Word
سنة سعيدة! — ولك أيضا.
Meaning
Happy new year! — And to you too.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about سنة سعيدة! — ولك أيضا.
Why does the Arabic just say happy year without the word for new?
In Arabic, the standard greeting for the New Year is simply سنة سعيدة (a happy year). You do not need to add the word for new (جديدة) because the holiday context makes it obvious, though saying it is also perfectly understood.
Why are both words in سنة سعيدة indefinite?
Greetings and well-wishes are often phrased as indefinite noun-adjective pairs because it implies a wish, like saying: Have a happy year! If you added the definite article ال to make it السنة السعيدة, it would just mean the happy year as a normal description rather than a greeting.
How exactly is the reply ولك constructed?
It combines three parts: the conjunction و (and), the preposition لـ (to or for), and the pronoun suffix ـك (you). Depending on who you are speaking to, you would pronounce it wa-laka for a man or wa-laki for a woman.
Why does أيضا end with an alif?
The alif at the end of أيضا holds the tanwin fatha pronunciation (-an). Adding this -an sound to the end of a noun or adjective is the standard way to create an adverb in Modern Standard Arabic. Here, it creates the meaning of also or too.