Breakdown of تصوم النساء في النهار.
فيfî
in / about, regarding
امرأةimra'a
woman
نهارnahâr
daytime
صامsâma
to fast
Questions & Answers about تصوم النساء في النهار.
Why is the verb تصوم (singular) used when the subject النساء (the women) is plural?
In Arabic, when the verb comes before an explicitly stated subject, the verb stays in its singular form. Because النساء is feminine, the verb takes the 3rd person feminine singular form تصوم (literally 'she fasts'). If the women were mentioned first (Subject-Verb order), the verb would have to be plural: النساء يصمن.
What is the singular form of النساء (the women)?
النساء is a rare irregular plural because it does not share a root with its singular form. The singular word for 'woman' is امرأة. It functions much like how 'people' is the plural of 'person' in English.
Why does the sentence use النهار for 'the day' instead of اليوم?
النهار specifically refers to 'daytime' or daylight hours (from sunrise to sunset). This makes it the perfect word here, as Islamic fasting only happens during sunlight. اليوم is used for 'today' or a full 24-hour day.
تصوم is a hollow verb (middle root letter is a vowel). Why does the و stay in this present tense form?
The root of this verb is ص-و-م. In the regular present tense (indicative mood), the middle weak letter appears as the long vowel و (تصوم). This long vowel only disappears in grammatical states where the final letter loses its vowel (like after لم for 'did not'), which would force it to become لم تصم to avoid having two unvowelled letters in a row.
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