Breakdown of هي تفضل اللحم المشوي على الفحم.
الal
the
هيhiya
she / her (attached)
على'ala
on / of (evidence of) / to (lie to someone) / for (difficult for someone)
فضلfaddala
to prefer
لحمlahm
meat
مشويmashwiy
grilled
فحمfahm
charcoal
Questions & Answers about هي تفضل اللحم المشوي على الفحم.
How is the word المشوي (grilled) formed?
المشوي is the passive participle of the Form I defective verb شوى (to grill). Because the root ends in a weak letter, the standard passive pattern changes. The letter waaw of the pattern merges with the final root letter yaa, creating a shadda on the end to become مَشْوِيّ.
Why does المشوي have ال attached to it here?
In this sentence, المشوي is used as an adjective describing اللحم (the meat). In Arabic, adjectives must match their nouns in definiteness. Since اللحم is definite (starts with ال), the adjective describing it must also be definite.
Why do we use the preposition على (on) here?
The English translation says charcoal-grilled, but the Arabic phrasing literally means grilled on the charcoal. When talking about cooking food over a heat source like a stove, fire, or coals (الفحم), Arabic uses the preposition على.
What form is the verb تفضل?
It is the present tense of the Form II verb فَضَّلَ (to prefer) conjugated for she. You can recognize Form II by the shadda on the middle root letter (ض), which is pronounced yufaddilu.
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