Word
التقطت أختي صورا لجذع الشجرة القديم.
Meaning
My sister took pictures of the old tree trunk.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about التقطت أختي صورا لجذع الشجرة القديم.
Why is القديم (old) masculine when the word right before it, الشجرة (tree), is feminine?
Because القديم is actually modifying the masculine word جذع (trunk), not الشجرة (tree). In an iḍāfa (possession phrase) like جذع الشجرة (the trunk of the tree), any adjective modifying the first noun must be placed at the very end of the entire phrase. Since جذع is masculine, the adjective matches it and remains masculine.
Why is the preposition لـ (li-) used here to mean "of" the tree trunk?
Prepositions rarely translate one-to-one between English and Arabic. While we take a picture of something in English, the Arabic verb phrase التقط صورة (to take a picture) idiomatically requires the preposition لـ (li-), which usually means "to" or "for". Think of it literally as taking a picture for the object.
How do we find the root of the verb التقطت?
This is a Form VIII verb, which is characterized by an extra ت (ta) inserted right after the first root letter, plus a prefix alif. If we remove the feminine ending ـت (-at) for "my sister", the prefix alif, and the infixed ت, we are left with the root letters ل-ق-ط (l-q-ṭ). This root relates to picking up or gathering.
Why does the word صورا (pictures) have an extra alif at the end?