يلبس
“يلبس” (йальбас) — to put on in Arabic. Verb, level A1, topic — everyday life and routine. Whom one dresses and what one puts on — one verb: yalbasu al-jadiid — he puts on the new one. In a live sentence: “يلبس الجديد” — He puts on the new one. Written with the characters ي, ل, ب, س. One of 13 words in the set “everyday life and routine” in the Arabic course.
In short
| Written in Arabic | يلبس |
| Read in Latin letters | йальбас |
| Translation | to put on |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Whom one dresses and what one puts on — one verb: yalbasu al-jadiid — he puts on the new one
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.
- يلبس الجديدйальбасу аль-джадидHe puts on the new one
Nearby words: everyday life and routine
Work, home, rest, errands. The words the answer to “how are things?” is made of.
- وظيفةвазифаjobWork as a place and a position. Labour in general is ʿamal, and a surgeon’s operation grows from the same root
- عَمِلَʿамилаto workBegins with the ayn. "I work" is aʿmal, and the same word means "to do": "what do you do?" asks both the job and the action
- يجبяджибI mustAn impersonal "one must": there is no subject pronoun with it. "One must work" is yajib an aʿmal
- يستيقظйастайкыдto wake upLiterally "makes oneself come round": sleep lets go, the person wakes by oneself
- يقومйакумto get upGets up: out of bed, off a chair. The same root as "to stand" — you got up and you are standing
- يغتسلйагтасильto wash upWashing oneself and bathing whole — one verb. It does not work for dishes: those get another word
- يمشطйамашшитto comb one’s hairThe same root as the comb — mashta: the hair goes toward the comb
- يحلقйахликto shaveThe same word cuts a beard and a road through the mountains — an Arab sees one motion of "taking off"
- يخلعйахлаʿto take offMore exactly — takes off oneself: shoes, a jacket. The partner of "puts on": what yalbas put on, yakhlaʿ will take off
- يجلسйаджлисto sit downFrom here comes majlis — a place of sitting, a council and a living room at once: they sat down — and the talk began
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “everyday life and routine”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “to put on” in Arabic?
Whom one dresses and what one puts on — one verb: yalbasu al-jadiid — he puts on the new one
- How do you say “to comb one’s hair” in Arabic?
The same root as the comb — mashta: the hair goes toward the comb
- How do you say “I must” in Arabic?
An impersonal "one must": there is no subject pronoun with it. "One must work" is yajib an aʿmal
- How do you say “to sit down” in Arabic?
From here comes majlis — a place of sitting, a council and a living room at once: they sat down — and the talk began
- How do you say “to wash up” in Arabic?
Washing oneself and bathing whole — one verb. It does not work for dishes: those get another word
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 put on” in Arabic?
«يلبس», read “йальбас”. In a live sentence: “يلبس الجديد” — He puts on the new one. Verb, level A1, from the set “everyday life and routine”; written with the characters ي, ل, ب, س.
How is “يلبس” written in Latin letters?
йальбас. 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?
Whom one dresses and what one puts on — one verb: yalbasu al-jadiid — he puts on the new one. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.