Breakdown of هذا الدجاج لذيذ، لكنه ليس حارا.
هذاhâdhâ
this (m)
لذيذlazîz
delicious
حارhârr
hot / warm (cordial)
هhu
his / him (object) / it (dummy pronoun after لأن)
Questions & Answers about هذا الدجاج لذيذ، لكنه ليس حارا.
Why is there an extra letter attached to the end of لكن (but)?
In Arabic, the conjunction لكن (but) often connects directly to a pronoun. Instead of saying 'but' and 'it' as two separate words, we attach the pronoun directly to make لكنه (but it). The attached ـه refers back to the chicken (الدجاج), which is a masculine word.
Why does the phrase use الدجاج (the chicken) instead of just دجاج (chicken)?
When you place a word with 'the' (الـ) directly after a pointing word like هذا (this), they lock together to mean 'This [noun]'. So, هذا الدجاج means 'This chicken'. If you dropped the الـ and wrote هذا دجاج, it would mean 'This is a chicken'.
Why use ليس for 'not' instead of لا?
In Arabic, ليس is the specific word used to say 'is not' in sentences that don't have an action verb. Since describing the chicken as spicy doesn't use an action verb, we must use ليس. The word لا is mostly used to negate action verbs, like saying 'I do not eat'.
Why does حارا (spicy) end with an extra alif (ا)?
The base word for spicy is حار. However, when a describing word comes after ليس (is not), it takes a special grammatical state. For words ending in a standard consonant, we show this change in writing by adding an extra alif (ا) at the end.