Breakdown of الوجبة السريعة أقل قيمة غذائية.
الal
the
سريعsarî'
fast
وجبةwajba
meal
غذائيghidhâ'iyy
nutritional
Questions & Answers about الوجبة السريعة أقل قيمة غذائية.
How do we say "in value" using the Accusative of Specification?
By using the indefinite accusative form of the noun. After a comparative word like أقل (less/lower), Arabic uses the Accusative of Specification, known as التمييز (at-tamyeez). It clarifies in what way something is more or less. So, قيمة is grammatically قيمةً (qeematan) here to mean "in value".
Why doesn't the word for "nutritional" (غذائية) have the definite article (ال) if the sentence is about "the" fast food?
Because it doesn't describe the fast food! It is an adjective modifying the word "value" (قيمة). Since قيمة is indefinite and in the accusative case due to the التمييز rule, its adjective غذائية must also be indefinite and accusative, making it غذائيةً (ghitha'iyyatan).
Where is the word for "than" (من) in this comparison?
It is intentionally left out because this is a general statement. While comparatives usually use من to explicitly compare two things (like "fast food is lower in value than home cooking"), you can omit it to simply state that something is "lower" or "lesser" overall.
The subject "fast food" (الوجبة السريعة) is feminine. Why does the comparative أقل look masculine?