Breakdown of أسسوا مشروعا كبيرا في المدينة.
الal
the
فيfî
in / about, regarding
كبيرkabîr
big
مدينةmadîna
city
مشروعmashrû'
project / draft (bill)
أسسassasa
to establish
Questions & Answers about أسسوا مشروعا كبيرا في المدينة.
How do we know أسسوا means "they established" and not just "he established"?
The base form for "he established" is أسس. To make it "they" (for a group of men or a mixed group) in the past tense, we add the suffix وا to the end.
Why is there an alif at the very end of أسسوا?
That is a silent alif! When we add the plural "they" suffix وا to a past tense verb, we always write an alif after the waw. It is just a spelling rule to show this is a plural verb, but you do not pronounce it.
Why do the words مشروعا (project) and كبيرا (big) have an extra alif at the end?
The project is the object of the sentence (the thing being established). In Arabic, when a word is the object and doesn't have "the" at the beginning, it takes an "-an" sound at the end. This sound is usually written by adding an extra alif.
Why does the word for "big" (كبيرا) come after "project" (مشروعا)?
In Arabic, adjectives always come after the noun they describe. The adjective also has to copy the noun's grammatical state. Since مشروعا has the extra alif for the object ending, the adjective كبيرا has to match it perfectly.
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