Localize Ar

Translate to Arabic (ar) — High-Fidelity Skill

Scope & Variants

Arabic is a diglossic language: written/formal = MSA (الفصحى), spoken = dialects (العامية). UI/product copy almost always uses MSA. Dialects are used only when the product explicitly targets a single region's spoken voice (rare for software).

If a translation target locale is given, follow its variant. Otherwise treat as MSA (the safe pan-regional default) and surface differences only where meaningful.

Recognized variants:

| Locale | Name | Use case | Default formality | |--------|------|----------|-------------------| | ar | MSA (Modern Standard Arabic) | Pan-regional UI, written, business, news | Formal (أنت + masdar) | | ar-SA | Saudi MSA | Saudi-specific products; KSA-localized | Formal (أنت + masdar) | | ar-EG | Egyptian (MSA-leaning or Masri) | Egyptian audience; can lean colloquial in marketing | Formal default, can soften | | ar-AE | UAE/Gulf MSA | UAE/Gulf audience | Formal | | ar-LB | Levantine (or LB MSA) | Lebanon/Syria/Jordan/Palestine | Formal default | | ar-MA | Moroccan/Maghrebi | Morocco/Algeria/Tunisia; Darija spoken, MSA written | Formal MSA in writing |

Critical principle: When a translation must serve multiple regions, ALWAYS pick MSA with terminology choices that read naturally across regions. Never use dialect-specific vocabulary in MSA copy.

When the target locale is unspecified

If the user requests "Arabic" without specifying region/variant, ask once with the option tool:

> Which Arabic variant should I target? > > - MSA (ar) — Recommended. Pan-regional, formal, used in software, news, books, business. > - Egyptian (ar-EG) — Egypt-specific. Some loanwords (موبايل) differ from MSA (هاتف محمول). > - Saudi (ar-SA) — Saudi/Gulf-leaning MSA; SAR currency; Hijri calendar friendly. > - Levantine (ar-LB) — Lebanon/Syria/Jordan/Palestine MSA. > - Moroccan/Maghrebi (ar-MA) — Morocco-region MSA; French loanwords may bleed in. > - UAE (ar-AE) — UAE-specific MSA; AED currency.

Default to MSA if no answer.

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Register Auto-Detection (Apply Before Translating)

Arabic formality is set by pronoun choice, imperative form, and lexical register. Auto-detect from the source text:

| Source signal | Target register | |---------------|-----------------| | Contractions (you're, don't), exclamations, casual lexicon (Hey!, Let's…), emoji, marketing voice | Soft formal — أنت + direct imperative (اضغط, احفظ); allow short verbal phrases. Buttons stay masdar (حفظ). | | Neutral product/UI prose (Click to save, Your file was uploaded) — DEFAULT | Standard formal MSA — أنت + masdar buttons; status uses تم/جارٍ; "Please" → الرجاء + masdar in modal/dialog confirmations only. | | Legal/financial/government/very-formal business (Kindly be advised, terms of service, banking) | Elevated formal — حضرتك / حضرتكم for "you"; verbose courtesy (يُرجى التكرم بـ, نتشرف بـ); religious-respectful framings allowed; 3rd-person verb agreement with حضرتك. |

Hard rule: never mix levels in the same string. If the source mixes registers (rare), pick the higher one.

Hard rule: never inject religious phrases (إن شاء الله, ما شاء الله, بإذن الله) into a translation unless the source text already invokes that semantic. They are not generic politeness fillers in MSA software copy.

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Critical Hard Rules (Severity ≥ 2.0 — Auto-Fail If Wrong)

1. Non-human plural takes FEMININE SINGULAR adjective/verb (severity 2.5)

This is the most-failed Arabic grammar rule by AI systems and non-native speakers. Memorize it.

> Any plural noun that refers to non-human entities (files, settings, products, accounts, files, photos, items, computers, etc.) takes a feminine SINGULAR adjective AND a feminine SINGULAR verb.

| Wrong | Correct | Why | |-------|---------|-----| | ملفات جديدين | ملفات جديدة | Files (non-human pl.) → feminine sg. adjective | | الأنظمة متقدمين | الأنظمة متقدمة | Systems (non-human pl.) → feminine sg. | | المنصات الجدد | المنصات الجديدة | Platforms (non-human pl.) → feminine sg. | | الملفات يتم حذفهم | الملفات تُحذف / يتم حذف الملفات | Verb agrees as fem. sg. with non-human pl. subject | | الإعدادات حُفظوا | الإعدادات حُفظت | Settings (non-human pl.) → fem. sg. verb |

Human plurals follow normal m./f. plural rules (المستخدمون الجدد, المستخدمات الجديدات). Non-human plurals do NOT.

2. Number agreement (3–10 = reverse-gender + plural genitive) (severity 2.0)

| Count | Pattern | Example (masc. noun ملف) | Example (fem. noun منصة) | |-------|---------|--------------------------|--------------------------| | 1 | masdar/sg., agreeing gender | ملف واحد | منصة واحدة | | 2 | dual (-ان nom. / -ين acc./gen.) | ملفان / ملفين | منصتان / منصتين | | 3–10 | number takes opposite gender + plural genitive noun | ثلاثة ملفات (m. noun → fem. number form) | ثلاث منصات (f. noun → masc. number form) | | 11–99 | number + singular accusative tanween noun | عشرون ملفًا | خمس وعشرون منصةً | | 100+ | number + singular genitive noun | مئة ملف | مئة منصة |

Common errors: ثلاث ملفات (should be ثلاثة ملفات), 5 ملفين (should be 5 ملفات), 2 ملفات (should be ملفان).

3. Definiteness agreement: both definite or both indefinite (severity 2.0)

Noun + adjective MUST match in definiteness.

• الملف الجديد ✓ (both definite — "the new file")
• ملف جديد ✓ (both indefinite — "a new file")
• الملف جديد ✗ → this is a sentence, not a phrase: "The file is new." If you meant the noun phrase, fix to الملف الجديد.

4. RTL direction + bidirectional text (severity 2.0 — placeholders)

• Arabic flows right-to-left. Punctuation goes at the end of the sentence in logical order (which displays on the left visually): تم الحفظ. ✓ not .تم الحفظ.
• **Placeholders {var}, {{name}}, `, URLs, emails, code identifiers, file names, numbers** must be preserved exactly as in source. Do NOT translate file.txt, localhost:3000, , npm, API, GitHub`, etc.
• For mixed Arabic/Latin text where bidi rendering can confuse the user (a Latin filename inside an Arabic sentence), surround the LTR run with LRM (U+200E) or wrap with explicit Unicode directional embeddings if the surface needs it. Most UI frameworks handle this automatically — do not sprinkle LRM/RLM characters into translation strings unless you know the framework does not auto-handle.
• Numerals: when the surrounding UI uses Eastern Arabic-Indic digits (٠-٩), use them. Otherwise use Western digits (0-9). Be consistent within a string — never mix 5 ملفات and ٧ منصات in the same screen.

5. Arabic punctuation, not Latin (severity 2.0)

| Latin (wrong in Arabic text) | Arabic (correct) | Unicode | |------------------------------|------------------|---------| | ? | ؟ | U+061F | | , | ، | U+060C | | ; | ؛ | U+061B | | % | ٪ (optional, U+066A) or % accepted | |

Period ., colon :, exclamation !, parentheses ( ), square brackets [ ], quotation marks " " or « » stay as-is (or use guillemets « » for style consistency).

6. Religious / Islamic sensitivity (severity 2.5)

Critical for all Arabic content, not just religious text. The Arabic-reading audience is overwhelmingly Muslim, and the language itself carries Islamic register.

Idioms with Christian/biblical/pagan/secular-Western origins MUST be re-conceptualized, never literally translated:

| English idiom | ✗ Literal calque | ✓ Culturally adapted | |---------------|------------------|----------------------| | cross to bear | صليب يحمله | عبء يتحمله / مسؤولية ثقيلة | | holy grail | الكأس المقدسة | الهدف الأسمى / الغاية المنشودة | | good Samaritan | السامري الصالح | شخص محسن / فاعل خير | | blessing in disguise | (literal) | نعمة مقنّعة / خير في باطنه | | act of God | عمل الله | قوة قاهرة / حدث طبيعي (legal term) | | baptism of fire | معمودية النار | اختبار صعب / تجربة قاسية | | Pandora's box | صندوق باندورا | فتح باب الشر / عواقب وخيمة | | Achilles' heel | كعب أخيل | نقطة ضعف | | knock on wood | (literal) | الله يحفظنا / بإذن الله | | fingers crossed | (literal) | إن شاء الله / نتمنى | | bring home the bacon | (literal — pork!) | يكسب رزقه / ينجح في المهمة | | champagne problems | (literal) | مشاكل الرفاهية / مشاكل تافهة | | Christmas miracle | معجزة عيد الميلاد | معجزة / شيء رائع |

Halal sensitivity: Avoid casual metaphors involving pork (lard, bacon, ham), alcohol (champagne, beer, wine), or gambling that are not the literal subject of the source text.

Finance: "Interest" → فائدة is ambiguous between halal (غير ربوية) and haram (ربوية). For neutral copy, فائدة is fine. For Islamic-banking products, explicitly disambiguate. Never market ربا (usury) positively.

Calendar: Don't assume Gregorian calendar / Western holidays are universal. For dates in Saudi/Gulf contexts, consider Hijri (التاريخ الهجري) — see Cultural Conventions below.

Dating/relationships: dating app → تطبيق تعارف or تطبيق للزواج (depending on context), not literal تطبيق للمواعدة (which carries inappropriate connotation in conservative regions).

Gender: Arabic has grammatical gender on EVERYTHING. The default audience-facing pronoun is masculine (أنت / يمكنك) when the audience is mixed/unknown. If the product is explicitly targeting women only, switch to feminine throughout (أنتِ / يمكنكِ). Never mix within a string.

Imagery in copy (if referenced verbally): mentions of "she wore [revealing item]" or "drink at the bar" carry sensitivity — translate the function, not the literal scene, where possible.

7. Verb-Subject-Object (VSO) preferred for new info; SVO for topicalization (severity 1.5)

• VSO is the most natural Arabic word order: يفتح المستخدم الملف ("Opens the user the file" → "The user opens the file").
• SVO is also grammatical and very common in modern Arabic, especially when the subject is topicalized: المستخدم يفتح الملف.
• Never put adjective before noun: جديد ملف ✗ → ملف جديد ✓.

8. Idafa (إضافة) construct — possessive/compound noun chain (severity 1.5)

When two nouns form a possessive/compound (the manager of the files, the dashboard's settings):

• First noun: drops ال, drops nunation (tanween). Just bare form.
• Second noun: takes ال if the whole phrase is definite; takes genitive ending.

| Wrong | Correct | Meaning | |-------|---------|---------| | المدير الملفات | مدير الملفات | the file manager | | لوحة تحكم | لوحة التحكم | the control panel (idafa, definite) | | لوحة التحكم الإعدادات | إعدادات لوحة التحكم | the control panel's settings |

9. ICU plurals — Arabic uses ALL SIX categories (severity 2.5)

This is uniquely Arabic and most translation tools get it wrong by treating Arabic like English (one/other).

{count, plural,
  zero {لا توجد ملفات}
  one {ملف واحد}
  two {ملفان}
  few {# ملفات}
  many {# ملفًا}
  other {# ملف}
}

Category boundaries (CLDR official):

• zero: n = 0
• one: n = 1
• two: n = 2
• few: n % 100 = 3..10
• many: n % 100 = 11..99
• other: everything else (including 100, 200, 1000, etc.)

For each ICU plural variable: if the source has only {count, plural, one {...} other {...}}, you MUST expand to all six Arabic categories — never leave categories out, even if the English source omits them.

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Pronouns, "You", and Possessives

Personal pronouns

| English | Arabic (formal default — masc.) | Feminine variant | Very formal | |---------|----------------------------------|------------------|-------------| | you (sg.) | أنت | أنتِ | حضرتك (m.) / حضرتك (f.) | | your (sg.) | -ك (masc. suffix) | -كِ (fem. suffix) | حضرتك / حضرتكم (pl. polite) | | you (pl. courtesy) | أنتم | أنتن (all-women plural) | حضراتكم / سيادتكم | | we | نحن | نحن | نحن (no change) | | I | أنا | أنا | أنا |

Verb endings (2nd-person sg.)

| Form | Masc. | Fem. | |------|-------|------| | present "you do X" | تفعل (tafʿalu) | تفعلين (tafʿalīna) | | imperative "do X!" | افعل (ifʿal) | افعلي (ifʿalī) | | past "you did X" | فعلتَ (faʿalta) | فعلتِ (faʿalti) |

For software UI: default to masculine 2nd-person singular (يمكنك, اضغط, أنت) unless the audience is clearly women-only.

Possessive suffixes

English your file → Arabic ملفك (masc.) or ملفكِ (fem.). The pronoun is a suffix, not a separate word.

| English | Arabic | |---------|--------| | my account | حسابي | | your account (m.) | حسابك | | your account (f.) | حسابكِ | | your account (pl.) | حسابكم | | our account | حسابنا | | their account | حسابهم |

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Grammar Reference

Two genders (مذكر / مؤنث)

Feminine markers (almost always feminine):

• ends in -ة (taa marbuta): منصة, خدمة, شركة, لغة
• ends in -اء: صحراء (but check — some are masc.)
• ends in -ى (alif maqsura): ذكرى, شكوى

Inherently feminine without marker:

• Country names: مصر, السعودية, ألمانيا (use feminine adjective)
• Body parts in pairs: عين, يد, أذن
• Some specific nouns: شمس, نار, ريح, نفس

Default masculine: everything else.

Adjective agreement table

| Subject | Adjective form | |---------|---------------| | Masculine singular (ملف) | masculine sg. (جديد) | | Feminine singular (منصة) | feminine sg. (جديدة) | | Human masculine plural (مستخدمون) | masculine plural (جُدُد / جديدون) | | Human feminine plural (مستخدمات) | feminine plural (جديدات) | | Non-human plural (ملفات, أنظمة) | feminine SINGULAR (جديدة) ⚠ | | Dual masc. (ملفان) | dual masc. (جديدان) | | Dual fem. (منصتان) | dual fem. (جديدتان) |

Verb agreement

Verbs agree with subject in gender + number. For non-human plural subjects, verb is feminine singular: الملفات حُفظت (not حُفظوا).

Sun and moon letters (definite article assimilation)

The ال (the) is pronounced differently depending on the next letter — but written the same. In writing, you never need to change spelling. Just be aware that in reading:

• Sun letters (ت ث د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ل ن): ل assimilates to next consonant (الشمس reads as "ash-shams").
• Moon letters (everything else): ل is pronounced normally (القمر = "al-qamar").

Practical impact in writing: none. The spelling stays ال.

Cases (إعراب)

Three cases: nominative (مرفوع), accusative (منصوب), genitive (مجرور). In modern unvocalized text:

• Sound masculine plural: nom. -ون (مستخدمون), acc./gen. -ين (مستخدمين).
• Dual: nom. -ان (ملفان), acc./gen. -ين (ملفين).
• Sound feminine plural: nom. -ات (ملفات / ملفاتٌ), acc. -ات (ملفاتٍ — same letters), gen. -ات (ملفاتٍ).
• Singular nouns: case shows only in tanween (rarely written in UI). Drop tanween in headlines/buttons.

For UI copy: most case endings are unmarked. Focus on dual vs plural distinction and definiteness agreement.

Common particles + governed case

| Particle | Meaning | Governs | Example | |----------|---------|---------|---------| | في | in | genitive | في الملف | | على | on | genitive | على المنصة | | إلى | to | genitive | إلى الإعدادات | | من | from | genitive | من المستخدم | | بـ | by/with | genitive | بكلمة المرور | | لـ | for/to | genitive | للمستخدم | | إنّ | indeed/that | accusative | إنّ الملفَ جديد | | أنّ | that (sub.) | accusative | أعلم أنّ الملفَ جديد | | كان | was | accusative on predicate | كان الملفُ جديدًا |

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UI Conventions

Buttons → masdar (verbal noun)

Single-word action buttons use the masdar form, not imperative:

| English | ✓ Arabic (masdar) | ✗ Imperative (wrong for buttons) | |---------|-------------------|----------------------------------| | Save | حفظ | احفظ | | Cancel | إلغاء | ألغِ | | Delete | حذف | احذف | | Send | إرسال | أرسل | | Edit | تعديل | عدّل | | Search | بحث | ابحث | | Confirm | تأكيد | أكّد | | Continue | متابعة | تابع | | Submit | إرسال / تأكيد | — | | Sign in | تسجيل الدخو

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Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: i18n-agent
• Source: i18n-agent/i18nstack
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://i18nagent.ai

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.