Breakdown of أين تعمل؟ أعمل في مدرسة.
أينayna
where
فيfî
in / about, regarding
مدرسةmadrasah
school
عمل'amila
to work
Questions & Answers about أين تعمل؟ أعمل في مدرسة.
Why aren't the words for "you" and "I" in this sentence?
In Arabic, the verb itself tells you who is doing the action, so you can drop pronouns like "I" (أنا) or "you" (أنت). The تـ at the beginning of تعمل means "you", and the أ at the beginning of أعمل means "I".
Is تعمل used for speaking to a man or a woman?
تعمل is used when speaking to a male. If you were asking a woman, the verb would change to تعملين instead.
How do you say "a" in مدرسة (a school)?
Arabic doesn't have a word for "a" or "an". When a noun doesn't have the prefix for "the" (الـ) attached to it, it is naturally understood as "a" or "an" in English. So مدرسة simply translates to "a school".
The word في usually means "in", but the translation says "at a school". Why?
Arabic often uses في (meaning "in") for general locations where English uses "at". So في مدرسة literally means "in a school", but "at a school" is just a more natural way to say it in English.