Breakdown of وقفت سيارتان اثنتان في الشارع.
الal
the
سيارةsayyâra
car
فيfî
in / about, regarding
شارعshâri'
street
وقفwaqafa
to stand
اثنتانithnatâni
two
Questions & Answers about وقفت سيارتان اثنتان في الشارع.
Why does the verb وقفت (she stopped) look singular when there are two cars?
In Arabic, when the verb comes before the subject in a sentence, it stays in the singular form. Since سيارة (car) is a feminine word, we use the feminine singular verb وقفت, even though the subject سيارتان is dual (meaning there are two of them).
How is the word for 'two cars' (سيارتان) formed from the singular?
To talk about exactly two of something, Arabic adds the suffix ـان (-aan) to the end of the noun. The singular word for car is سيارة (sayyarah). Because it ends in a taa marbuta (ة), that letter opens up into a regular ت (t) before we add the suffix, giving us سيارتان.
If سيارتان already means 'two cars', why is the word اثنتان (two) also in the sentence?
You're right that سيارتان means 'two cars' all on its own. Adding the number اثنتان isn't strictly necessary, but it is used for extra emphasis. This is very common when directly answering a 'How many?' question to stress that it was exactly two cars, no more and no less.
How would I ask 'How many cars stopped?' to get this sentence as an answer?
You would ask: كم سيارة وقفت في الشارع؟ Remember the rule for كم (how many): the noun that comes immediately after it must be singular. So even though the answer is two cars (سيارتان), the question uses the singular سيارة.
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