ما اسم هذا؟
“ما اسم هذا؟” (ма исм хаза) — what is this called? in Arabic. Phrase, level A2. Arabic does not ask "what is it called": it asks "what is the name of this". One can skip the verb "to be called" — the question about the name is enough. In a live sentence: “ما اسم هذا؟ أبحث في المعجم” — What is this called? I am looking in the dictionary. Written with the characters م, ا, ا, س, م, ه, ذ, ا.
In short
| Written in Arabic | ما اسم هذا؟ |
| Read in Latin letters | ма исм хаза |
| Translation | what is this called? |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
Arabic does not ask "what is it called": it asks "what is the name of this". One can skip the verb "to be called" — the question about the name is enough
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.
- ما اسم هذا؟ أبحث في المعجمма исм хаза؟ абхасс фи аль-маʿджамWhat is this called? I am looking in the dictionary
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 “what is this called?” in Arabic?
«ما اسم هذا؟», read “ма исм хаза”. In a live sentence: “ما اسم هذا؟ أبحث في المعجم” — What is this called? I am looking in the dictionary. Phrase, level A2; written with the characters م, ا, ا, س, م, ه, ذ, ا.
How is “ما اسم هذا؟” written in Latin letters?
ма исм хаза. 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?
Arabic does not ask "what is it called": it asks "what is the name of this". One can skip the verb "to be called" — the question about the name is enough. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.