Breakdown of زار الملك المشهور هذه القلعة.
الal
the
هذهhâdhihi
this (f)
زارzâra
to visit
مشهورmashhour
famous
قلعةqal'ah
castle
ملكmalik
king
Questions & Answers about زار الملك المشهور هذه القلعة.
Why does the sentence start with زار (visited) instead of the subject?
In Arabic, sentences often start with the action (the verb). This is called a verbal sentence. The standard word order is Verb + Subject + Object, so literally it reads "Visited the king the famous this castle."
Why do both الملك (king) and المشهور (famous) have ال (the) attached to them?
In Arabic, adjectives always come after the noun they describe, and they must perfectly match that noun. Because الملك is definite (it has ال), the adjective describing him must also be definite. It translates literally as "the king, the famous one."
Why is the feminine word for "this" (هذه) used here?
We use هذه because it points to القلعة (the castle). You can tell القلعة is a feminine noun because it ends with the letter ة (taa marbuuta), so any pointing word like "this" must also be feminine.
Why does القلعة (castle) have ال (the) if it already has هذه (this) in front of it?
In Arabic, to say "this [noun]", the noun must have the definite article ال. If you drop the ال and just say هذه قلعة, it becomes a full sentence meaning "This is a castle." Keeping the ال locks them together to mean "this castle."
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