Questions & Answers about عند الطبيب موعد الآن.
Why does the sentence start with عند instead of the word for doctor?
Arabic doesn't have a direct verb for 'to have.' Instead, it uses prepositions like عند (at/with) to show possession. To say 'The doctor has an appointment,' Arabic literally says 'At the doctor [is] an appointment,' which naturally places عند at the very beginning of the sentence.
Could I also say الطبيب عنده موعد الآن to mean the same thing?
Yes, absolutely! Starting with عند الطبيب (At the doctor) is a common and simple way to show possession. If you start with the person, you must use an attached pronoun to refer back to them: الطبيب عنده موعد literally means 'The doctor, at him [is] an appointment.' Both are correct and widely used.
Why doesn't the word موعد have الـ (the) in front of it?
In this type of sentence, the thing being owned or had (the appointment) is usually indefinite, so it doesn't take الـ. It just means 'an appointment.' If you added الـ and said عند الطبيب الموعد, it would change the meaning to 'The appointment is with the doctor' rather than 'The doctor has an appointment.'
How do I pronounce the connection between عند and الطبيب?
Because الطبيب starts with the letter Taa (ط), which is a 'sun letter,' the 'L' sound in the prefix الـ (the) is skipped. You jump straight from the short vowel sound at the end of عند to a doubled 'Taa' sound. It is pronounced like 'ainda-t-tabib.'