Breakdown of شيدت المهندسة عمودا عاليا.
الal
the
مهندسmuhandis
engineer
عالي3âli
high / loud
شيدshayyada
to construct
عمودamûd
column
Questions & Answers about شيدت المهندسة عمودا عاليا.
Why does the verb شيدت sound like it ends with an 'i' vowel when read aloud with the next word?
The verb naturally ends with a sukoon (no vowel) on the feminine ت. However, the next word المهندسة starts with a silent alif followed by an 'L' that also has no vowel. Arabic forbids two vowelless letters in a row across words, so a kasra ('i' sound) is added to the verb to connect them, making it šayyadati l-muhandisatu.
What is the root and form of the verb شيدت?
It is a Form II past tense verb, recognizable by the doubled middle root letter (written with a shadda over the ي). The root is ش-ي-د, which relates to building or erecting. Form II verbs often describe deliberate or intensive actions, perfectly fitting the action of constructing a large column.
Why do both عمودا and عاليا have an extra alif at the end?
They are both in the accusative case because عمود (column) is the direct object of the sentence, and عالي (high) is its matching adjective. Because they are indefinite (meaning 'a high column' rather than 'the high column'), they take the 'an' sound (tanween fatha), which must be supported by an extra alif in writing.
The dictionary form of the adjective for 'high' is عالي ending in the letter yaa. Why is the yaa kept here, and not dropped?
Words ending in a permanent ي (known as defective words) keep their ي when they are in the accusative case, like they are here. If this adjective were indefinite in the nominative or genitive case, the ي would disappear completely and it would be written as عال.
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