Breakdown of يحفظ العصير في علبة من البلاستيك.
الal
the
فيfî
in / about, regarding
منmin
from
عصيرaseer
juice
Questions & Answers about يحفظ العصير في علبة من البلاستيك.
How do we know يحفظ is passive here, and what is its vowel pattern?
Context tells us the juice is receiving the action, not doing it. Since it is a Form I present tense passive verb, it follows the yu-f'a-lu vowel pattern. Therefore, it is pronounced yuhfazu (يُحْفَظُ) with a damma on the first letter and a fatha on the middle root letter, instead of the active yahfazu (يَحْفَظُ).
What case ending does العصير (the juice) take in this sentence?
It takes the nominative case (ending in a damma, al-asiru) because it is the grammatical subject of the passive verb. In Arabic grammar, this is called the deputy subject. Even though the juice is the thing being preserved, the passive voice promotes it to the subject position.
Why do we say علبة من البلاستيك (a box from plastic) instead of using an adjective?
While you could use an adjective like بلاستيكية, it is extremely common in Arabic to describe what an object is made of by using the preposition من (of or from) followed by the definite noun for the material.