Breakdown of أشرب الشاي بعد الظهر.
الal
the
شربshariba
to drink
شايshây
tea
بعد الظهرba'da azh-zhuhr
in the afternoon
Questions & Answers about أشرب الشاي بعد الظهر.
Why does the translation say "in the afternoon" when the Arabic literally says "after the noon"?
In English, we say "in the afternoon," but Arabic expresses this time of day by saying بعد الظهر (literally "after the noon"). The word بعد means "after," and الظهر means "noon." Together, they form the standard Arabic phrase for "the afternoon."
Does the word بعد (after) change the ending of the word الظهر?
Yes! Words that specify time or place, like بعد (after) or قبل (before), force the noun that directly follows them to take a kasra (an "ee" sound) at the end. If you are reading with full grammatical vowel sounds, it is pronounced بعدَ الظهرِ (ba'da aDH-DHuhri).
I don't see the word for "I" (أنا). How do we know who is drinking?
In Arabic present tense verbs, the subject is built right into the word. The prefix أ at the beginning of أشرب tells us it means "I drink." You don't need to add أنا unless you want to add special emphasis.
Why isn't the "L" sound pronounced in the words الشاي and الظهر?
Both ش and ظ are "sun letters." When a word starts with a sun letter, the "l" sound in the "al-" prefix (ال) is skipped, and you blend right into the first letter of the word instead. They are pronounced ash-shaay and aDH-DHuhr.
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