English phrasal verbs constitute one of the main challenges that confront not only learners of English but also translators when rendering them into their mother tongue. This is because phrasal verbs have meanings different from their individual parts. Thus, this article attempts to shed light on the similarities between phrasal verbs in English and Arabic.
On the one hand, English phrasal verbs are two or more words when combined form a completely new word with a meaning different from the original words. They are used like a verb and consists of a verb with an adverb or preposition after it. For example, look after, club together, and put up with. On the other hand, Arabic phrasal verbs are two words that together act as a completely new word which has a separate meaning from the original words. So, phrasal verbs in Arabic are used like a verb and contains a verb with a preposition. For instance, يرغب في/Yargheb fee/ that means be interested in and يرغب عن meaning be uninterested in. This example shows that the meaning of the phrasal verb has been altered because of the preposition attached to that verb /Yarghebيرغيب/ be interested. To put it another way, the preposition في /Fee/ has turned the meaning of the verb into the contrary of the preposition عن /en/ attached to the same verb يرغب/Yargheb/. Another example is يتنزه عن/Yatnezeh en/ that means be far above and يتنزه فيwhich means have/ has a picnic. The same is true in English phrasal verbs. For example, put on and put off have opposite meanings. Therefore, phrasal verbs in Arabic are modified by the meaning of their prepositions. That is to say, each verb could have two meanings due to the preposition attached to it. As a result, it has been noted that Arabic includes a lot of phrasal verbs that share some aspects of phrasal verbs in English.
Finally, I completely think that prepositions in Arabic, to a great extent, are similar to prepositions in English when attached to the verb in terms of changing the meaning of the verb. It should be pointed out that Arabic phrasal verbs consist of a verb with a preposition without an adverb while English phrasal verbs may contain a verb with an adverb and preposition.
