diff --git a/docs/en/designers/language-basic-syntax.xml b/docs/en/designers/language-basic-syntax.xml
index 40ed75b3..5321b7bd 100644
--- a/docs/en/designers/language-basic-syntax.xml
+++ b/docs/en/designers/language-basic-syntax.xml
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
  </para>
 
  &designers.language-basic-syntax.language-syntax-comments;
+ &designers.language-basic-syntax.language-syntax-variables;
  &designers.language-basic-syntax.language-syntax-functions;
  &designers.language-basic-syntax.language-syntax-attributes;
  &designers.language-basic-syntax.language-syntax-quotes;
diff --git a/docs/en/designers/language-basic-syntax/language-syntax-variables.xml b/docs/en/designers/language-basic-syntax/language-syntax-variables.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e326c6c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/en/designers/language-basic-syntax/language-syntax-variables.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
+<!-- $Revision$ -->
+<sect1 id="language.syntax.variables">
+ <title>Variables</title>
+ <para>
+  Template variables start with a dollar sign. They can contain numbers,
+  letters and underscores, much like a PHP variable. You can reference arrays
+  that are indexed numerically or non-numerically. You can also reference
+  object properties and methods. Config file variables are an exception to the
+  dollar sign syntax. They can be referenced with surrounding hashmarks, or
+  with the special $smarty.config variable.
+ </para>
+ <example>
+  <title>Variables</title>
+  <programlisting>
+<![CDATA[
+{$foo}        <-- displaying a simple variable (non array/object)
+{$foo[4]}     <-- display the 5th element of a zero-indexed array
+{$foo.bar}    <-- display the "bar" key value of an array, similar to PHP $foo['bar']
+{$foo.$bar}   <-- display the key value of an array denoted by the value $bar
+{$foo->bar}   <-- display the object property "bar"
+{$foo->bar()} <-- display the object method return value for "bar"
+{#foo#}       <-- display the config file variable "foo"
+{$smarty.config.foo} <-- synonym for {#foo#}
+{$foo[bar]}   <-- syntax only valid in a section loop, see {section}
+]]>
+  </programlisting>
+ </example>
+</sect1>
+<!-- Keep this comment at the end of the file
+Local variables:
+mode: sgml
+sgml-omittag:t
+sgml-shorttag:t
+sgml-minimize-attributes:nil
+sgml-always-quote-attributes:t
+sgml-indent-step:1
+sgml-indent-data:t
+indent-tabs-mode:nil
+sgml-parent-document:nil
+sgml-default-dtd-file:"../../../../manual.ced"
+sgml-exposed-tags:nil
+sgml-local-catalogs:nil
+sgml-local-ecat-files:nil
+End:
+vim600: syn=xml fen fdm=syntax fdl=2 si
+vim: et tw=78 syn=sgml
+vi: ts=1 sw=1
+-->