Breakdown of يقال إن هناك كهفا عاش فيه وحش.
هناكhunâka
there
فيfî
in / about, regarding
هhu
his / him (object) / it (dummy pronoun after لأن)
قالqâla
to say
إنinna
indeed / truly / that (after قال)
عاشâsha
to live
كهفkahf
cave
وحشwahsh
monster
Questions & Answers about يقال إن هناك كهفا عاش فيه وحش.
How is the present passive verb يقال formed here?
The active present tense is يقول (he says), which uses a و (waw). To form the present passive of a hollow verb, the middle weak letter always changes to an ا (alif). Thus, يقول (yaqulu) becomes يقال (yuqalu - it is said).
Why does the sentence use إن for "that" instead of أن?
Normally, "that" in the middle of a sentence is translated as أن (anna). However, Arabic has a strict rule: immediately after the verb قال (to say) and its variations, including the passive يقال, you must use إن (inna).
Why is the word for cave written in the accusative case as كهفا (kahfan)?
It is the subject of the particle إن (inna), which always forces its subject into the accusative case. The word order is slightly flipped: the adverb هناك (there) steps between إن and its subject, which is very common when expressing "there is" or "there are".
Why is there a فيه (in it) after the verb عاش?
This is how Arabic handles descriptive clauses for indefinite nouns. While English says "a cave in which a monster lived," Arabic doesn't use a relative pronoun like "which" here. Instead, it literally says "a cave a monster lived in it," using فيه to link the action back to the cave.
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