Questions & Answers about كم عمر هذا الطفل؟
How do we get 'how old' from كم عمر?
In Arabic, كم means 'how much' or 'how many'. To ask 'how old', you literally ask 'how much age'. The word عمر means 'age'.
Where is the word for 'is' in this sentence?
Arabic doesn't use a word for 'is' or 'are' in the present tense. The sentence literally strings together 'How much age this child?', and the 'is' is automatically understood by the listener.
The current lesson is about using كم with verbs, but there are no verbs here. Why?
While you can use كم with verbs to ask things like 'how much does it cost' or 'how many did you eat', sentences about simple facts (like someone's age, name, or location) don't use verbs in the present tense in Arabic.
Why does the word for child (الطفل) have ال (the) attached to it when the English translation just says 'this child'?
In Arabic, to say 'this child', you must literally say 'this the child' (هذا الطفل). If you leave out ال (the) and just say هذا طفل, it changes the meaning into a full sentence: 'This is a child.'