Questions & Answers about انفتح الباب ودخل الكلب.
Why do we use the Form VII verb انفتح here instead of the basic Form I verb فتح?
The basic verb فتح means to open something, which requires a doer and an object, like 'he opened the door'. By putting the root in Form VII (adding the prefix 'in-'), the verb becomes passive or reflexive. So انفتح means the door 'was opened' or 'opened by itself' without needing to mention who opened it.
How do I know انفتح is in the past tense, just like دخل?
For Form VII verbs, the past tense pattern for 'he/it' is 'infa'ala'. Since the root is f-t-H, the past tense is انفتح (infataHa). If this sentence were in the present tense, the verb would change to the 'yanfa'ilu' pattern, making it ينفتح (yanfatiHu).
Both verbs come before their subjects (الباب and الكلب). Is this normal?
Yes, this is very common! Arabic prefers verbal sentences where the verb comes first. The structure here is literally 'Opened the door and entered the dog'. You could also put the nouns first, but the verb-first order is the most natural way to narrate actions in Modern Standard Arabic.
How do I pronounce the beginning of انفتح? Is it a hard 'i' sound?
Because it is at the very beginning of the sentence, you pronounce the first letter with a short 'i' sound: 'infataHa'. However, the alif at the start of Form VII verbs is a connecting alif (hamzat waSl). This means if there were a word right before it, you would drop the 'i' sound and connect the words together. For example, 'and it opened' would be وانفتح and pronounced 'wan-fataHa'.