Breakdown of المباراة التي فاز بها اللاعب مهمة.
هاhâ
her / her (object) / it (feminine)
بbi
by, with (attached)
مهمmuhimm
important
مباراةmubârâh
match
Questions & Answers about المباراة التي فاز بها اللاعب مهمة.
Why do we use التي instead of الذي for 'that'?
التي is the feminine version of the relative pronoun. It is used here because it describes المباراة (the match), which is a feminine word ending in a taa marbouta (ة). If the noun were masculine, we would use الذي.
Why do we need the word بها in this sentence?
In English, we just say 'the match that the player won.' However, Arabic relative clauses require a returning pronoun that links back to the main noun. Also, the Arabic verb فاز (to win) needs the preposition بـ (with/in) to connect to what was won. So, بها literally means 'in it,' where the ها (it) points back to the feminine المباراة.
Why is the verb فاز masculine when it comes right after the feminine word التي?
The verb always matches whoever is doing the action. The person doing the winning here is اللاعب (the masculine player), so the verb takes the masculine form فاز. The feminine match is the thing being won, not the one doing the winning!
Why does مهمة (important) at the end of the sentence lack the 'al-' (الـ) prefix?
The core of this sentence is 'The match... is important.' In Arabic equational sentences, the subject usually has 'al-' (like المباراة) and the predicate giving information about it does not (like مهمة). If you added 'al-' to make it المباراة المهمة, it would just be the phrase 'the important match' rather than a complete sentence.