How English and Arabic Work
Discover how two of the world's most influential languages build meaning, sounds, and sentences. Compare English and Arabic side by side to unlock a whole new way of understanding human speech.
Like Duolingo, but for How English and Arabic Work. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A short one: 11 levels across 2 sections, about 22 minutes end to end, roughly 4 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The Building Blocks of Speech and Connecting Thoughts and Shared Worlds. It starts from scratch.
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Key ideas in How English and Arabic Work
- English attaches pieces linearly (like un-help-ful)
- Arabic keeps three consonants constant and changes the vowels between them (like k-t-b into kitab, katib, maktab)
- The shared consonant sequence k-t-b signals the core concept of writing
- Different vowel patterns around the same three letters shift the meaning from object to place to actor
- English frequently glues existing words together (like 'rail' + 'road')
- Arabic typically reshapes an existing three-consonant root into a specific noun pattern (like deriving 'qitar' from an existing root for pulling/caravans)
- English spelling reflects centuries of historical changes and borrowed tongues, keeping silent letters
- Everyday Arabic writing omits short vowels because the consonant skeleton provides enough information for readers to identify the word
- In English, peeling off prefixes and suffixes exposes the base stem
- In Arabic, extracting the three core consonants reveals the general topic family
- Arabic pairs short and long vowels to create distinct words
- Holding a vowel sound roughly twice as long changes the meaning entirely in Arabic
- English relies on which syllable is punched with louder stress rather than strict timing
- Arabic uses back-of-the-throat and pharynx muscles rarely engaged in English
- English sounds mostly cluster near the lips, teeth, and middle tongue
- Producing deep Arabic letters requires consciously engaging throat constriction rather than simple mimicry
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives How English and Arabic Work the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
Instead of snapping pieces onto ends, how does Arabic usually shape new words?
Get it right to open this lesson and 10 more in the app.
Where How English and Arabic Work takes you
- 1
The Building Blocks of Speech
- Building Words: Roots versus Stems
- Sounds and Letters: Tuning into New Frequencies
- 2
Connecting Thoughts and Shared Worlds
- Making Sentences: Structure and Perspective
- Shared Ground: Borrowed Words and Living Tongues
2 sections · 4 units · 11 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
How English and Arabic Work is taught in the The Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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