Breakdown of ليس من الضروري أن تذهب إلى المستشفى.
الal
the
ذهبdhahaba
to go
إلىilâ
to
مستشفىmustashfâ
hospital
ليسlaysa
to not be
من الضروري أنmina ddarûriyyi an
it is necessary that
Questions & Answers about ليس من الضروري أن تذهب إلى المستشفى.
Why do we use من before الضروري? Doesn't that literally mean 'from the necessary'?
Yes, literally it means 'from the necessary.' In Arabic, to express 'It is [adjective] to do something,' you often use من followed by the definite adjective. For example, من الممكن means 'it is possible' and من الصعب means 'it is difficult.' Here, ليس من الضروري is the standard way to say 'it is not necessary.'
Why does the verb تذهب change its ending vowel here?
The particle أن (that/to) forces the present tense verb that follows it into the subjunctive mood, which is called منصوب in Arabic. For a regular present tense verb like تذهب, this means the default 'u' sound (damma) at the end changes to an 'a' sound (fatha), making it pronounced 'tadhhaba'.
Could تذهب mean 'she goes' instead of 'you go'?
Yes! In Arabic, the present tense conjugation for 'you' (masculine singular) and 'she' is exactly the same: تذهب. Without extra context, this sentence could perfectly well mean 'It is not necessary that she goes to the hospital.'
The word المستشفى comes after the preposition إلى (to). Why doesn't it take a kasra ('i' sound) at the end?
The word المستشفى ends in an alif maqsura, which is the letter ى (pronounced like a long 'a'). Words ending in this letter cannot physically take short vowels like a kasra on their ending. Even though it follows a preposition and is grammatically in the genitive case, the pronunciation and spelling stay exactly the same.
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