Courses: Reading, Muqaddimah, Tamhidi, and Five Levels

Why not A1 and B2

The European framework describes communicative tasks: ordering coffee, writing letters, following lectures. It applies poorly to introductory Arabic because learners spend the first two months mastering reading and script — a foundational stage absent from CEFR descriptors.

Arabic institutes for non-native speakers structure their progression specifically: Reading first, followed by Muqaddimah and Tamhidi, then numbered levels. The classical Arabic terms reflect their precise roles: مقدمة means "introductory", and تمهيدي means "preparatory". Serious learners evaluate readiness not by CEFR letters, but by reaching Muqaddimah.

Reading, First Course

Eight weeks transform unfamiliar symbols into clear script. Twenty-eight letters grouped by visual forms, four positional shapes each, vowel marks (harakat), syllables, vowel duration, tanween, sun and moon letters, and pause rules. The final two weeks focus on classical Quranic recitation: elongation (madd), pause signs (waqf), and short surahs read aloud.

Comprehension is neither taught nor expected here. By the end, you will read unvocalized and vocalized unfamiliar texts aloud with accurate phonetics while understanding very little — this is the intended developmental milestone, not a shortfall. Sight reading and articulation must precede vocabulary acquisition.

كِتَاب — book
Three root letters — ك ت ب — and two vowel diacritics. Read phonetically in level one; semantic meaning is unlocked in level two.

Muqaddimah, Second Course

Comprehension begins here. Every Arabic sentence is constructed from three elements: nouns, verbs, and particles. Students first learn to identify them by structural markers rather than lexical meaning: nouns take the definite article and tanween, verbs follow tense particles, and particles take no affixes.

Instruction advances to gender, number, definiteness, nominal sentences without copula, and past tense conjugation. By term end, students master 300 root-organized vocabulary items and understand complete simple sentences conceptually rather than through isolated keywords.

Tamhidi, Third Course

The milestone enabling adapted reading. Three comprehensive topics: the idaafa possessive construct, attached pronominal suffixes, and present tense aspect with negative particles.

The idaafa construct (noun adjunction replacing the genitive) receives two full weeks. Not due to theoretical complexity, but to rewire cognitive habits: definiteness attaches to the second noun rather than the first.

بَابُ الْبَيْتِ — door of the house
Literally "door the-house", not "the-door house". The most common first-year mistake.

Five Levels After Tamhidi

Subsequent levels focus on distinct linguistic domains. Levels 1 and 2 cover morphology (sarf): verb forms (awzan) where roots are cast into regular derivational templates. Vocabulary expands exponentially as one template unlocks dozens of predictable derivatives without dictionary consultation.

Level 3 introduces sentence analysis and parsing (i'rab): students articulate each word's syntactic function and governing case inflection on the board and in notebooks. Level 4 involves reading an unabridged original book chapter by chapter with home dictionary prep and classroom recitation; parsing time drops from four hours on chapter one to under an hour by chapter five.

Level 5 is the capstone, conducted entirely in Arabic with minimal native tongue translation reserved for technical terms. Week eight concludes with a three-part examination: unseen sight reading, syntactic parsing, and a written composition. Successful candidates receive our center's graduation certificate.

Total Duration and Commitment

Eight eight-week courses require approximately eighteen months of steady study. One-week recesses divide terms, and rolling enrollment cohorts ensure a matching class if you ever need to pause and resume.

Graduates may transition to phase two: classical literature, rhetoric (balaghah), and pre-Islamic poetry offered via private modular tutorials.

Where to Start

Complete beginners must begin with Reading without hesitation. If you have prior background, join us for a 10-minute reading assessment. Most returning learners enter at Muqaddimah to solidify grammar and transition from sight-memorization to analytical reading.