Breakdown of قرأت الإحصاء عن عدد الساكنين في العاصمة.
الal
the
فيfî
in / about, regarding
قرأqara'a
to read
عن'an
about / from (far from) / on the basis of (merit)
عاصمةâsima
capital
إحصاءihsâ'
census / statistics
عدد'adad
number (quantity)
ساكنsâkin
resident / living
Questions & Answers about قرأت الإحصاء عن عدد الساكنين في العاصمة.
How is الساكنين an active participle?
الساكنين (as-saakiniin) comes from the Form I verb سكن (to live/reside). The active participle pattern for Form I gives us ساكن (saakin), which literally means "residing" or "a person who resides". Active participles are frequently used as regular nouns to describe people doing an action, so here it means "residents".
Why does الساكنين end in ـين (-iin) rather than ـون (-uun)?
It is because of the phrase عدد الساكنين (the number of the residents). This is an idafa (possessive construction), which puts the second word into the genitive case to show possession. For regular masculine plurals, the genitive ending is ـين (-iin). If the word were the subject of a sentence, it would use ـون (-uun) instead.
English "read" can be present or past tense. How do we know which it is here?
The Arabic verb is قرأت (qara'tu). The ـت (-tu) suffix at the end clearly marks it as the past tense "I read" (pronounced "red"). If it were the present tense "I read", it would start with an alif prefix instead: أقرأ (aqra'u).
Does العاصمة (the capital) also use the active participle pattern?
Yes! Notice how عاصمة ('aasima) shares the exact same rhythm as ساكنة (saakina). It is technically a Form I active participle (originally meaning "protecting" or "defending"), but in Modern Standard Arabic it has become the standard fixed noun for "capital city".
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