Breakdown of أشرب القهوة عندما أستيقظ.
الal
the
شربshariba
to drink
قهوةqahwa
coffee
استيقظistayqaza
to wake up
عندما'indamâ
when (not in questions)
Questions & Answers about أشرب القهوة عندما أستيقظ.
Why does it say القهوة (the coffee) with ال when the English translation just says 'coffee'?
In Arabic, when you talk about a general category or substance like 'coffee', you usually include the definite article الـ. So literally you are saying 'I drink the coffee', but it translates naturally to just 'I drink coffee'.
How do we know both verbs are in the 'I' form without the word أنا (I)?
Both أشرب (I drink) and أستيقظ (I wake up) start with the prefix أ (alif with a hamza). In the present tense, this prefix always indicates the first person singular ('I'). You don't need the separate pronoun because the verb already tells you who is acting!
The word for 'when' here is عندما. Is that related to the word عند (at/with) we learned earlier?
Yes! عندما is a combination of عند (at the time of) and the particle ما. Together they form the conjunction 'when'. You use عندما to connect two actions that happen at the same time.
Can I use متى instead of عندما for 'when' in this sentence?
No, متى is a question word used to ask 'When?' (like 'When do you wake up?'). When you are making a statement and connecting two phrases, you must use a conjunction like عندما.
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