Breakdown of القصة السابعة ممتعة.
الal
the
قصةqissa
story
ممتعmumti'
interesting / enjoyable
سابعsâbi'
seventh
Questions & Answers about القصة السابعة ممتعة.
Why does the word for 'seventh' (السابعة) end in a ة (taa marbuuta)?
In Arabic, ordinal numbers like 'first', 'second', and 'seventh' act just like regular adjectives. Because the noun they describe, القصة (the story), is feminine, the ordinal number must also be feminine. The masculine word for seventh is السابع, which becomes السابعة here.
Why do both القصة and السابعة start with ال?
Because ordinal numbers act as adjectives, they have to match their noun exactly. Since 'the story' is a specific, definite thing starting with ال (the), the adjective 'seventh' must also take ال. An Arabic speaker literally says 'The story, the seventh'.
Why doesn't the last word, ممتعة (interesting), also have ال?
This is the secret to making an 'is' sentence in Arabic! The subject is definite (القصة السابعة), but the description that follows it is left indefinite (no ال). Dropping the ال on ممتعة is exactly what tells you to translate this as 'The seventh story IS interesting' rather than 'the interesting seventh story'.
I remember some letters change how 'the' is pronounced. Does that happen here?
Yes! The letter Seen (س) in السابعة is a 'sun letter'. This means you don't pronounce the 'L' sound in ال. Instead, you skip straight to the Seen and double its sound, pronouncing it 'as-saabi'a' rather than 'al-saabi'a'.
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