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A Comparative Study of English

and Arabic Use of Prepositions
Amongst Arab Native Speakers
Amna A.Hasan & Imran Ho Abdullah
School of Language Studies & Linguistics
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

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Table of Contents

Abstract .......................................................................3
1. Introduction................................................................4
2. Comparison between English and Arabic prepositions (fii..in),
(ala..on)........................................................................5
Comparison of English and Arabic system: ............................. 10
Methodology ................................................................ 12
Findings ..................................................................... 14
References .................................................................. 16

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Abstract
Prepositions pose major problems when translated from Arabic into
English or vice versa. The accurate mapping between English-Arabic and
Arabic-English prepositions are some times very difficult to determine by
Arab learners. This study is designed to identify the difficulties concerning
preposition, which Arab students may face when translating into English or
vice-versa. This paper reports on a study undertaken the form of questions
and the form of texts to be translated from Arabic to English and these
questions were answered by twenty Arab students at university Putra
Malaysia. As a result of this examination, mistakes have been detected,
analyzed and studied, then recommendation where offered as to how these
mistakes may be corrected or eradicated.

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1. Introduction
English prepositions have always been a source of great difficulty for
English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners regardless of his or her
mother tongue (Celce-Murcia, 1983:250). One reason for this is because
EFL learners usually try to relate the use of English prepositions to their
mother tongue (MT) prepositional system. In many instances, the difference
in the number of prepositions and the lack of a one to one mapping between
the English and the MT prepositions is the source of the difficulty. In
addition to this, since prepositional usage in English can be highly idiomatic
(especially in preposition verbs and prhasal verbs), the nuances of idiomatic
usage of English prepositions are highly challenging to EFL learners and
even native speakers are sometimes unsure of the correct form (Gethin,
1983: 161). Furthermore, problems EFL learners have with the prepositions
are compounded by the fact that prepositions, in general, are highly
polysemous and represents an ontological category that is highly
conceptual. These means that EFL learners are often confronted with
making decisions as to which prepositions to use since the conceptual
mapping in the mother tongue might be different. Thus, prepositions usage
often stand in the way of achieving grammatical fluency and accuracy for
the EFL learners.
Among Arab EFL learners, prepositions are considered to be the most
difficult because of cross-linguistics differences between the Arabic and
English prepositional system. The language specific differences between the
Arabic and English prepositional system include some English prepositions
that are not present in the Arabic language. In learning these prepositions ,
Arabic EFL learners sometimes transfer their mother tongue system with a
limited number of prepositions to transfer their usage of English
prepositions resulting in incorrect English prepositional usage and the lack
of idiomaticity. Sometime, inaccuracy in prepositional usage (especially in
translation) are also produced as a result of the cross-linguistic differences
(Zughoul, 1973).
This paper examines the problems Arab EFL learners have with the basic
English prepositions at, in and on and attempts to account for their
difficulties with these English prepositions through a comparative study of
the Arabic prepositional system.

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2. Comparison between English and Arabic

prepositions (fii..in), (ala..on)
English language researchers are well aware that English prepositional
usage is one of the Arab learners are also expected to find similar
difficulties in the use of English prepositions because although Arabic and
English prepositions have some characteristics in common, they differ in
both number and usage. There are only twenty Arabic prepositions the most
important and commonly used are six prepositions, (min, ila, ala, ba, la, fi),
(Abbas hasan, 1961:pp320) while in English there are one hundred fifty
prepositions (Josef essberger, 2000).
A preposition by definition expresses a relationship between two entities: it
indicates a relationship in space (between one object and another), and\or a
relationship in time (between events), and\or a more abstract relationship
(government). So, the first characteristic is that neither Arabic nor English
prepositions can stand by themselves: they get their meanings through their
usage in contexts.
The other characteristics is that the number of prepositions in English is
more than Arabic in Arabic is limited, as mentioned above; but, at the same
time, each preposition may have to serve variety of purposes. The same
preposition may express time or space and be followed be anoun, a verb, an
adverb or an adjective; also it may be used idiomatically.
The main problem for these learners lies firstly in the fact that not every
Arabic preposition has definite equivalent in English and vice versa, and
secondly, in that not every English or Arabic preposition has a definite
usage and meaning, indicating only time or space or following preceding a
certain word. The most problematic of all prepositions for both space and
time fii and on.
The first example the Arabic preposition fii is used as an equivalent
instead of in, into, at, on, during, within, inside and also zero
equivalent. This particular preposition has therefore great semantic power
in both standard and colloquial Arabic: its the filter through which all these
English equivalents must pass. It is used to denote time and place and
occurs with many different Arabic words in abstract and metaphorical
usages. Therefore fii as well as other Arabic prepositions interferes the
selection and usage of English once.
Fii
I slept in bed. (Correct response) (In)
Spring begins in the first of March. (On)
In the end of the journey we brought fruit. (At)
In my last holiday I did many different thinks. (During)
I went home in happily. (?)
The plane is flying into the sky. (In)
The first English preposition that is likely to be produced as the
equivalent of the Arabic preposition fii is in as shown in the first sentence
where it is correctly used. However it is incorrectly selected instead of on,
at, during, ?, and into. . In the sentences 2,3,4 and5. On the other hand
students may also they maybe use this preposition and all its other
equivalents interchangeably, as illustrated by sentence 6.

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Another problem is that Arab use or omit certain English prepositions

according to Arabic usage .so, by literal translation when the Arabic context
requires a preposion (or requires none), learners make wrong responses
accordingly as illustrated in the following examples:
The boy enjoyed the film.
The literal translation of this sentence is
the boy enjoyed with the film.
Either
the boy enjoyed from the film.
Or
In Arabic it is necessary to insert a preposition to make a relationship
between the enjoyment and the film, which was the cause of the enjoyment.
With out such a preposition the Arabic sentence will have no sense.
Therefore Arab learners are likely to insert unnecessary prepositions
when they express themselves in English. On the other hand, they may omit
necessary prepositions as illustrated by the following examples:
When we arrived in Jericho we bought fruit.
I must stay at the university for eight years.
I saw the dome of the rock.
These are correct responses in English. The prepositions in, for, and of
must be inserted to form a relationship between the arriving and the place,
which was arrived at, and the stay at the university and the time to be spent
there; also between the rock and the dome which is built over it. With out
these prepositions the above sentences will make no sense in English. But
the literal translations of these sentences dont need such prepositions
because the relationship exists in Arabic without them as shown in
flowchart (1).
Language

Arabic

English

Prepositions
Fii

In

Equivalent/parallel usage

Locative interior
Area/Volume

None equivalent usage

6
Inside

Within

Into

During

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On

Locative
surface

At

Locative
Point or
time

Flowchart (1) Arabic preposition Fii comparison with English

preposition In
The second example: Ala
The Arabic preposition Ala is used as an equivalent instead of on,
over, above, at and onto. According to Arab learners these prepositions in
English language have the same equivalent and usage. They couldnt

Time
period

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differentiate in the use of these prepositions, they only use on, as shown in
the examples below.
I saw a football match on TV. (On)
The bird is flying on my head. (Above)
He jumped on the wall. (Over)
We sat on the table. (At)
I will come on seven oclock. (At)
The crab was washed up on the shore. (Onto)
As shown in the first sentence above, the first English preposition that is
likely to be produced as the equivalent of the Arabic preposition ala is
on. However, its incorrectly selected of over, above, at and onto in
sentences 2,3,4,5 and 6.
The key to this problem is the fact Arab always resort to literal
translation before they form English pattern. In the other words, they
translate the English into Arabic and then the Arabic back in to English,
word for word .so these mistakes due to the Arabic interference when they
speak or translate into English once. Also the differences between English
and Arabic patterns make it difficult to choose the correct preposition, as
shown in flowchart (2).
Language

Arabic

Ala

English

Prepositions

On

Equivalent/Parallel usage

Locative interior
Area / volume
None equivalent/parallel usage

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Onto

Interior
directive

Over

Above

Locative
Superior

Relationship between two

objects but doesnt touch it

Flowchart (2) Arabic prepositions Ala comparison with English

Preposition on

At

Point or
time

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Comparison of English and Arabic system:

In English there are three prepositions on, in and at that are used to
indicate positioned point in time and one preposition during to indicate
positioned period of time. In Arabic, however,fii is used to indicate the
meaning and the uses of all the above English prepositions. Thus is
equivalent to:
1- On: an equivalent of ala and fii in Arabic language. It indicates a
positioned point in time and is used with phrases that refer to days
and dates since these are perceived as a surface or line. For
example:
2- I arrived on time. (An exact point in time)
3- I work on Sundays.
4- In: an equivalent of fii in Arabic language. It indicates a positioned
point in time and is used with phrases that refer to parts of days (with
the exception of at night, at midday etc.), month, years etc. as
these are perceived as an area, e.g. in the morning. It is also used
to denote an unspecified point during a period of time e.g. In the
evening = during the evening.
5- At: indicates a positioned point in time and is used with hours, as
these are perceived as a point e.g. At 3 oclock, also and
exceptionally in at night as night is seemingly perceived as a point.
Its an equivalent of fii in Arabic language.
6- During: an equivalent of fii in Arabic. It indicates the passage of a
period of time
7- E.g. during the journey, as the time during which the journey took
place is perceived as an imaginary line, similar to the journeys route.
Arabic does not differentiate between all the above range of usages,
because fii indicates both a point in time and a Period of time. Unlike fii,
Ila and min, which Indicate movement toward or away from a specific
point in time, indicate the same Concepts as their English equivalents to
and from. Toward or away from a Specific point in time, indicate the
same concepts as their English equivalents to and from.
8- For indicates duration of time and is also used to express movement.
Its Arabic Equivalent is li, which has the same meaning and
usage.
9- Into to indicates movement and in indicates no movement in
English, with fii equivalent to both in Arabic.
10- 7.Unlike fii, ila indicates movement of an object towards a
point. It therefore has both the meaning and the range of usage of its
English equivalent to, for Example:
Bassam went to the seashore.
11- 8- like fii, minhas several different English equivalents. It
indicates separation from aPoint, from an area or volume and also,
from a line or surface. Thus it translates the English prepositions
from, away from, out of and off.
9. Ala an English equivalent to ala is on, over, above and onto. On
indicates locative

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Surface, is usually used to express a relation ship between two thinks but
can touch it.
Unlike on, over and above is used to express a relationship between
two things but doesnt touch it. Onto, on, indicates surface locative and
to, indicates movement directive.
10.bi its also equivalent to Arabic fii and in and at in English.
11. Li this Arabic preposition is equivalent to the English prepositions
to and for.

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Methodology
The sample of this study, which consisted of twenty male students, were
chosen randomly from the population of Arab students at UPM .the selected
members of this sample were students doing their masters or PHD .in
computer science, engineering and economic and management faculties.
Arabic is the mother tongue for all of them while English language is used
as a foreign language. A test was conducted to examine the students
abilities to distinguish between English and Arabic prepositions.

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The test consisted of three questions.

Q.1. This question focused only on locational prepositions, in a multiplechoice format.
Q.2. This question focused only on directional prepositions, in a
multiple-choice format.
Q.3. This question focused on both locational and directional
prepositions and required the translation of short statements from Arabic
into English.

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Findings
The researcher reveals the three results as follows:
1-Three (3) Students passed the exam (20%), and the others twelve (12)
students (80%) failed the exam.
2- Arab students may tend unconsciously to impose their patterns and
structures on English particularly when they express themselves orally or in
writing. What we are concerned here is the influence of Arabic prepositions
on English, which make them commit these errors.
3-The major reasons for these mistakes are, problems relating to the
dominance of mother tongue, imposing Arabic syntactic structure on
English and imposing Arabic meaning usage on English.
In the light of the results of this study, it is noticed that these specific
words in English language, which are called prepositions, cause difficulties
for Arab students. The misunderstanding of some of these words used in the
test caused Arab students to commit errors.
Arab learners are expected to find similar difficulties in the use of
English prepositions because although Arabic and English prepositions have
some characteristics in common, they differ in both number and usage.
There are only six Arabic prepositions while in English there are more than
thirty prepositions.
The main problem for Arab learners lies firstly in the fact that not every
Arabic preposition has an exact equivalent in English and vice versa,
secondly, not every English or Arabic preposition has a definite usage and
meaning, indicating only time or space or following/ preceding a certain
word. For example, the Arabic Preposition fi is used as (in, into, at, on, and
inside etc.). This particular preposition has therefore great semantic power
in both standard and colloquial language use; it is the filter through which
all these English equivalents must pass. It is used to denote time and place
and occurs with many different Arabic words in abstract and metaphorical
usages. Therefore fi as well as other Arabic prepositions, interferes in the
selection and usage of English ones.
Another problem in this area is caused by the English language, which in
certain places allows a reasonable degree of freedom of choice with regard
to certain prepositions and prepositional phrases. These choices sometimes,
confuse the Arab learners to such an extent that he or she may choose the
wrong item, which would, again, negatively influence the quality of the
translation. These two main pitfalls in the prepositional from Arabic into
English. The dominance of the mother tongue and the freedom of choice in
English prepositions are discussed and illustrated below.
Regarding problems relating to the dominance of the mother tongue,
many types of errors that students may commit in translating from their
native language into the target one could be attributed to the dominance of
their mother tongue, that is the traces by someones native tongue upon the
foreign language into which he or she is translating. Students tend
unconsciously to impose their own patterns, semantic and syntactic or any
other aspects of their language on the patterns and structures of the target
language. The extent and the influence of these traces vary in their number
according to the degree of closeness between the two languages and cultures

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involved in the process of translation as well as the degree of the learner

proficiency and command of both the source and target languages.

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