Breakdown of تتمنى المرأة أن تشتري سنارة.
الal
the
امرأةimra'a
woman
أنan
to (with verbs)
تمنىtamannâ
to wish
اشترىishtarâ
to buy
سنارةsinnâra
knitting needle
Questions & Answers about تتمنى المرأة أن تشتري سنارة.
Why do we use two conjugated verbs (تتمنى and تشتري) in this sentence instead of an infinitive like 'to buy'?
Arabic doesn't have an exact match for the English infinitive. Instead of saying 'hopes to buy', Arabic says 'hopes that she buys'. We use the particle أن (that) followed by the present tense verb تشتري (she buys) to link the two actions.
How does the word أن affect the verb تشتري that comes after it?
The word أن is a subjunctive particle, which means it changes the grammatical mood of the verb following it. For most verbs, this means adding an 'a' sound (a fatha) to the end. Because تشتري ends in a ي (yaa), it can actually carry this vowel, so in formal Arabic it is pronounced tashtariya.
What is the root and structure of the verb تتمنى (she hopes)?
It is a Form V verb built from the root م ن ي. It starts with ت because it is conjugated for 'she' to match the subject المرأة (the woman). It ends with a vowel without dots, called an alif maqsurah (ى), because its third root letter is weak.
Is there anything I should remember about the noun المرأة (the woman)?
Yes, it is one of the most uniquely irregular words in Arabic! Its plural is النساء (the women), which comes from a completely different root. Additionally, if you remove the definite article 'al-' from the beginning, the word for 'a woman' becomes امرأة (imra'a).
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