Questions & Answers about امتلأ قلب الأم بهجة في العيد.
Why is بهجة in the accusative case here?
بهجة (delight) is acting as the Accusative of Specification (التمييز). It clarifies what the heart was filled with. After verbs of filling or increasing, like امتلأ, the substance or feeling that fills the subject is put in the indefinite accusative case.
The English translation says 'filled with delight'. Why isn't there a preposition like بِـ (with) before بهجة?
That is the main feature of the Accusative of Specification! Instead of using a preposition to say 'with delight', Arabic concisely expresses this by putting the noun directly into the indefinite accusative case.
Is امتلأ a transitive verb that takes a direct object here?
No, امتلأ is a Form VIII verb meaning 'to become full' (intransitive). The heart (قلب) is the subject that becomes full. If you wanted to say 'He filled the heart', you would use the base Form I verb ملأ, which is transitive.
As a quick refresher, why doesn't قلب have الـ (the) attached to it?
قلب الأم (the mother's heart) is an Idafa (possessive construction). In an Idafa, the first word (قلب) never takes الـ. It automatically becomes definite because the word possessing it (الأم) is definite.