Breakdown of وضع الطبيب يده على كتفي.
الal
the
أناana
I
هوhuwa
he / his / him (attached)
على'ala
on / of (evidence of) / to (lie to someone) / for (difficult for someone)
طبيبtabîb
doctor
يدyad
hand
وضعwadaʿa
to put
كتفkatif
shoulder
Questions & Answers about وضع الطبيب يده على كتفي.
Since body parts in pairs like يد (hand) are feminine, why does the word end with the masculine pronoun ـه?
The attached pronoun indicates the possessor, not the noun itself. Since the hand belongs to الطبيب (the doctor, a masculine noun), we use the masculine suffix for 'his' (ـه). The feminine gender of the hand would only matter if we added an adjective, like 'his right hand' (يده اليمنى).
If I want to read this sentence out loud with full case endings, what vowel goes on the letter dal in يده?
It takes a fatha (a short 'a' sound), making it pronounced yadahu. In Arabic, case endings go on the final letter of the root noun, right before any attached pronouns. Since the hand is the direct object (the thing being put), it takes the accusative case.
Does the preposition على (on) change the vowel ending of كتفي (my shoulder)?
Grammatically, yes, it puts the noun into the genitive case, which requires a kasra (short 'i' sound). However, because the attached pronoun ـي (my) naturally forces a kasra on the letter before it anyway, you don't hear a visible vowel change. You just pronounce it katifee.
The verb وضع (he put) starts with the letter waw. How does this affect its present tense form?
Verbs that start with waw are called 'assimilated' verbs, and they follow a special rule: in the present tense, that initial waw drops out completely. If you wanted to say 'the doctor puts', you would use يضع (yada'u) instead of 'yawda'u'.
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