Last updated: October, 2026
Writing Arabic in the 2027 UTME? The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) syllabus tells you exactly what the examiners can ask, so you can focus your preparation on what counts.
This page lists every section of the official JAMB Arabic syllabus, all 22 grammar topics, the literary figures and texts you must know, and the books JAMB recommends. You will also find a six-week study plan, sample questions and answers to frequently asked questions.
Quick Facts
- Exam: Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), computer-based
- Subject: Arabic
- Syllabus sections: 5 (Comprehension, Translation, Grammar, Composition, Arabic Literature)
- Comprehension: one passage of 70 words with 5 multiple-choice questions
- Translation: 10 questions (5 English to Arabic, 5 Arabic to English)
- Grammar: 22 topics, the biggest section of the syllabus
- Composition: 5 questions
- Literature: 10 questions on set authors and works
- Source: Official JAMB syllabus
Editor’s note: confirm the total number of Arabic questions, the duration and the subject combination details against the current JAMB brochure before publishing. The syllabus gives question counts per section but not the Grammar count.
In This Guide
- Aim and objectives of the syllabus
- The five sections at a glance
- Detailed syllabus (topics and what you should be able to do)
- Recommended textbooks
- Six-week study plan
- Sample questions
- Subject combinations
- FAQs
Aim and Objectives
The aim of the UTME Arabic syllabus is to prepare candidates for admission into tertiary institutions through the Board’s examination. It tests how well candidates have achieved the course objectives, which are to:
- Answer comprehension questions correctly in standard Arabic.
- Translate simple texts from English to Arabic and vice versa.
- Apply the rules of Arabic grammar functionally.
- Appreciate Arabic literary texts within the contexts of their environment and eras.
- Use Arabic as a living world language in communication where necessary.
The Five Sections at a Glance
- Section A: Comprehension. One short passage and five questions.
- Section B: Translation. Ten questions, five in each direction.
- Section C: Grammar. Twenty-two topics covering nouns, verbs, sentences and cases.
- Section D: Composition. Five questions on everyday themes.
- Section E: Arabic Literature. Ten questions on set authors from four literary periods and West Africa.
Detailed Syllabus
Section A: Comprehension
- What to expect: A passage of seventy words with five multiple-choice questions. The content is within the candidate’s experience, such as current affairs, sports, education, politics, the economy, health, culture and ethics.
- You should be able to:
- Use appropriate words or phrases for a specific thought.
- Deduce the lesson in the passage.
- Determine the main theme of the passage.
- Give an appropriate title to the passage.
- Interpret the meanings of particular words.
Section B: Translation
- What to expect: Ten questions. Five are from English into Arabic and five are from Arabic into English. Translation into English includes key words and phrases in a sentence. Questions follow standard Arabic and English usage.
- You should be able to:
- Use an appropriate Arabic word or phrase to convey the meaning of an English word or phrase.
- Find the right English word or phrase for an Arabic statement.
- Interpret idiomatic expressions in both languages.
- Transfer ideas from Arabic to English and from English to Arabic.
- Communicate effectively in both languages.
Section C: Grammar
The 22 grammar topics in the syllabus are:
- Demonstrative, relative pronouns, conditional and interrogative (أسماء الإشارة والموصولة والشرط والاستفهام)
- Gender, masculine and feminine (المذكر والمؤنث)
- Characteristics of the noun (علامات الاسم)
- Dual (المثنى)
- Plurals (الجموع): sound masculine plural (جمع المذكر السالم), sound feminine plural (جمع المؤنث السالم) and broken plural (جمع التكسير)
- Construct phrase (المضاف والمضاف إليه)
- Separable and inseparable pronouns (الضمائر المنفصلة والمتصلة)
- Appendants (التوابع): adjective (النعت), conjunction (العطف), permutative (البدل) and emphasis (التوكيد)
- Prepositions (حروف الجر والنصب والجزم)
- Transitive and intransitive verbs (الفعل اللازم والفعل المتعدي)
- The perfect verb (الفعل الماضي)
- The imperfect verb (الفعل المضارع): indicative (المرفوع), subjunctive (المنصوب) and jussive (المجزوم)
- The imperative verb (فعل الأمر)
- The modifiers (النواسخ): Kana and its associates (كان وأخواتها), Inna and its associates (إن وأخواتها) and Zanna and its associates (ظن وأخواتها)
- Trilateral and derived verbs (الفعل الثلاثي المجرد والمزيد فيه)
- Verbal noun (المصدر)
- Derivatives (المشتقات): active participle, passive participle, comparative and superlative, noun of instrument, nouns of time and place, relative adjective and hyperbole noun
- Conditional sentence (الجملة الشرطية)
- Numerals, 1 to 1000 only (العدد)
- Active and passive voice (الفاعل ونائب الفاعل)
- Subject and predicate (المبتدأ والخبر)
- Nouns in the accusative (منصوبات الأسماء): direct object, adverbs of place and time, adverb of circumstance, the exempted with illa, specification and the vocative
You should be able to, across Section C:
- Identify the forms of demonstrative and relative pronouns, and compare gender markers.
- Identify the characteristics of Arabic nouns and tell singular from dual forms.
- Construct plural forms of singular nouns.
- Identify construct phrases, and tell separable pronouns from inseparable ones.
- Use adjectives, conjunctions, the permutative and emphasis correctly in sentences.
- Apply the correct prepositions, and tell transitive verbs from intransitive ones.
- Identify perfect, imperfect and imperative verbs and their forms.
- Identify the kinds of modifiers and apply them in Arabic usage.
- Tell trilateral verbs from derived verbs, and identify the types of derivatives.
- Apply the rules governing conditional sentences.
- Recognise and count Arabic numerals from 1 to 1000 and handle the rules for using them.
- Distinguish the doer from the doer-substitute.
- Identify adverbial clauses, the exempted, specification and the vocative, and use them in standard Arabic.
Section D: Composition
- What to expect: Five questions on subjects related to the lives and environment of the candidate, such as education, culture, health, politics, the economy, sports and current affairs.
- You should be able to:
- Use appropriate words for specific thoughts.
- Use correct idiomatic expressions in Arabic.
- Communicate effectively and express ideas clearly in Arabic.
- Show the use of common Arabic idioms and proverbs.
Section E: Arabic Literature
Ten questions on notable literary figures and their works across these periods.
Introduction to Arabic literature
- Literature: its definition, divisions and arts
- The literary periods
- Poetry: definition, types and purposes
- Prose: definition and arts
The Pre-Islamic Period (about 500 to 610 C.E.)
- Ash-Shanfara and his poem beginning “أقيموا بني أمي صدور مطيكم”
- Aktham ibn Sayfi at-Tamimi and his speech before Kisra, “إن أفضل الأشياء”
The Islamic Periods (610 to 1798 C.E.)
- Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ath-Thaqafi and his sermon of advice, “أيها الناس قد أصبحتم”
- Ali ibn Abi Talib and his sermon on striving with sincerity
- Abdullah ibn al-Muqaffa and his letter on how to treat a friend, which begins “ابذل لصديقك”
- Jarir ibn Atiyyah and his poem praising Caliph Umar ibn Abdul Aziz
The Modern Period (1798 to date)
- Ahmad Shawqi and his poem “العلم والتعليم وواجب المعلم”
- Jibran Khalil Jibran and his poem “المواكب”
- Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad and his book “اللغة الشاعرة”
Arabic Literature in West Africa
- Asma’u bint Shehu Usman ibn Fodio and her poem “أعيني جودا وابكيا”
- Ali Abdulqadir al-Asali and his book “قصة عبث الطفولة”
- Muhammad al-Amin Sambo Ghasama and his poem on pride in the ancient African continent
- Adam Yahya al-Fulani and his book on the people of Takrur
You should be able to:
- Identify the essence of Arabic literature, poetry, prose and their periods.
- Identify pre-Islamic poetic and prose traditions and conventions.
- Identify and analyse the style of figurative expressions in a given Islamic text.
- Describe the aesthetic features of literary texts and assess their modern cultural values.
- Evaluate the use of Arabic as a medium of the West African novel and drama, analyse the content and describe the major characteristics and plots.
Recommended Textbooks
JAMB lists these texts for Arabic. Full publication details are in the official syllabus PDF.
Comprehension, Composition and Translation
- Adekilekun, A. L. A. Learning Arabic Language. Ilorin.
- Balogun, I. A. B. and Oseni, Z. I. (1982). A Modern Arabic Course Book 1. Lagos: Islamic Publications Bureau.
- Haywood, J. A. and Nahmad, H. M. (1965). A New Arabic Grammar of the Written Language. London: Lund Humphries.
- Malik, S. H. A. (1982). A Guide to Arabic Composition, Books I and II. Lagos: I.P.B.
- Arabic newspapers, magazines and journals.
- المطالعة الواضحة by Bashir Ahmad Muhyiddin and Al-Mardi Mukhtar al-Mardi
- الإنشاء العربي المتوسط by Sayyid Hamza Malik (2005)
- القراءة الرشيدة, Parts 1 to 4, by Abdul Fattah Sabri and Ali Umar Bik
- سمير التلاميذ, Parts 1 and 2, by Abdullah at-Tayyib
- كيف تكتب الإنشاء (1999) by Gharb T. Zaria
- العربية الميسرة الجديدة للمرحلة الثانوية by Muhammad al-Awwal Abubakar and others
- العربية الجديدة في نيجيريا, Books 1 to 3, by Muhammad Badi Sharif, Salim Hakim and Al-Hajj Husain Adamu
Grammar
- Haywood, J. A. and Nahmad, H. M. (1965). A New Arabic Grammar of the Written Language. London: Lund Humphries.
- النحو الواضح لمدارس المرحلة الأولية, Parts 1 to 3, by Ali al-Jarim and Mustafa Amin
- متن الأجرومية by Muhammad Ajurrum as-Sanhaji
- التحفة السنية بشرح المقدمة الأجرومية by Muhammad Muhyiddin Abdul Hamid
Arabic Literature
- المفصل في تاريخ الأدب العربي by Ahmad al-Iskandari and others
- المأدبة الأدبية للطالب العربية في أفريقيا by Zakariyya Husain (2004)
- تزيين الورقات by Abdullahi ibn Fodio
- الشعر العربي النيجيري بين الماضي والحاضر by Abdulwahhab Donald Shyth (2009)
- ديوان الرياض by Dr. Isa Alabi Abubakar
- مستقبل اللغة العربية في نيجيريا by Murtada Bidmasi (1997)
- مختارات من توجيهات المنبر للشيخ آدم عبد الله الإلوري by Siddiq Faruq Abu Ridha
- لماذا يكرهوننا by Muhammad Thalith May Angwo (2006)
Six-Week Study Plan
- Week 1: Grammar topics 1 to 8 (pronouns, gender, nouns, dual, plurals, construct phrase, appendants).
- Week 2: Grammar topics 9 to 16 (prepositions, verbs, modifiers, derived verbs, verbal noun).
- Week 3: Grammar topics 17 to 22 (derivatives, conditional sentences, numerals, voice, subject and predicate, accusative nouns).
- Week 4: Arabic Literature. Learn each author with his or her work and period.
- Week 5: Translation and Composition. Build vocabulary, idioms and proverbs, and practise short essays.
- Week 6: Comprehension practice, then timed past questions and revision of weak topics.
Tips:
- Grammar is the largest section with 22 topics, so give it the most time.
- Make a table of each author, his or her work and the period. Literature questions test exactly these pairings.
- Practise translation both ways every day. Even 10 sentences a day helps.
- Read Arabic newspapers or short passages often, because comprehension rewards a wide vocabulary.
- Use the syllabus objectives as a checklist. If you cannot do what an objective says, you are not ready on that topic.
Sample Questions
- The dual of the word كتاب in the nominative case is A. كتابان B. كتب C. كتابات D. كتّاب Answer: A
- The sound masculine plural of مسلم in the nominative case is A. مسلمات B. مسلمون C. مسالم D. مسلمان Answer: B
- Which of the following is a broken plural? A. معلمون B. معلمات C. كتب D. طالبان Answer: C
- In the sentence كان الجو جميلا, the word جميلا is A. the subject of Kana B. the predicate of Kana C. an adjective D. an adverb Answer: B
- Who wrote the poem “العلم والتعليم وواجب المعلم”? A. Jarir ibn Atiyyah B. Ahmad Shawqi C. Jibran Khalil Jibran D. Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad Answer: B
Subject Combinations
Arabic is commonly required for courses such as Arabic Language, Islamic Studies, Islamic Law, Linguistics, Languages and Education (Arabic). Always check your chosen course and university in the JAMB brochure for the exact combination.
Related: JAMB Brochure | JAMB Recommended Textbooks for All Subjects | JAMB UTME Registration Guide
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the JAMB Arabic syllabus?
It is the official JAMB document that lists the sections, topics and learning objectives candidates must cover for Arabic in the UTME.
How many sections are in the JAMB Arabic syllabus?
Five: Comprehension, Translation, Grammar, Composition and Arabic Literature.
Which section has the most topics?
Grammar, with 22 topics covering nouns, verbs, sentences and cases.
How many questions are in the Translation section?
Ten. Five are from English into Arabic and five are from Arabic into English.
Do I need to know specific authors for Arabic Literature?
Yes. The syllabus names the authors and works for each period, so learn each author with his or her work, from the pre-Islamic era to West African Arabic literature.
Where can I get past questions for Arabic?
Click here
Check Other JAMB Subject Syllabuses
- All Subjects
- Use of English
- Agriculture Science
- Arabic
- Art
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Christian Religious Studies
- Commerce
- Computer studies
- Economics
- French
- Geography
- Government
- Hausa
- History
- Home-Economics
- Igbo
- Islamic-Studies
- Literature-In-English
- Mathematics
- Music
- Physics
- Physical and Health Education
- Principles of Accounts
- Yoruba
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