Questions & Answers about ما لون السيارة؟
Why doesn't the word for color (لون) have "the" (ال) in front of it?
This is the Idafa (possessive) construction! To say "the car's color" or "the color of the car", you put the possessed thing (لون, color) first and the owner (السيارة, the car) second. The rule is that the first word in an Idafa never takes ال (the), even though we translate it as "the color". The second word gets the ال to make the whole phrase specific.
How do we know this means "the car's color" without a word for "of" or an apostrophe-s?
Arabic creates possession simply by placing the words in a specific chain. Because لون (color) comes right before the definite noun السيارة (the car), and لون doesn't have "the" (ال) attached to it, they automatically link together to mean "the color of the car". This invisible link is the core of the Idafa structure.
Why do we use ما for "what" here instead of ماذا?
In Arabic, ما is used to mean "what" when it is followed by a noun or in a sentence without a verb. You might remember this from asking "What is your name?". The other word for what, ماذا, is specifically used before verbs (like "What are you eating?"). Since لون (color) is a noun, we must use ما.
Where is the word for "is" in this sentence?
Arabic doesn't use a word for "is" or "are" in simple present tense sentences. You just place the question word and the noun phrase next to each other. Literally, this sentence just says "What [is] color of the car?".