Breakdown of هل تفضل أن تبقى في الفندق؟
الal
the
هلhal
is / are (question marker)
فيfî
in / about, regarding
فندقfunduq
hotel
بقيbaqiya
to stay
أنan
to (with verbs)
فضلfaddala
to prefer
Questions & Answers about هل تفضل أن تبقى في الفندق؟
Why do we use أن between the two verbs here?
أن acts a lot like the word "to" in English when connecting two verbs, like "prefer to stay". In Arabic, when you want to follow verbs of desire or intention (like wanting, preferring, or needing) with an action, you use أن followed by a present tense verb.
In English we say "prefer to stay", but how literally does Arabic translate the second verb تبقى?
In Arabic, you literally say "Do you prefer that you stay". Both verbs must match the person doing the action! Notice how both تفضل (you prefer) and تبقى (you stay) begin with the letter ت indicating "you" (masculine).
I learned that أن usually makes the verb after it end with an "a" sound (a fatha). Why doesn't تبقى change?
You're exactly right about the rule! However, the verb تبقى ends with an alif maqsuura (ى), which is a special letter that sounds like a long "a". Because it's a long vowel sound, it can't comfortably take the extra short "a" sound at the end, so its pronunciation stays the same even after أن.
How would I ask this question to a woman instead?
You have to change both verbs to their feminine "you" forms. تفضل becomes تفضلين and تبقى becomes تبقي. So the whole sentence to a female listener would be: هل تفضلين أن تبقي في الفندق؟
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