Breakdown of قضيت أسبوعا مع عائلتي.
يi
my / me (after a preposition)
معma'a
with
عائلة'â'ilah
family
أسبوعusbû'
week
قضىqadâ
to spend (time)
Questions & Answers about قضيت أسبوعا مع عائلتي.
Why does the verb قضيت have a ي in the middle when the dictionary form is قضى?
The root of this verb is ق-ض-ي. Because it ends in a weak letter, it is called a defective verb. In the basic "he" form (قضى), the weak letter is written as an alif maqsurah (ى). But when adding the "I" suffix (ت), the original ي of the root comes back and is pronounced.
I thought the verb قضى meant "to judge" or "to decide". Why does it mean "spent" here?
It means both! Context is key. When paired with expressions of time like أسبوعا (a week), it means "to spend time". Just remember not to use it for spending money, which requires a completely different verb like صرف.
Why is there an extra alif at the end of أسبوعا?
The word for "week" is the direct object of the verb (it is the thing you spent). In Arabic, the object takes the accusative case. For indefinite words, this case is marked with the "-an" sound (tanween fatha). In writing, this requires adding an extra alif to the end of the word, unless it ends in a taa marbuta or a hamza.
The word عائلتي comes after the preposition مع. Why doesn't its ending change to show the genitive case?
Grammatically, it is in the genitive case because of the preposition. However, you cannot see or hear the case marker. The attached pronoun ي (meaning "my") always forces the letter right before it to take a kasra vowel (an "ee" sound) to make it easy to pronounce. This pronunciation rule completely hides the usual case endings.
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