Questions & Answers about بنوا حضارة كبيرة.
How do we know بنوا means "they built" and not just "he built"?
In Arabic, the subject is attached to the end of the past tense verb. The suffix وا at the end of بنوا is the marker for "they" (a masculine or mixed group). The letter Alif at the very end is silent; it is just a spelling rule for plural verb endings.
I learned that the "they" suffix is pronounced "uu" like in كتبوا (katabuu), so why is بنوا pronounced "banaw"?
The base verb for "to build" ends in a weak vowel-like letter. When you add the plural suffix وا to this type of verb, that original weak letter is dropped to make it easier to pronounce. This changes the sound of the plural ending from "uu" to "aw".
Why do both حضارة and كبيرة end with the letter ة?
The letter ة (taa marbuutah) usually marks a word as feminine. In Arabic, adjectives must match the noun they describe in gender. Since حضارة (civilization) is feminine, the adjective كبيرة (large) must also be feminine and take the same ة ending.
Why is the word order حضارة كبيرة instead of the other way around?
In Arabic, the adjective always comes right after the noun it describes. So instead of saying "large civilization", the sentence literally says "civilization large".
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