اختار
“اختار” (ихтаар) — to choose in Arabic. Verb, level A2, topic — shopping and money. In the dictionary the verb stands in the past: ikhtaara — he chose. "I choose" is akhtaaru, the hamza at the start heard as a short catch. In a live sentence: “أختار هذا التفاح” — I am choosing this apple. Written with the characters ا, خ, ت, ا, ر. One of 82 words in the set “shopping and money” in the Arabic course.
In short
| Written in Arabic | اختار |
| Read in Latin letters | ихтаар |
| Translation | to choose |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
In the dictionary the verb stands in the past: ikhtaara — he chose. "I choose" is akhtaaru, the hamza at the start heard as a short catch
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.
- أختار هذا التفاحахтаар хаза ат-туффаахI am choosing this apple
Nearby words: shopping and money
How much it costs, whether there is a smaller one, whether cards are accepted. A shop forgives mistakes: miss a word and they will show you the thing with their hands anyway.
- يوروйуроeuroEvery Arab country has its own money: dinar, riyal, dirham, pound. Yuro is for Morocco, Tunisia and the exchange desks
- بكم هذا؟би-кам хаза؟how much is it?Literally "for how much is this?". In the market rows a plain bi-kam? — for how much? — is enough
- متجرматджарshopFrom taajir — a merchant: matjar is "the merchant’s place". Shops close for lunch and in the evening — the hours are not printed on the sign
- سوقсуукmarketThe covered bazaars of Baghdad and Damascus are suuqs; the word also names the whole trading quarter of a city
- بسطةбистаcounterLiterally "a spread": at an eastern market the goods lie not on a shelf but on a counter covered with cloth. Both the counter and the market around it live by this word
- بائعбааиʿsellerFrom the verb "to sell", with the ayn in the middle — that squeezed throat. The seller woman is baaʾiʿa, and at the market it is her in nine cases out of ten
- زبونзабуунbuyerThe same word means "customer": in a cafe, a taxi, a shop they are all zabuun. The long uu in the middle stretches
- ميزانмизаанscalesSingular in form, unlike the English plural: al-miizaan is "the scales itself". From the verb "to weigh", and justice is al-miizaan too
- كيلوغرامкилограамkilogramAt the market they say it short — kilo. Half is nisf kilo, and the weigher measures exactly so, with no grams involved
- طازجтазижfreshThe t is emphatic — the tongue pulled back. About fish and bread they ask exactly this: samak taazij? — the buyer’s first question at the counter
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “shopping and money”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “to choose” in Arabic?
In the dictionary the verb stands in the past: ikhtaara — he chose. "I choose" is akhtaaru, the hamza at the start heard as a short catch
- How do you say “buyer” in Arabic?
The same word means "customer": in a cafe, a taxi, a shop they are all zabuun. The long uu in the middle stretches
- How do you say “shop” in Arabic?
From taajir — a merchant: matjar is "the merchant’s place". Shops close for lunch and in the evening — the hours are not printed on the sign
- How do you say “fresh” in Arabic?
The t is emphatic — the tongue pulled back. About fish and bread they ask exactly this: samak taazij? — the buyer’s first question at the counter
- How do you say “seller” in Arabic?
From the verb "to sell", with the ayn in the middle — that squeezed throat. The seller woman is baaʾiʿa, and at the market it is her in nine cases out of ten
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 “to choose” in Arabic?
«اختار», read “ихтаар”. In a live sentence: “أختار هذا التفاح” — I am choosing this apple. Verb, level A2, from the set “shopping and money”; written with the characters ا, خ, ت, ا, ر.
How is “اختار” written in Latin letters?
ихтаар. 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?
In the dictionary the verb stands in the past: ikhtaara — he chose. "I choose" is akhtaaru, the hamza at the start heard as a short catch. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.