Questions & Answers about هذا شيء طبيعي جدا.
The word for "very" is written as جدا. Why does it take this form?
جدا (jiddan) acts as an adverb here. In Arabic, adverbs of manner or degree are created by putting a word into the "indefinite accusative" case. You do this by adding the "-an" sound to the end of the word, which is shown in writing by adding an alif (ا) to the very end.
Why does جدا come after the adjective instead of before it?
In English, we put "very" before the adjective (like "very natural"). However, in Arabic, an adverb that emphasizes an adjective almost always comes after the word it describes. That is why the phrase is ordered as شيء طبيعي جدا (literally: "a thing natural very").
Why doesn't the word for "thing" (شيء) or "natural" (طبيعي) have ال (al-) attached to it?
Because the sentence means "a natural thing," not "the natural thing." In Arabic, an adjective must match its noun. Since شيء is indefinite (meaning "a thing" rather than "the thing"), the adjective طبيعي must also be indefinite. If you added ال to both, the phrase هذا الشيء الطبيعي would mean "This is the natural thing."
As a quick reminder, where is the verb "is" in this sentence?
There is no present tense word for "is" or "are" in Arabic! You simply put the subject (هذا, "This") next to the information you want to share about it (شيء طبيعي جدا, "a very natural thing") to make a complete sentence.
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