Questions & Answers about كيف تذهب إلى المستشفى؟
Where is the word for 'do' in this question?
Arabic doesn't use 'helper' verbs like 'do' or 'does' in questions. To ask 'How do you go?', you simply put the question word كيف (how) directly in front of the present tense verb تذهب (you go).
How do we know تذهب means 'you go' and not 'I go' or 'he goes'?
In the Arabic present tense, the prefix added to the beginning of the verb tells you who is doing the action. The تـ (ta-) at the beginning of تذهب means 'you' (when speaking to a male). If you were asking a female, you would add a suffix too, making it تذهبين.
Why does the last letter of المستشفى (the hospital) look like a yaa (ي) without dots?
That letter is called an alif maqsurah (ى). Even though it looks like a dotless yaa, it is pronounced exactly like a regular long alif (an 'aa' sound). So, the word is pronounced 'al-mustashfaa'.
Does the preposition إلى (to) change the sound at the end of المستشفى?
Normally, a preposition like إلى makes the noun after it take an 'i' sound (a kasrah) at the end. However, because المستشفى ends in an alif maqsurah (ى), its ending sound is locked as an 'aa'. It never changes its ending sound, no matter what word comes before it.