Breakdown of ولد الشاعر في جنوب المدينة.
الal
the
فيfî
in / about, regarding
مدينةmadîna
city
ولدwulida
to be born
شاعرshâ'ir
poet
جنوبjanûb
south
Questions & Answers about ولد الشاعر في جنوب المدينة.
How do we know ولد means 'was born' instead of 'gave birth'?
This is an 'internal passive' verb. In Arabic, you can change a verb into a passive state just by changing its internal short vowels. The active verb 'he gave birth' is وَلَدَ (walada), but changing the vowels to وُلِدَ (wulida) makes it passive: 'he was born'.
Does الشاعر (the poet) take a subject ending or an object ending in this sentence?
It takes the subject ending, which is a 'u' sound (damma). Even though the poet is the one receiving the action of being born, in a passive sentence, that receiver takes over the role of the grammatical subject.
Why does 'the south' just say جنوب without the word for 'the' (ال) attached?
The phrase جنوب المدينة is an 'Idafa' (a possessive phrase literally meaning 'south of the city'). A strict rule for an Idafa is that the first word never takes ال (the), even though it translates as 'the south' in English. The phrase gets its definiteness from the second word, المدينة.
Quick pronunciation check: do I pronounce the 'L' in الشاعر?
No, you skip the 'L' sound. The letter sheen (ش) is a 'sun letter'. When ال (the) comes before a sun letter, the 'L' becomes silent and you emphasize or double the sun letter instead. It is pronounced 'ash-shaa'ir'.
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