التِّقْنِيَة وَالحَيَاة الرَّقْمِيَّةTechnology and Digital Life
Chapter Overview
This chapter moves from institutional procedures to the technology that increasingly carries them out. You will learn vocabulary for devices, applications, accounts, and online services, and you will develop the skill of explaining a digital process step by step — how to set up an account, update an application, or troubleshoot a common problem. A central grammatical tool for this kind of explanation is nominalization: turning a verb into a noun (مَصْدَر) so that an action can be discussed, sequenced, and evaluated as a thing in itself, the way English speakers say "installation" instead of "when you install it." You will also continue developing the impersonal and passive patterns from Chapters 6 and 7 in the specific context of describing digital processes. By the end of this chapter, you will be able to read a short set of technical instructions, listen to an explanation of a digital process, and write your own explanation of how to complete a common online task.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Recognize and use core technology and digital-life vocabulary: device, application, account, password, network, update, download, upload, file, setting.
- Form and use verbal nouns (مَصَادِر) productively to name processes and steps: تَثْبِيت (installation), تَحْدِيث (updating), تَسْجِيل (registration/logging in), حِفْظ (saving).
- Sequence a multi-step digital process using ordering expressions (أَوَّلًا، ثُمَّ، بَعْد ذَلِك، أَخِيرًا) together with nominalized steps.
- Continue using يُطْلَب، يُشْتَرَط، تَمَّ + verbal noun, and the recycled passive verbs from Chapters 6-7 in the context of digital instructions and error messages.
- Read a short set of technical instructions or an application's help text and identify the steps and any requirements.
- Listen to a short spoken explanation of a digital process and extract the sequence of steps.
- Write a short set of instructions or an explanatory paragraph describing how to complete a common online task, using nominalized process language.
Opening Communication Scenario
Imagine a friend asks you to explain how to set up a new application on their phone, or you need to write a short note explaining why an online account isn't working. Technology explanations rarely narrate a story about a person; instead, they describe steps and outcomes as processes — تَثْبِيت التَّطْبِيق ("installing the application"), تَمَّ حِفْظ التَّغْيِيرَات ("the changes have been saved"). This chapter's task asks you to read and listen to explanations of digital processes, and then write your own step-by-step explanation of a common online task.
- You will meet technology and digital-life vocabulary and see it combined with nominalized process language.
- You will notice how impersonal and passive patterns from earlier chapters continue to describe technical steps and requirements.
- You will write a short explanation of a digital process, sequencing several nominalized steps clearly.
Core Vocabulary
This chapter makes the technology and digital-life vocabulary domain fully productive, building on the general media vocabulary of Chapter 6 and the institutional vocabulary of Chapter 7.
| Arabic | Meaning | Gender / Plural | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| جِهَاز، أَجْهِزَة | device | masc., broken pl. أَجْهِزَة | core technology vocabulary |
| تَطْبِيق، تَطْبِيقَات | application, app | masc., sound masc. plural | related to Form II verb طَبَّقَ |
| حِسَاب، حِسَابَات | account | masc., sound masc. plural | recycled sense from earlier volumes (also "calculation") |
| كَلِمَة السِّرّ، كَلِمَات السِّرّ | password | fem. compound noun | construct-phrase vocabulary |
| شَبَكَة، شَبَكَات | network | fem., sound fem. plural | technology and media vocabulary |
| مِلَفّ، مِلَفَّات | file | masc., sound masc. plural | digital-document vocabulary |
| إِعْدَاد، إِعْدَادَات | setting | masc., sound masc. plural | verbal noun of أَعَدَّ; often used in plural |
| تَحْدِيث، تَحْدِيثَات | update, updating | masc., sound masc. plural | verbal noun of حَدَّثَ (Form II) |
| رِسَالَة إِلِكْتُرُونِيَّة، رَسَائِل إِلِكْتُرُونِيَّة | email (message) | fem., broken pl. رَسَائِل | recycled and expanded from Chapter 4's formal-email vocabulary |
| خَلَل، أَخْطَاء | error, malfunction | masc.; related noun خَطَأ، أَخْطَاء | troubleshooting vocabulary |
Specialized programming, networking, and engineering terminology remains outside this chapter's scope; vocabulary here is limited to everyday device and application use.
Pronunciation Focus
Continue the formal connected reading developed in Chapters 6-7, now applied to numbered technical instructions. Group each nominalized step (for example تَحْدِيث التَّطْبِيق or حِفْظ التَّغْيِيرَات) as a single prosodic unit, and let sequencing words such as أَوَّلًا and ثُمَّ carry a light pause afterward to mark the start of a new step.
Application help text and troubleshooting notices are typically unvocalized, continuing the unvocalized practical-text reading developed in Chapters 6-7. New or ambiguous technical terms remain vocalized as needed.
Grammar and Sentence Patterns
This chapter expands nominalization — using the verbal noun (مَصْدَر) to name an action as a process — as the primary tool for explaining digital procedures. It also continues, without introducing anything new, the impersonal and passive patterns from Chapters 6-7 in a technology context.
Rather than narrating "you open the application, then you enter your password," process explanations in MSA often name each step as a noun and connect the steps with sequencing expressions:
أَوَّلًا، ثُمَّ، بَعْد ذَلِك، وَأَخِيرًا — "first, then, after that, and finally" — connect nominalized steps into an ordered sequence.
مَصْدَر + مُضَاف إِلَيْه — a verbal noun placed in a construct phrase (تَحْدِيث التَّطْبِيق، حِفْظ التَّغْيِيرَات) names the step compactly, without repeating a subject pronoun for every action.
- أَوَّلًا، يُطْلَب مِنْك تَسْجِيل الدُّخُول بِاِسْتِخْدَام حِسَابِك.First, you are required to log in using your account.أَوَّلًا (sequencing) + يُطْلَب (impersonal, recycled) + verbal noun تَسْجِيل
- ثُمَّ يَتِمّ تَحْدِيث التَّطْبِيق تِلْقَائِيًّا.Then the application is updated automatically.ثُمَّ (sequencing) + يَتِمّ (impersonal, recycled pattern) + verbal noun تَحْدِيث
- وَأَخِيرًا، تَمَّ حِفْظ جَمِيع الإِعْدَادَات بِنَجَاح.And finally, all the settings were saved successfully.أَخِيرًا (sequencing) + تَمَّ (recycled) + verbal noun حِفْظ
This pattern recycles the verbal-noun forms active since earlier chapters and the impersonal/passive set from Chapters 6-7, combining them with sequencing connectors to describe a process as an ordered list of steps rather than as a story about a person. As before, an agent is optional and is added only when genuinely relevant. Full nominalization of complex derived-form verbs and specialized technical phrasing remain outside this chapter; that expands further in Chapter 9.
This chapter's productive nominalized-process vocabulary includes: تَثْبِيت، تَحْدِيث، تَسْجِيل، حِفْظ، تَحَقُّق، اِسْتِخْدَام. These combine with the recycled impersonal/passive set (أُعْلِنَ، صَدَرَ، نُشِرَ، قِيلَ، أُفِيدَ، يُطْلَب، يُشْتَرَط، تَمَّ + verbal noun) and sequencing words. No new passive verb is introduced in this chapter. Conditional sentences remain receptive only.
Model Dialogue
Context: one friend helps another set up a new application on their phone.
Guided Practice
- Write one sentence beginning with أَوَّلًا that states a required first step using يُطْلَب and a verbal noun.
- Write one sentence beginning with ثُمَّ that describes a second step using يَتِمّ or a recycled passive verb.
- Write one sentence beginning with وَأَخِيرًا that describes a completed outcome using تَمَّ + a verbal noun.
- Combine your three sentences into a short, ordered explanation of a digital process of your choice (installing an app, resetting a password, saving a file).
- Underline each verbal noun in your explanation and confirm it correctly follows its governing verb or preposition.
Listening Practice
Ask your instructor, a partner, or a text-to-speech tool to read the following short explanation aloud twice at a moderate pace. Listen without reading along the first time, then answer the questions below.
لِتَحْدِيث كَلِمَة السِّرّ، اِتَّبِع الخُطُوَات التَّالِيَة: أَوَّلًا، يُطْلَب مِنْك تَسْجِيل الدُّخُول إِلَى حِسَابِك. ثُمَّ يَتِمّ اِخْتِيَار "الإِعْدَادَات" مِن القَائِمَة. بَعْد ذَلِك، يُشْتَرَط إِدْخَال كَلِمَة السِّرّ القَدِيمَة قَبْل كِتَابَة كَلِمَة سِرّ جَدِيدَة. وَأَخِيرًا، تَمَّ حِفْظ التَّغْيِيرَات، وَسَتَصِلُك رِسَالَة إِلِكْتُرُونِيَّة تُفِيد بِأَنَّ التَّحْدِيث تَمَّ بِنَجَاح.
مُهِمَّة الاسْتِمَاع — Listening task
- What is the first required step in updating the password?
- What must be entered before writing the new password?
- What happens after the changes are saved?
- List the four steps in order, using your own words.
Speaking Practice
تَدْرِيب مُوَجَّه — Controlled practice: Name a step
With a partner, take turns naming one step of a digital process using a verbal noun (تَحْدِيث، تَسْجِيل، حِفْظ، تَثْبِيت) and a sequencing word (أَوَّلًا، ثُمَّ، أَخِيرًا).
مُهِمَّة تَوَاصُل — Communicative task: Help a friend with technology
In pairs, role-play a conversation similar to the Model Dialogue: one partner needs help completing a digital task, and the other explains the steps using nominalized process language and at least one impersonal/passive pattern.
لِلْمُتَعَلِّمِينَ المُسْتَقِلِّينَ — Solo alternative
Record yourself explaining, in under two minutes, the steps of a real digital process you know well (installing an app, backing up files, changing a setting), using at least three nominalized steps in order.
Reading Practice
Read the short technical instructions below, then answer the questions that follow. Predictable short vowels on familiar words are left unmarked, consistent with this chapter's reading level.
Setting Up a New Account — Sample Application Help Text
لِإِنْشَاء حِسَاب جَدِيد، يُطْلَب مِنَ المُسْتَخْدِم تَقْدِيم بَرِيد إِلِكْتُرُونِيّ صَحِيح وَكَلِمَة سِرّ قَوِيَّة. وَيُشْتَرَط أَن تَحْتَوِي كَلِمَة السِّرّ عَلَى ثَمَانِيَة أَحْرُف عَلَى الأَقَلّ. وَبَعْد تَعْبِئَة البَيَانَات، يَتِمّ إِرْسَال رِسَالَة إِلِكْتُرُونِيَّة لِلتَّحَقُّق مِنَ الحِسَاب. وَقِيلَ إِنَّ بَعْض المُسْتَخْدِمِين قَد يُوَاجِهُون خَلَلًا مُؤَقَّتًا فِي هَذِه المَرْحَلَة؛ وَفِي هَذِه الحَالَة، يُنْصَح بِإِعَادَة تَحْمِيل الصَّفْحَة. وَبَعْد التَّحَقُّق، يَتِمّ تَفْعِيل الحِسَاب تِلْقَائِيًّا، وَيُمْكِن لِلْمُسْتَخْدِم البَدْء بِاِسْتِخْدَام جَمِيع خِدْمَات التَّطْبِيق.
أَسْئِلَة الفَهْم — Comprehension questions:
- What two things is a new user required to provide?
- What is stipulated about the password?
- What happens after the data is filled in?
- What is recommended if a user faces a temporary error, and what happens after verification?
Writing Workshop
In this workshop, you will write a short explanation of how to complete a common online task, sequencing nominalized steps clearly.
إِذَا نَسِيت كَلِمَة السِّرّ، اِتَّبِع هَذِه الخُطُوَات: أَوَّلًا، يُطْلَب مِنْك الضَّغْط عَلَى "نَسِيت كَلِمَة السِّرّ" فِي صَفْحَة تَسْجِيل الدُّخُول. ثُمَّ يَتِمّ إِرْسَال رِسَالَة إِلِكْتُرُونِيَّة تَحْتَوِي عَلَى رَابِط لِإِعَادَة التَّعْيِين. وَيُشْتَرَط فَتْح الرَّابِط خِلَال عَشْر دَقَائِق. وَبَعْد ذَلِك، تُطْلَب كِتَابَة كَلِمَة سِرّ جَدِيدَة. وَأَخِيرًا، تَمَّ حِفْظ التَّغْيِيرَات، وَيُمْكِنُك تَسْجِيل الدُّخُول مِن جَدِيد.
If you have forgotten your password, follow these steps: first, you are required to click "Forgot password" on the login page. Then an email is sent containing a reset link. Opening the link within ten minutes is stipulated. After that, writing a new password is required. Finally, the changes have been saved, and you can log in again.
- Step 1 — Choose a task. Pick a real or invented digital task: installing an app, recovering a password, updating a setting, or saving a file.
- Step 2 — List the steps. Note three to five steps in the order they happen.
- Step 3 — Nominalize each step. Turn each step into a verbal-noun phrase (تَحْدِيث، تَسْجِيل، حِفْظ، إِرْسَال).
- Step 4 — Sequence your steps. Connect them using أَوَّلًا، ثُمَّ، بَعْد ذَلِك، وَأَخِيرًا.
- Step 5 — Add at least one impersonal/passive pattern. Use يُطْلَب، يُشْتَرَط، تَمَّ، or a recycled passive verb from Chapters 6-7 where natural.
- Review your draft against the checklist below.
قَائِمَة المُرَاجَعَة — Editing checklist:
- My explanation names each step with a verbal noun rather than a full narrated sentence about "you."
- My steps are connected in order using أَوَّلًا، ثُمَّ، بَعْد ذَلِك، وَأَخِيرًا.
- I used at least one impersonal or passive pattern from this chapter or Chapters 6-7.
- I did not force an unnecessary agent phrase into a passive or impersonal sentence.
- I used at least one piece of technology vocabulary from this chapter's table.
- I did not introduce a conditional sentence or specialized technical phrasing.
Culture and Communication
Across Arabic-speaking communities, everyday technology use draws on a mix of MSA terminology, borrowed English or French terms, and regionally common expressions, reflecting varied histories of technological adoption. Formal application interfaces and official help documentation, however, are generally written in MSA, which is why the process-explanation patterns in this chapter are broadly usable regardless of a reader's home region.
In casual spoken conversation, many speakers use borrowed or regionally adapted terms for everyday technology (for a password, an update, or a file) rather than the MSA forms taught here. This chapter's vocabulary and patterns represent the productive MSA standard used in formal writing, instructions, and interfaces; learners should expect spoken variation in informal settings.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Error: writing an overly narrated sequence such as أَوَّلًا أَنْتَ تَفْتَح التَّطْبِيق، ثُمَّ أَنْتَ تَكْتُب كَلِمَة السِّرّ ("first you open the application, then you write the password"), repeating the subject pronoun for every step.
Correction: nominalize each step instead: أَوَّلًا، فَتْح التَّطْبِيق. ثُمَّ كِتَابَة كَلِمَة السِّرّ. This matches the compact, process-focused style of real technical instructions.
Error: placing أَخِيرًا or ثُمَّ in the middle of a sentence where it obscures the step boundary, or omitting sequencing words entirely so the steps blur together.
Correction: begin each new step with its sequencing word: وَأَخِيرًا، تَمَّ حِفْظ التَّغْيِيرَات. Clear sequencing words help the reader or listener track each stage of the process.
Error: attempting a full conditional sentence ("if the update fails, then...") or specialized programming vocabulary not yet active in this chapter.
Correction: stay within this chapter's nominalized-process pattern and recycled impersonal/passive set; conditional sentences remain a receptive-only system until later chapters authorize productive use.
Chapter Summary
This chapter made technology and digital-life vocabulary fully productive and expanded nominalization into a tool for sequencing a multi-step process using أَوَّلًا، ثُمَّ، بَعْد ذَلِك، and أَخِيرًا. You continued using the impersonal and passive patterns from Chapters 6-7 (يُطْلَب، يُشْتَرَط، تَمَّ + verbal noun, and the five recycled passive verbs) in the context of digital instructions, and you practiced reading, listening to, and writing explanations of common online tasks. This development prepares you for Chapter 9, which applies cause-result chains and concession to public-problem discussion in the community.
Chapter Review
Section A — Identifying Nominalized Steps
1. In the Model Dialogue, find two examples of a verbal noun used to name a step in a process.
2. Explain, in your own words, why process explanations often prefer a verbal noun over a full verb-subject sentence.
Section B — Self-Assessment
1. Which sequencing word (أَوَّلًا، ثُمَّ، بَعْد ذَلِك، أَخِيرًا) do you still need more practice using naturally?
2. Compare your Writing Workshop explanation with the checklist. Did your steps stay clearly nominalized and sequenced?
مُرَاجَعَة تَرَاكُمِيَّة — Cumulative review
Before moving to Chapter 9, confirm that you can comfortably recycle: the impersonal/passive set from Chapters 6-7; formal-correspondence conventions from Chapter 4; and the technology vocabulary and nominalized process language introduced in this chapter. These systems remain fully productive and will continue to appear throughout Unit II.
Practical Performance Task
مُهِمَّة عَمَلِيَّة — Practical Task
شَرْح عَمَلِيَّة رَقْمِيَّة — Explaining a Digital Process
Complete both parts below. No system beyond this chapter's authorized status is required.
- Written: Submit the short explanation drafted in the Writing Workshop, revised against the editing checklist, using at least three nominalized steps and one impersonal/passive pattern.
- Spoken: Present a short spoken explanation to a partner, instructor, or recording, in under two minutes, describing the steps of the same or a different digital process using clear sequencing words and natural phrase grouping.
Assessment focus: accurate use of at least three nominalized steps in clear sequence; correct use of at least one impersonal/passive pattern; comprehensible delivery; and consistent use of vocabulary or formal-correspondence conventions from earlier chapters where relevant. No system beyond this chapter is assessed.
Answer Key
Guided Practice
Model expansion: أَوَّلًا، يُطْلَب مِنْك تَسْجِيل الدُّخُول. ثُمَّ يَتِمّ التَّحَقُّق مِن كَلِمَة السِّرّ. وَأَخِيرًا، تَمَّ حِفْظ الإِعْدَادَات بِنَجَاح. Other well-formed sentences combining these patterns are equally acceptable.
Listening Practice
- The first required step is logging in to the account.
- The old password must be entered before writing the new one.
- After the changes are saved, a confirming email is sent.
- The four steps: log in → select "Settings" → enter the old password and write a new one → changes saved and confirmation sent.
Reading Practice — Comprehension
- A new user is required to provide a valid email and a strong password.
- The password must contain at least eight characters.
- After the data is filled in, a verification email is sent.
- Reloading the page is recommended if a temporary error occurs; after verification, the account is activated automatically.
Chapter Review — Model responses
Section A.1: Examples from the dialogue include تَسْجِيل الدُّخُول, تَحْدِيث التَّطْبِيق, and حِفْظ الإِعْدَادَات. Any correctly identified verbal nouns are acceptable.
Section A.2: Any accurate response noting that a verbal noun names the step itself as a process, keeping the explanation compact and focused on what happens rather than on who performs each action.
Section B: Open-ended self-assessment; any honest, specific response naming concrete choices made while sequencing steps is acceptable.
Other well-formed, accurate answers combining the required systems are equally acceptable throughout this section.
Looking Ahead
مَا الَّذِي تَسْتَطِيعُ فِعْلَهُ الآن — What you can do now
You can now use technology and digital-life vocabulary productively, nominalize and sequence the steps of a digital process, and continue applying impersonal and passive patterns from earlier chapters in a new context. These skills open the way to Chapter 9, where you will apply cause-result chains and concession to the discussion of community issues.