Breakdown of هذا الوحش أكول، وهو يحب طعام الملك.
الal
the
وwa
and
هوhuwa
he / his / him (attached)
هذاhâdhâ
this (m)
Questions & Answers about هذا الوحش أكول، وهو يحب طعام الملك.
How does أكول fit the intensive adjective pattern we are learning?
أكول comes from the root أ ك ل (to eat). By applying the فَعُول (fa'ool) pattern, which indicates a habitual or exaggerated trait, it turns the basic action into someone who does it a lot. It changes the meaning from simply eating to being a heavy eater or gluttonous.
Does the hamza (أ) at the start of the root change how the فَعُول pattern works?
Not at all! The first root letter simply takes a fatha, just like any other consonant in this pattern. It becomes أَ (a), followed by the second root letter with a damma كُ (ku), the pattern's long و (oo), and the final root letter ل (l), giving us أَكُول (akool).
Why is it هذا الوحش instead of just هذا وحش?
To say "this monster" as a single subject phrase, the noun after هذا must be definite (using الـ). If you wrote هذا وحش without the الـ, it would mean "This is a monster." Because الوحش has الـ, the listener knows the phrase isn't complete until the predicate أكول arrives: "This monster [is] gluttonous."
Why doesn't the word طعام (food) have الـ (the) in طعام الملك?