Questions & Answers about الشمس جميلة.
Why is 'the sun' pronounced 'ash-shams' instead of 'al-shams'?
The letter ش (sh) is a 'Sun letter'. When a word starts with a Sun letter, the 'l' sound in the Arabic word for 'the' (ال) blends into the first letter of the noun. So instead of 'al-shams', we say 'ash-shams' and double the 'sh' sound. Fun fact: Sun letters actually get their name from this exact word, الشمس!
Why does the word for beautiful, جميلة, end in the feminine marker ة here?
In Arabic, adjectives must match the gender of the noun they describe. Even though الشمس (the sun) doesn't end in the typical feminine ة (taa marbuuTa), it is one of a few special words in Arabic that are naturally feminine. Because the sun is feminine, it takes the feminine adjective جميلة (jamiila) instead of the masculine جميل (jamiil).
Where is the word for 'is' in this sentence?
Arabic doesn't use a word for 'is' or 'are' in the present tense. You simply put the subject الشمس (the sun) right next to the adjective جميلة (beautiful) to create a complete sentence: 'The sun [is] beautiful'.
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