Questions & Answers about كلتا الميزتين متشابهتان.
Why is the word for "both" كلتا instead of كلا in this sentence?
The word for "both" has a masculine form (كلا) and a feminine form (كلتا). It must match the gender of the noun it belongs to. The singular form of "advantage" is ميزة, which is feminine, so we use كلتا.
Why is the noun الميزتين written with the ending ـين (-ayn) instead of the nominative ـان (-aan)?
The words كلا and كلتا act as the first part of an Idafa (a possession or "of" structure). This means the noun immediately following them acts as the second part of the Idafa and must take the genitive case. For dual nouns, the genitive ending is ـين (-ayn).
If the subject is an Idafa phrase, why doesn't the predicate متشابهتان match the genitive ـين ending of the noun before it?
The word متشابهتان is the predicate (the core information about the subject). In Arabic, predicates are always in the nominative case. Since it is a dual word, its nominative ending is ـان (-aan). It doesn't copy the ـين ending because that genitive ending only belongs to the second half of the Idafa.
Where is the word for "are" in this sentence?
Arabic sentences do not use a present tense verb for "to be" (like "is" or "are"). Because we have a defined subject (كلتا الميزتين) followed directly by an adjective providing information about it (متشابهتان), the word "are" is naturally implied.