قضينا وقتا ممتعا في الزفاف.

Questions & Answers about قضينا وقتا ممتعا في الزفاف.

Why does the verb قضينا have a regular ي (ya) in it when the base dictionary form is قضى with an alif maqsurah (ى)?
The verb قضى is a defective verb, meaning its root ends in a weak letter (here, an underlying ي). When you add a suffix that starts with a consonant, like the 'we' suffix نا, that original ي comes back. So, قضى (he spent) becomes قضينا (we spent).
Why do both وقتا and ممتعا end with an extra alif?
They form the direct object of the verb (what was spent). In Arabic, indefinite words in the accusative case (the object case) take the tanwin fatha ending (the 'an' sound). In writing, this requires adding an extra alif to most words, which is why we write وقتا ممتعا instead of وقت ممتع.
Can I use the verb قضى to say I spent money at the wedding?
No, قضى is strictly used for spending time. If you want to talk about spending money, you would need to use a different verb, such as أنفق or صرف.
How should I pronounce في الزفاف if I am reading the sentence fluently?
Because الزفاف starts with a sun letter (ز), the ل (lam) in the prefix is skipped and you double the ز. Also, when speaking fluidly, the vowel at the end of في blends into the next word. Instead of pausing, it sounds like fiz-zafaf.

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