Questions & Answers about الأستاذ أمريكي.
Where is the word for 'is' in this sentence?
In Arabic, you don't need a word for 'is' or 'are' in the present tense. To say 'The professor is American', you simply put the subject and the description together: 'The professor American' (الأستاذ أمريكي). This is called a nominal sentence.
How is the word أمريكي (American) formed from the country name America?
To change a place name like أمريكا (America) into a nationality or adjective, Arabic drops the final vowel and adds a double 'ee' sound at the end, written with the letter yaa (ي). This makes the masculine adjective أمريكي (amreekiyy).
Does أمريكي need the word ال (al- / the) in front of it?
No. In an Arabic 'X is Y' sentence, the first part usually has ال (the), but the description usually does not. If you added ال to the second word (الأستاذ الأمريكي), it would just mean the phrase 'the American professor' instead of a complete sentence.
If the professor were a woman, how would this sentence change?
Both words would need to match the feminine gender. You would add the feminine ending taa marbuuta (ة) to the end of both words. The sentence would become الأستاذة أمريكية (al-ustaadha amreekiyya).
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