Breakdown of العرض في الساعة السابعة تماما.
الal
the
فيfî
in / about, regarding
ساعةsâ'a
watch / hour
سابعsâbi'
seventh
عرض'ard
show
تماماtamâman
exactly / completely
Questions & Answers about العرض في الساعة السابعة تماما.
Why does the Arabic sentence use "the seventh" (السابعة) instead of just the number seven (سبعة)?
To tell time in Arabic, we use ordinal numbers (like second, third, fourth) rather than regular counting numbers (like one, two, three). So, you literally say "the seventh hour". The only exception to this pattern is one o'clock!
Why do both الساعة and السابعة start with الـ and end with the letter ة?
Because السابعة (seventh) is acting as an adjective describing الساعة (the hour). In Arabic, adjectives must match the noun they describe. Since "the hour" is definite (starts with الـ) and feminine (ends with ة), the ordinal number must match those features perfectly.
I learned that في means "in". Why is it translated as "at" in this sentence?
Prepositions rarely translate perfectly between languages. While في usually means "in" for physical locations, Arabic also uses it to mark a specific point in time. So where English says "at" a certain time, Arabic literally says "in" the hour.
What is the grammatical function of تماما here?
The word تماما is widely used when you want to say "sharp" or "exactly on the dot" for time. The two small lines at the end (which make an "an" sound) form a pattern often used in Arabic to turn a regular word into an adverb, which describes how or when an action happens.
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