ساعة
“ساعة” (сааʿа) — hour in Arabic. Noun, level A1, topic — time, days and hours. Both the unit of time and the device: a wristwatch is also saaʿa. Kam as-saaʿa? — what time is it? In a live sentence: “كم الساعة؟” — What time is it? Written with the characters س, ا, ع, ة. One of 137 words in the set “time, days and hours” in the Arabic course.
In short
| Written in Arabic | ساعة |
| Read in Latin letters | сааʿа |
| Translation | hour |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Both the unit of time and the device: a wristwatch is also saaʿa. Kam as-saaʿa? — what time is it?
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.
- كم الساعة؟кам ас-сааʿа؟What time is it?
Nearby words: time, days and hours
Today, tomorrow, in the morning, at six. You cannot arrange to meet without these — let alone understand the answer.
- يومйаумdayThe same yawm as in the Quran’s "day of judgement". The days of the week are counted "first", "second"… after Friday
- اليومаль-йаумtodayLiterally "the day". The article has glued on for good, and the phrase has become one adverb
- غداгаданtomorrowThe gh is the gargled one (غ), close to the French r; the sound stretches, and in speech the word comes out ghaadan
- أمسамсyesterdayA short word with a hamza at the front. "Yesterday" does not change the verb: the past tense has said it already
- صباحсабаахmorningKnown from sabah al-khayr. The morning in Arab countries starts early: the market comes alive before the heat
- مساءмасааeveningKnown from masaa al-khayr. The evening begins at sunset, and after noon nobody says "morning" anymore
- ليلлайлnightThe same word as in "A Thousand and One Nights". Layla — "a night" with the ta marbuta — is a woman’s name from the same source
- فطورфутуурbreakfastFrom the root "to break": breakfast breaks the pause of the night. "For breakfast" is fi al-futuur; the same word names the evening meal of the fasting month
- غداءгадааlunchThe main meal of the day, around one or two: the heat sets the schedule. The word shares a root with ghaadan: ghadwa is noon, when the sun stands high
- عشاءʿашааdinnerA kin of masaa — the evening: dinner is the evening meal, and their time is one. In the coffeehouses dinner is light: bread, cheese, tea — and talk until late
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “time, days and hours”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “hour” in Arabic?
Both the unit of time and the device: a wristwatch is also saaʿa. Kam as-saaʿa? — what time is it?
- How do you say “night” in Arabic?
The same word as in "A Thousand and One Nights". Layla — "a night" with the ta marbuta — is a woman’s name from the same source
- How do you say “tomorrow” in Arabic?
The gh is the gargled one (غ), close to the French r; the sound stretches, and in speech the word comes out ghaadan
- How do you say “dinner” in Arabic?
A kin of masaa — the evening: dinner is the evening meal, and their time is one. In the coffeehouses dinner is light: bread, cheese, tea — and talk until late
- How do you say “evening” in Arabic?
Known from masaa al-khayr. The evening begins at sunset, and after noon nobody says "morning" anymore
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 “hour” in Arabic?
«ساعة», read “сааʿа”. In a live sentence: “كم الساعة؟” — What time is it? Noun, level A1, from the set “time, days and hours”; written with the characters س, ا, ع, ة.
How is “ساعة” written in Latin letters?
сааʿа. 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?
Both the unit of time and the device: a wristwatch is also saaʿa. Kam as-saaʿa? — what time is it? A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.