Breakdown of الدعوات للمشاركين.
الal
the
لli
for, to (attached)
مشاركmushârik
participant
دعوةda'wa
invitation
Questions & Answers about الدعوات للمشاركين.
Why does الدعوات end in ـات?
This is the regular feminine plural ending. The singular word for invitation is دعوة (ending with a taa marbuuta, ة). To make it plural, we drop the ة and add ـات to get الدعوات (the invitations).
Why does للمشاركين end in ـين instead of ـون if it is a regular masculine plural?
The ending changes because of the preposition attached to the word. Regular masculine plurals normally end in ـون, but when they follow a preposition like the attached لـ (for), the ending changes to ـين.
Where is the word 'the' in للمشاركين? It looks like it just starts with 'for'.
It is hidden in the spelling! When you attach the preposition لـ (for) to a word starting with الـ (the), the Alef (ا) from 'the' gets dropped in writing. So لـ plus المشاركين becomes للمشاركين (lil-mushaariqiin, for the participants).
Why isn't there a word for 'are' in this sentence?
In Arabic, sentences in the present tense don't use a verb for 'to be' (is/are/am). You simply place the subject (الدعوات) and the descriptive part (للمشاركين) next to each other to say 'The invitations are for the participants.'