Breakdown of هي تقرأ نهارا وتكتب ليلا.
وwa
and
هيhiya
she / her (attached)
قرأqara'a
to read
كتبkataba
to write
ليلlayl
night
نهارnahâr
daytime
Questions & Answers about هي تقرأ نهارا وتكتب ليلا.
Why do نهارا and ليلا end with an extra Alif?
That extra Alif is the visible indefinite accusative case ending (usually pronounced "-an"). In this sentence, the words for "day" (نهار) and "night" (ليل) are being used to show when an action happens. In Arabic, words used as adverbs of time take this accusative ending, which is why we add the Alif to make them نهارا and ليلا.
Why aren't there words for "during" or "at" in the Arabic sentence?
You don't need them! By putting time nouns like نهار (day) and ليل (night) into the accusative case with that extra Alif ending, they automatically act as adverbs. So, نهارا inherently means "during the day" and ليلا means "at night" without needing a separate preposition like في (in/at).
Does the extra Alif on نهارا and ليلا change how they are pronounced?
Yes! The extra Alif holds the "tanween fatha" sound, which is pronounced as "-an". So you pronounce these words as "nahāran" and "laylan". You don't stretch out a long "aa" sound for the Alif itself; it's just there as a written "seat" for the "-an" ending.
How do we know تقرأ and تكتب are talking about a female?
Both verbs start with the prefix تـ (ta-). In the present tense, this prefix is used for the "she" form. While it is also used for the "you (masculine)" form, the context here, especially since it starts with the pronoun هي (she), makes it clear that تقرأ (reads) and تكتب (writes) refer to her.
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