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Questions & Answers about أسسوا مدينة جديدة.
How does the verb أسسوا show that "they" did the founding?
In the past tense, adding the suffix ـوا (waaw and alif) to the end of a verb makes it "they" (for a masculine or mixed group). The base form for "he founded" is أسس, and adding the suffix makes it أسسوا.
Why is there an alif at the very end of أسسوا if we only pronounce the "oo" sound?
That silent alif is a special spelling marker. It is always written after the plural و suffix at the end of verbs. It helps readers know that this و means "they" and isn't just a normal letter that belongs to the word's root.
Why do both مدينة and جديدة end with the same ـة letter?
The word for city, مدينة, is a feminine noun because it ends in the letter taa marbuutaa (ـة). Adjectives must match the gender of the noun they describe, so the word for new, جديد, gets the same feminine ending to become جديدة.
Is there a specific word for "a" in this sentence?
No, Arabic does not have a word for "a" or "an". Because the words مدينة جديدة do not have the word for "the" attached to them, we automatically understand it as "a new city" in English.