Questions & Answers about الشمس حارة.
Where is the word for 'is' in this sentence?
In Arabic, there is no word for 'is' or 'are' in the present tense. A nominal sentence simply puts the subject (الشمس) and the describing word (حارة) next to each other to mean 'The sun is hot.'
Why doesn't the adjective حارة (hot) have ال (the) at the beginning to match الشمس?
Because it is a predicative adjective, meaning it gives us news about the subject. If we added ال and wrote الشمس الحارة, it would just mean the fragment 'the hot sun'. By leaving حارة indefinite (without ال), it completes the sentence: 'The sun is hot.'
حارة ends in a feminine ة (taa marbootah), but الشمس doesn't. Why do they still match?
Adjectives must match their nouns in gender, and الشمس is actually a feminine word! While most feminine nouns in Arabic end in ة, there are a few exceptions that are feminine by convention, like the sun and body parts that come in pairs. Because الشمس is feminine, its adjective must also be feminine (حارة instead of the masculine حار).
I've noticed the 'l' sound in the 'al' of الشمس isn't pronounced. Why is that?
The word for sun, شمس, starts with the letter ش (sheen). This is a 'sun letter'. When you add ال (the) to a word starting with a sun letter, the 'l' sound blends into the first letter of the word. So instead of 'al-shams', it is pronounced 'ash-shams'. This is exactly why this group of letters is called 'sun letters' in Arabic!
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