1) Does the ism (اِسْم) only encompass nouns, pronouns, and adjectives?
No. The definition includes any word that conveys a meaning without a tense, so this can apply to several parts of speech in English. Therefore, it also includes things like nouns, adverbs, quantifiers.
2) What if I can’t recognize a word using the table in Lesson 1?
There are other signs that are also used to identify the parts of speech in Arabic and what is provided in Lesson 1 is meant to be a basic list. You will learn more signs as you progress, like the tā marbūṭah (ة) which is seen in an upcoming lesson. A good tip: anytime you memorize a new word make sure you determine what type of speech it is and take note of that. The dictionary will also indicate the type of speech when you look up a word.
3) I don’t understand "case." What are some more examples in English?
In English, many of our pronouns change their ending sound based upon the situation they are in. For example, we say:
- “Who are you?” instead of “Whom are you?”
- “Whose pen is this?” instead of “Who pen is this?”
These examples show how the end of the word who/whom/whose changes depending on context. This is an equivalent of cases in English and is just done on a much larger scale in Arabic.