Breakdown of هل الزبونان جاهزان؟
الal
the
هلhal
is / are (question marker)
جاهزjâhiz
ready
زبونzabûn
customer
Questions & Answers about هل الزبونان جاهزان؟
Why do both الزبونان and جاهزان end with ـان instead of ـين?
Both words are in the nominative case. In an Arabic nominal (noun-based) sentence, the subject (الزبونان) and the predicate (جاهزان) must be nominative. For dual nouns, the nominative ending is ـان. The ـين ending is used for objects and after prepositions.
If I wanted to say 'I saw the two customers', would I still use الزبونان?
No, you would use الزبونين because the customers would be the direct object of the verb (accusative case). Since they are the subject of our current sentence, we use the nominative ـان ending instead.
Why does الزبونان have الـ at the beginning while جاهزان does not?
This is how Arabic builds basic sentences without a 'to be' verb. The subject is definite (with الـ), and the predicate describing it is indefinite (without الـ). If you said الزبونان الجاهزان, it would just be a descriptive phrase meaning 'the two ready customers' rather than a full sentence.
Does the question word هل affect the endings of the words that follow it?
No, هل is a simple question particle that turns a statement into a yes/no question. It has absolutely no effect on the grammatical case or the endings of the words that come after it.
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