Word
أليست قواعد البيت مهمة؟ بلى، هي مهمة جدا.
Meaning
Aren't the house rules important? Yes indeed, they are very important.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of أليست قواعد البيت مهمة؟ بلى، هي مهمة جدا.
بيتbayt
house
هيhiya
she / her (attached)
مهمmuhimm
important
جداjiddan
very
Questions & Answers about أليست قواعد البيت مهمة؟ بلى، هي مهمة جدا.
Why do we use أليست here instead of ألا to mean 'aren't'?
The word أليس (and its feminine form أليست) is used before nouns and adjectives to ask 'isn't...?' or 'aren't...?'. It is a combination of the question word أ and the negative verb ليس (is not). You would use ألا before a regular verb to ask 'doesn't...?' or 'don't...?'.
Why does the reply use بلى instead of نعم for 'yes'?
When someone asks a negative question in Arabic, replying with نعم (yes) means you agree with the negative statement (meaning 'Yes, you are right, they are not important'). To contradict the negative and affirm that they ARE important, you must use بلى (yes indeed).
Why are we using feminine words like أليست and هي when talking about plural rules (قواعد)?
The word قواعد (rules) is a plural noun referring to non-human things. In Arabic grammar, non-human plurals are always treated as a single female. That is why we use the feminine أليست, the feminine pronoun هي (literally 'she'), and the feminine singular adjective مهمة.
In the first sentence, why doesn't قواعد have ال on it to say 'the' house rules?