Breakdown of الجائزة التي استلمها البطل هي أفضل جائزة.
هيhiya
she / her (attached)
هاhâ
her / her (object) / it (feminine)
استلمistalama
to receive
جائزةjâ'iza
prize
التيallatî
the one who / which (f)
بطلbatal
champion / hero
أفضلafdal
best / better
Questions & Answers about الجائزة التي استلمها البطل هي أفضل جائزة.
Why do we use التي here instead of الذي?
التي (which/that) is the feminine relative pronoun. We use it here because it refers back to الجائزة (the prize), which ends with a taa marbuuta (ة) and is feminine. If we were talking about a masculine word, we would use الذي.
Why is there a ها attached to the end of the verb استلمها?
This is a major difference between English and Arabic! When describing a noun using الذي or التي, Arabic verbs require a return pronoun if the noun is the object of that verb. The attached ها means "it" (referring to the feminine prize). So, Arabic literally says: "The prize that the champion received it..."
What is the word هي doing in the middle of the sentence? Doesn't it mean "she"?
Yes, هي means "she" or "it" (for feminine nouns). Here, it acts as a bridge. Because Arabic doesn't use the word "is" in the present tense, inserting هي clearly separates the long subject ("The prize that the champion received") from the predicate ("the best prize"). It prevents the sentence from sounding like one giant descriptive phrase.
Why doesn't the second جائزة have الـ (al-) on it like the first one?
To say "the best prize", Arabic uses the word أفضل (best) followed by the indefinite form of the noun. Putting a superlative word right before an indefinite noun without الـ is the standard Arabic way to say "the best [noun]".
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