Breakdown of هذا الرجل هو الطالب الجديد.
الal
the
هوhuwa
he / his / him (attached)
جديدjadeed
new
طالبtâlib
student
Questions & Answers about هذا الرجل هو الطالب الجديد.
Why do we use هو (he) here? Doesn't the sentence mean 'This man is the new student'?
Yes! Arabic doesn't have a present tense verb for 'to be' (like 'is' or 'are'). Instead, it often uses pronouns like هو (he) as a bridge between the two halves of a sentence. Here, it acts like the word 'is' to connect 'This man' and 'the new student'.
What is the difference between saying هذا رجل and هذا الرجل?
It all comes down to the word 'the' (الـ). هذا رجل (without الـ) makes a complete sentence: 'This is a man'. However, adding الـ to make هذا الرجل creates the phrase 'This man...', which needs more information to be a complete sentence.
Why do both 'student' (الطالب) and 'new' (الجديد) have الـ (the) attached to them?
In Arabic, adjectives must match the noun they describe. If the noun is definite (has 'the' attached), the adjective must also be definite. So to say 'the new student', you literally say 'the student the new' (الطالب الجديد).
Would هذا (this) change if we were talking about a woman instead of a man?
Yes! هذا (this) is used for masculine words like الرجل (the man). If you were talking about a woman, you would use the feminine form هذه. You would also need to change the connecting pronoun هو (he) to هي (she).