Breakdown of اشتريت هذه الأغراض من أبي البقال.
الal
the
هذهhâdhihi
this (f)
منmin
from
أبabun
father
اشترىishtarâ
to buy
غرضgharad
item
بقالbaqqâl
grocer
Questions & Answers about اشتريت هذه الأغراض من أبي البقال.
Why does 'father' end with the letter ي in this sentence?
Because of the preposition من (from), the word for father (أب) is in the genitive case. Since 'father' is one of the special 'Five Nouns' and is the first part of a possessive phrase (Idafa), it shows this genitive case with a long vowel ي making it أبي instead of taking a normal short vowel.
Wait, doesn't أبي usually mean 'my father'? How do we know it doesn't mean that here?
Great catch! While أبي often means 'my father', here the ي is strictly a grammatical case marker for the 'Five Nouns'. We know it means 'father of' because it is immediately followed by البقال (the grocer) to form an Idafa (possessive phrase).
Why is there no ال (the) on أبي if the translation says 'the grocer's father'?
In an Arabic possessive phrase (Idafa), the first word never takes ال. It automatically becomes definite because the second word (البقال) has ال. So, أبي البقال translates perfectly to 'the father of the grocer'.
Why do we use هذه (this/feminine singular) to say 'these items'?
The word الأغراض (items) is a non-human plural. Remember that in Arabic, all non-human plurals are treated grammatically as feminine singular. Because of this rule, we must use هذه rather than a human plural word like هؤلاء.
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