شاهدنا ثلاثة عشر مطعما.

Questions & Answers about شاهدنا ثلاثة عشر مطعما.

Why is مطعما singular and why does it have an extra 'alif' at the end?
For numbers 11 to 99, Arabic uses a singular noun in the accusative case. This means instead of the plural, we use the singular مطعم, and add an 'alif' with a double 'a' sound (tanwin fatha) to make it مطعما.
Since مطعم is masculine, why does the word for three (ثلاثة) have a feminine ending?
For numbers 13 through 19, the ones digit takes the opposite gender of the noun being counted, while the tens digit matches it. Because مطعم is masculine, the three becomes feminine (ثلاثة) and the ten stays masculine (عشر).
Why don't the endings on ثلاثة عشر change to show it is the object of the verb?
Numbers from 11 to 19 (except 12) are fixed. Both parts of the number will always end with a short 'a' sound (fatha), regardless of their grammatical role in the sentence. So ثلاثة عشر looks exactly the same here as it would if it were the subject.
How do you break down the word شاهدنا?
It comes from the past tense verb شاهد (he saw or watched). To say we did it, you add the suffix نا (naa) to the end, making it شاهدنا (we saw).

Learn شاهدنا ثلاثة عشر مطعما and more in Arabic

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free