Breakdown of صلى الموظفون في المسجد المقدس.
فيfî
in / about, regarding
موظفmuwazzaf
employee
مسجدmasjid
mosque
صلىsallâ
to pray
Questions & Answers about صلى الموظفون في المسجد المقدس.
Why does the past tense verb صلى end with the letter ى (alif maqṣūra)?
صلى is a past-tense verb meaning "he prayed". It comes from a "defective" root, meaning its final root letter is a weak letter (like wāw or yā'). In this specific verb form (Form II), verbs with a weak final root letter always end in ى (alif maqṣūra) in the "he" form of the past tense.
Why is the word for "employees" written as الموظفون instead of الموظفين?
In Arabic, the subject of the sentence takes the nominative case. For regular "sound" masculine plurals, the nominative case is marked by the suffix ـون (-ūn). If the employees were the object of the verb or came after a preposition, you would use الموظفين (-īn) instead. Since they are the ones doing the praying here, الموظفون is correct.
Why does the adjective for "sacred" (المقدس) have ال (al-) at the beginning?
In Arabic, adjectives must strictly match the noun they describe. Because "the mosque" (المسجد) is definite (it has ال), the adjective describing it must also be definite. If you dropped the ال and wrote المسجد مقدس, it would turn into a complete sentence meaning "The mosque is sacred," rather than just the phrase "the sacred mosque."
Is there a reason both الموظفون and المقدس start with the letter م (mīm)?