Breakdown of أستطيع أن أقرأ هذه الصحيفة.
الal
the
هذهhâdhihi
this (f)
صحيفةsahîfah
newspaper
قرأqara'a
to read
أنan
to (with verbs)
استطاعistatâa
to be able to
Questions & Answers about أستطيع أن أقرأ هذه الصحيفة.
Why does the Arabic sentence use أقرأ (I read) instead of an infinitive word like "to read"?
In Arabic, there is no exact equivalent to the English infinitive. Instead, when expressing abilities or desires with أن (which acts like "to" or "that"), you must use a conjugated present tense verb that matches the subject. So, this sentence literally translates to "I am able that I read".
How can I tell from the verbs that "I" am the person doing the action?
Both verbs in this sentence, أستطيع and أقرأ, start with the letter أ (alif with a hamza). In the present tense, this specific prefix always indicates that the subject doing the action is "I".
Why does أقرأ end with a short "a" sound (fatha) here, rather than the usual "u" sound (damma)?
This is the special effect of the word أن! When a present tense verb directly follows أن, its final short vowel changes from a "u" to an "a". You will see this happen every time you link two verbs together with أن in this way.
Why does the word for newspaper, الصحيفة, have ال (the) attached to it when the translation just says "this newspaper"?
In Arabic, to say "this [noun]", the noun following "this" must be definite, meaning it needs ال (the). If you left the ال off and just wrote هذه صحيفة, the meaning would change to a complete sentence: "This is a newspaper."
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