Breakdown of عندما يتوقف الحاسوب، أنتظر قليلا.
الal
the
حاسوبhâsûb
computer
قليلqalîl
a little / few
انتظرintazir
to wait
توقفtawaqqafa
to stop
عندما'indamâ
when (not in questions)
Questions & Answers about عندما يتوقف الحاسوب، أنتظر قليلا.
Why do we use عندما here instead of متى for 'when'?
متى is only used for asking questions, like 'When is the meeting?'. To say 'when' in a statement to connect two events, meaning 'at the time that...', you must use عندما.
Why does the verb يتوقف come before the computer (الحاسوب)?
Arabic often uses a Verb-Subject word order. It is very natural to put the action first, so the sentence literally flows as 'When stops the computer...'.
How do we know who is waiting in the word أنتظر?
In the Arabic present tense, the first letter of the verb tells you who is doing the action. The أ at the beginning of أنتظر indicates the 'I' form. If it were 'he waits', it would start with a yaa, just like يتوقف (it/he stops).
Why does قليلا (a little) end with an extra alif?
The base word is قليل. When words like this are used as adverbs to describe an action, they often get an 'an' ending sound. In writing, this is shown by adding an extra alif. You have likely seen this rule in other common words like شكرا (thank you) or جدا (very).
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