food made of… (flavour / ingredients)
What’s the best/usual way to talk about what food is made of? As in ‘apple pie’, ‘lemon juice’, ‘cheese and ham sandwhich’ etc.)?

I’d thought it could be an iḍāfah construction that was either definite or indefinite according to context (e.g. فطيرة تفاح), but then I was pointed to iḍāfah constructions that are always definite despite of the context (e.g. فطيرة التفاح), which I assume is because of ingredients being collective nouns and/or because of their generic nature in such cases.

However, I’ve also seen similar constructions with بـ in a French-Arabic dictionary. I’d seen it used in e.g. ‘tea with mint’ = شاي بالنعناع, that is, with something added to something else, but when I saw فطيرة بالتفاح, I got puzzled.

Thanks in advance!

Question

food made of… (flavour / ingredients)
What’s the best/usual way to talk about what food is made of? As in ‘apple pie’, ‘lemon juice’, ‘cheese and ham sandwhich’ etc.)?

I’d thought it could be an iḍāfah construction that was either definite or indefinite according to context (e.g. فطيرة تفاح), but then I was pointed to iḍāfah constructions that are always definite despite of the context (e.g. فطيرة التفاح), which I assume is because of ingredients being collective nouns and/or because of their generic nature in such cases.

However, I’ve also seen similar constructions with بـ in a French-Arabic dictionary. I’d seen it used in e.g. ‘tea with mint’ = شاي بالنعناع, that is, with something added to something else, but when I saw فطيرة بالتفاح, I got puzzled.

Thanks in advance!

Answer

In the most cases the both are correct for the same meaning

Answer

As far as I know, when we say فطيرة تفاح we're speaking about the flavour, but when we use the preposition بـ as in شاي بالنعناع, we talk about ingredients.
Also, فطيرة تفاح = an apple pie
فطيرة التفاح = the apple pie

Answers · 2

Still haven’t found your answers?

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn a language from the comfort of your own home. Browse our selection of experienced language tutors and enroll in your first lesson now!