Questions & Answers about أنا أتكلم العربية.
How would I use a question word to ask someone "What do you speak?" based on this sentence?
You would use ماذا (what, used with verbs) and change the verb to the "you" form. So, "What do you speak?" to a male would be ماذا تتكلم؟ and to a female, ماذا تتكلمين؟.
If I wanted to ask "Why do I speak Arabic?", which question word would I use?
You would use لماذا (why). You just place it at the beginning of the phrase: لماذا أتكلم العربية؟ (Why do I speak Arabic?).
Does the verb أتكلم already include "I"? Why do we need أنا at the beginning?
Yes, the starting sound on أتكلم already tells us it is the "I" form of the verb. Adding أنا (I) before it is optional in Arabic. It is often used for emphasis or to make the sentence sound complete, but just saying أتكلم العربية is perfectly correct too.
Why does the word for Arabic, العربية, end with the feminine marker (taa marbuta)?
Names of languages in Arabic are treated as feminine because they are actually adjectives describing the hidden feminine word اللغة (the language). So العربية is just a shorter, natural way of saying اللغة العربية (the Arabic language).
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