على نفقته
“على نفقته” (ʿаля нафкатаху) — at his own expense in Arabic. Phrase, level B1. Literally "on his expense": nafaqa is "upkeep, the cost of living". Whose expense? is asked ʿala man? — and the answer always comes with ʿala, "on". In a live sentence: “سافر على نفقته الخاصة للدراسة” — He went to study at his own expense. Written with the characters ع, ل, ى, ن, ف, ق, ت, ه. A word from the everyday Arabic course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Arabic | على نفقته |
| Read in Latin letters | ʿаля нафкатаху |
| Translation | at his own expense |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "on his expense": nafaqa is "upkeep, the cost of living". Whose expense? is asked ʿala man? — and the answer always comes with ʿala, "on"
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- سافر على نفقته الخاصة للدراسةсаафара ʿаля нафкатихи аль-хасса ли-д-дирасаHe went to study at his own expense
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “at his own expense” in Arabic?
«على نفقته», read “ʿаля нафкатаху”. In a live sentence: “سافر على نفقته الخاصة للدراسة” — He went to study at his own expense. Phrase, level B1; written with the characters ع, ل, ى, ن, ف, ق, ت, ه.
How is “على نفقته” written in Latin letters?
ʿаля нафкатаху. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Literally "on his expense": nafaqa is "upkeep, the cost of living". Whose expense? is asked ʿala man? — and the answer always comes with ʿala, "on". A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.