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Questions & Answers about الكتاب جديد.
Where is the word for "is" in this sentence?
In Arabic, you don't need a word for "is" or "are" in the present tense. You simply put the subject (الكتاب, the book) right next to its description (جديد, new) to create a complete nominal sentence.
Why does الكتاب have "al-" at the beginning, but جديد doesn't?
This is the rule for making a basic "A is B" sentence. The subject (الكتاب) is definite (it has ال, meaning "the"), while the predicate describing it (جديد) is indefinite (no ال). If both words had ال, it would just mean "the new book" instead of "the book is new."
How can I tell that جديد is indefinite if there's no special spelling at the end?
While not usually written in standard text, an indefinite noun or adjective like جديد actually ends with an "un" sound when spoken fully (jadīdun). This "un" sound is called Tanween, and it is the Arabic way of showing a word is indefinite.
If the noun were feminine, would جديد change?
Yes! The predicate must match the gender of the subject. Because الكتاب (the book) is a masculine word, we use the bare masculine stem جديد. If the subject were a feminine word like السيارة (the car), we would have to add a feminine ending (Taa Marbootah) to make it جديدة.