.
ارتأت اللجنة منح المتضررين بَدَلاً مالياً يعوّضهم عن خسائرهم.
The committee decided to grant the affected parties financial compensation for their losses.

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nominativeبَدَلٌأَبْدَالٌ
Genitiveبَدَلٍأَبْدَالٍ
Accusativeبَدَلاًأَبْدَالاً
Vocativeيا بَدَلُيا أَبْدَالُ

Word family

بَديلalternative, substitute
بَدَّلَto change, replace
تَبْديلreplacement, changing
اِسْتِبْدالsubstitution, replacement
مُبادَلَةexchange, swap

Etymology

بَدَل comes from the Semitic root b-d-l, which carries the idea of exchange and substitution. The noun names the thing put in place of another: a replacement, an equivalent, or a paid allowance. Arabic grammar later took the term for a kind of appositive, where one word stands in for the one before it. The same root gives the verb بَدَّلَ, to change, and بَديل, an alternative.

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