Word
بدأت محاكمة المتهمة اليوم.
Meaning
The trial of the accused (f) began today.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of بدأت محاكمة المتهمة اليوم.
الal
the
بدأbada'a
to begin
اليومal-yawma
today
متهمmuttaham
defendant / accused person, suspect
Questions & Answers about بدأت محاكمة المتهمة اليوم.
Why is the verb بدأت (began) in the feminine form?
In Arabic, verbs must agree in gender with their subjects. The subject of the sentence is محاكمة (trial), which is a feminine noun because it ends with a taa marbuuta (ة). Therefore, the verb takes the feminine ending ـت.
How do we know that محاكمة المتهمة means "the trial of the accused" rather than "the accused trial"?
This is an Idafa (possession) structure. You can tell because the first word, محاكمة (trial), does not have the definite article الـ, while the second word, المتهمة (the accused), does. If it were an adjective describing the trial, both words would need to match and have الـ.
The word المتهمة (the accused) looks like a participle. How is it formed?
It is a passive participle from a Form VIII verb. It starts with the prefix مـ (mu-) and has a fatha (short 'a' sound) on the second-to-last root letter (the هـ). Because the person accused is a woman, it also gets the feminine ending ة. If the accused were a man, it would be المتهم.
Does the word اليوم (today) take a specific case ending here?
Yes, because it acts as an adverb of time telling us when the action happened, it takes the accusative case. If you were reading this with full vowels, it would be pronounced اليومَ (al-yawma) with a fatha on the final letter.