اللغة الأم
“اللغة الأم” (аль-лугха аль-умм) — mother tongue in Arabic. Noun, level A2. Literally "the mother language": umm, "mother", was in the family words. There is no "native" here: the language is not "native" but "maternal" — like in much of Europe. In a live sentence: “العربية هي اللغة الأم عندي” — Arabic is my mother tongue. Written with the characters ا, ل, ل, غ, ة, ا, ل, أ, م. A word from the everyday Arabic course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Arabic | اللغة الأم |
| Read in Latin letters | аль-лугха аль-умм |
| Translation | mother tongue |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "the mother language": umm, "mother", was in the family words. There is no "native" here: the language is not "native" but "maternal" — like in much of Europe
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.
- العربية هي اللغة الأم عنديаль-ʿарабийя хийя аль-лугха аль-умм ʿиндийArabic is my mother tongue
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 “mother tongue” in Arabic?
«اللغة الأم», read “аль-лугха аль-умм”. In a live sentence: “العربية هي اللغة الأم عندي” — Arabic is my mother tongue. Noun, level A2; written with the characters ا, ل, ل, غ, ة, ا, ل, أ, م.
How is “اللغة الأم” written in Latin letters?
аль-лугха аль-умм. 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 "the mother language": umm, "mother", was in the family words. There is no "native" here: the language is not "native" but "maternal" — like in much of Europe. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.