Breakdown of من الأفضل أن تقلل من السكر والملح.
الal
the
وwa
and
ملحmilh
salt
سكرsukkar
sugar
قلل منqallil min
to cut down on
من الأفضل أنmina l-afdali an
it is better to
Questions & Answers about من الأفضل أن تقلل من السكر والملح.
Why do we need the second من after the verb تقلل?
The verb قلّل (to reduce or lessen) often takes the preposition من when you are talking about cutting down on a quantity or an amount of something. Think of قلّل من as the Arabic equivalent of the English phrasal verb 'to cut down on'.
I know the word قل means 'few' or 'little'. How is تقلل related to it?
تقلل is the present tense of the Form II verb قلّل. While the base Form I verb قلّ means 'to be little' or 'to decrease' on its own, Form II verbs are often used to make an action happen to something else. So قلّل literally means 'to make something little' or 'to reduce'.
What effect does the word أن have on the verb تقلل in this sentence?
The particle أن (that/to) triggers the subjunctive mood. For a regular present tense verb like تقلل, this means the final vowel changes from a damma (u sound) to a fatha (a sound). If you were reading this sentence with full grammatical vowels, you would pronounce it as أن تقللَ (an tuqallila).
Is من الأفضل أن a fixed phrase for saying 'It is better to'?
Yes! This is a very common pattern in Arabic for impersonal statements. You use من followed by an adjective (usually in its comparative/superlative form, like الأفضل) and then أن. You can use this exact same structure to say things like 'It is important to' (من المهم أن) or 'It is possible to' (من الممكن أن).
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