Travel and tourism
Arabic · GCSE · The School
Beyond naming the place
ذَهَبْتُ إِلى مِصْرَ — I went to Egypt. This names a place. It earns little on its own. ذَهَبْتُ إِلى مِصْرَ مَعَ عائِلَتي في الصَّيْفِ الماضي — I went to Egypt with my family last summer. Adding who and when turns a bare fact into a fuller answer, the same move the identity and free-time topics reward.
How you travelled
سافَرْتُ بِالطّائِرَةِ — I travelled by plane. بِالقِطارِ — by train. بِالسَّيّارَةِ — by car. Comparing transport uses the same comparative pattern as comparing people: السَّفَرُ بِالطّائِرَةِ أَسْرَعُ مِنَ السَّفَرِ بِالقِطارِ — travelling by plane is faster than travelling by train, لكِنَّهُ أَغْلى — but it is more expensive.
What you did there
زُرْنا الأَهْرامَ — we visited the pyramids. سَبَحْنا في البَحْرِ — we swam in the sea. تَذَوَّقْنا الطَّعامَ المَحَلِّيَّ — we tasted the local food. Naming one specific activity, not a list of three, and describing it briefly earns more than a string of unconnected verbs.
An opinion about the trip, with a reason
كانَتِ الرِّحْلَةُ رائِعَةً لِأَنَّ الطَّقْسَ كانَ جَميلاً — the trip was wonderful because the weather was beautiful. لَمْ تُعْجِبْني المَدينَةُ لِأَنَّها كانَتْ مُزْدَحِمَةً جِدًّا — I did not like the city because it was very crowded. A trip description without an opinion and a reason stops at description; the exam rewards evaluation.
A holiday answer, built up
PROMPT: "Describe a holiday you went on." WEAK: ذَهَبْتُ إِلى فَرَنْسا — I went to France. Names a place, earns little. BETTER: ذَهَبْتُ إِلى فَرَنْسا بِالطّائِرَةِ مَعَ عائِلَتي — I went to France by plane with my family. Adds transport and company. STRONG: ذَهَبْتُ إِلى فَرَنْسا بِالطّائِرَةِ مَعَ عائِلَتي، وَزُرْنا بُرْجَ إِيفِل، وَكانَتِ الرِّحْلَةُ رائِعَةً لِأَنَّ الطَّعامَ كانَ لَذيذًا — I went to France by plane with my family, and we visited the Eiffel Tower, and the trip was wonderful because the food was delicious. Place, transport, company, one activity, opinion, reason — six ingredients built onto one bare fact.
Building your own holiday answer
For any "describe a holiday" prompt, take four steps. Name the place and who you went with. Say how you travelled. Name ONE thing you did there. Give an opinion of the trip with a reason, using لِأَنَّ. Four steps turn a single noun, a country's name, into a full GCSE-level answer.