Questions & Answers about اذهب إلى الطبيب حالا.
How do I pronounce the first word, and why is there an alif without a hamza at the beginning?
The word اذهب means 'go!' as a command. For most basic verbs, the command form starts with an extra alif to help you pronounce it, because the first root letter (the ذ here) has no vowel. You pronounce it 'idhab'. Since it does not have a hamza symbol, the 'i' sound would be dropped if you connected it to a word right before it.
Am I saying this command to a man or a woman?
You are talking to a single man. If you wanted to tell a woman to go, you would add a ي (ya) at the end, making it اذهبي (idhabi). For a group of people, it would be اذهبوا (idhabu).
Why does حالا end with an extra alif?
The extra alif carries the 'tanwin fatha' (the 'an' sound at the end). In Arabic, when we turn a noun or adjective into an adverb to describe how or when something happens, we often add this 'an' ending. The base word حال relates to a condition or state, but حالا is a fixed adverb meaning 'right away' or 'immediately'.
Do I pronounce the alif-lam in الطبيب when reading this out loud?
No, you skip the 'al' sound! The word إلى ends in a vowel sound, and الطبيب starts with a sun letter (the ط). Because of this, you jump over the alif and lam completely and double the ط sound. You pronounce the phrase smoothly as 'ila t-tabib'.