Breakdown of ذهب الطبيب إلى المستشفى بالسيارة.
الal
the
سيارةsayyâra
car
ذهبdhahaba
to go
إلىilâ
to
مستشفىmustashfâ
hospital
طبيبtabîb
doctor
بbi
by, with (attached)
Questions & Answers about ذهب الطبيب إلى المستشفى بالسيارة.
I see the word for 'car' is سيارة. Why does it look like بالسيارة here, and what happened to the 'al-' (the)?
The preposition بـ (meaning 'by' or 'with') attaches directly to the beginning of the word. Since the car is definite ('the car'), the word is السيارة. When we attach بـ to a word starting with الـ (al-), we simply write it attached to the first letter (the alif), without deleting any letters. So, بـ + السيارة becomes بالسيارة.
How do I pronounce بالسيارة? Do I say the 'al' part?
You do not pronounce the 'al' part here! The letter س in سيارة is a 'sun letter,' which means the 'l' (lam) sound is skipped and the س is doubled. Also, because the word now has the attached prefix بـ before the 'a' (alif) of the 'al-', that 'a' sound is skipped too. So instead of 'bi-al-sayyara', it flows smoothly as 'bis-sayyara'.
The English translation says 'by car', but the Arabic says 'by the car' (بالسيارة). Is that a mistake?
No, it is correct! In Arabic, when we talk about using a mode of transportation in a general sense, we usually include the definite article الـ (the). So 'by car' is literally 'by the car' (بالسيارة), and 'by bus' would be 'by the bus'.
Why does the sentence start with the verb ذهب (went) instead of the doctor?
Arabic has two main types of sentences. This is a 'verbal sentence' because it starts with a verb. In verbal sentences, the normal word order is Verb-Subject-Object. So it is perfectly natural in Arabic to structure it as 'Went the doctor to the hospital' instead of 'The doctor went...'.
Why does المستشفى (the hospital) end with a letter that looks like ي but has no dots?
That letter is called an 'alif maqsura' (broken alif). Even though it looks like a dotless ي (yaa), it is actually pronounced like a regular, long 'a' sound (like the 'a' in 'father'). It only ever appears at the very end of certain words, like this one.
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