Breakdown of ضحى الأطباء بوقتهم للمرضى.
الal
the
مريضmarîdh
patient
طبيبtabîb
doctor
لli
for, to (attached)
وقتwaqt
time
همhum
their / them (object)
ضحى بdahhâ bi
to sacrifice
Questions & Answers about ضحى الأطباء بوقتهم للمرضى.
The current lesson is about verbal nouns (masdars) of defective verbs. What is the verbal noun for ضحى?
The verb ضحى is a Form II verb built from a defective root (ending in a weak letter). While a regular Form II verb's verbal noun usually takes the pattern taf'eel (like تدريس), a defective Form II verb takes the pattern taf'ilah. Therefore, the verbal noun for this verb is تضحية (a sacrifice).
Why does "their time" (وقتهم) have the prefix بـ attached to it?
In Arabic, the verb ضحى (to sacrifice) is always paired with the preposition بـ to indicate what is being given up. You can think of it literally as "sacrificing with their time." The person or cause benefiting from the sacrifice is marked with لـ (for), which is why we see للمرضى (for the patients) at the end of the sentence.
Where did the alif go in the word للمرضى (for the patients)?
The noun here is المرضى (the patients). A common Arabic spelling rule dictates that whenever the preposition لـ (for/to) attaches to a word starting with the definite article الـ (the), the alif of the "al-" drops out entirely. So, لـ plus المرضى simply becomes للمرضى.
Why is the verb ضحى in the singular form when the subject (الأطباء) is plural?
This is a core rule for Arabic verbal sentences that is always good to remember: when the verb comes before an explicit subject, the verb remains in the singular form, regardless of whether the subject is dual or plural. Because الأطباء (the doctors) is grammatically masculine, the singular masculine verb ضحى is used.
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