When talking about a broad category, like a harvest or a group of tropical fruits, you will often want to single out a favorite. In Arabic, the phrase for "especially" or "particularly" is:
| especially / particularly | لا سيماlâ siyyamâ |
Highlighting a Specific Noun
To focus on a specific item within a group, place لا سيما after your general statement, followed immediately by the noun you want to highlight.
| I love tropical fruit, especially mangoes. | أحب الفاكهة الاستوائية، لا سيما المانجو.uhibbu al-fâkihata al-istiwâ'iyyata, lâ siyyamâ al-mângû |
| The farmer grows fruit in the orchard, especially bananas. | يزرع الفلاح الفاكهة في البستان، لا سيما الموز.yazra'u al-fallâhu al-fâkihata fi al-bustâni, lâ siyyamâ al-mawzu. |
Highlighting a Specific Trait
Sometimes you don't want to highlight a different item entirely, but rather a specific quality or type of the item you just mentioned—for example, "especially the ripe ones."
To do this in Arabic, you use لا سيما followed by the definite adjective (like الناضج for "the ripe"), plus the preposition مِن (from/of) attached to a pronoun that matches the noun you are describing. Literally, this translates to "especially the ripe of it."
Notice how the masculine pronoun in منه (of it) is used to refer back to the masculine أناناس (pineapple), while the feminine pronoun in منها is used for the feminine بابايا (papaya):
| The farmer likes to harvest pineapples, especially the ripe ones. | يحب الفلاح أن يجني الأناناس، لا سيما الناضج منه.yuhibbu al-fallâhu an yajniya al-'anânâsa, lâ siyyamâ an-nâdiji minhu. |
| Papaya is a healthy fruit, especially the fresh ones. | البابايا فاكهة صحية، لا سيما الطازجة منها.al-bâbâyâ fâkihatun siḥḥiyyatun, lâ siyyamâ aṭ-ṭâzijatu minhâ |
