Breakdown of مشينا وضفة النهر لمدة نصف ساعة.
الal
the
نهرnahr
river
ساعةsâ'a
watch / hour
مشىmashâ
to walk / to go, to move along (of a vehicle)
نصفnisf
half
لمدةlimuddati
for (a period of)
وwa
with, alongside (accompaniment)
ضفةdiffa
bank (of a river)
Questions & Answers about مشينا وضفة النهر لمدة نصف ساعة.
Why does the و in وضفة translate to 'alongside' rather than 'and'?
This is the 'waw of accompaniment' (واو المعية). If it were the regular word for 'and' (واو العطف), the sentence would mean 'We and the river bank walked.' Since a river bank cannot physically walk, the و here must mean 'along with' or 'alongside.' The noun that follows it is called the object of accompaniment (المفعول معه).
What case ending does ضفة take here, and why?
It takes the accusative case (a fatha ending, making it ضفةَ) because it is the object of accompaniment (المفعول معه). Any noun directly following the 'waw of accompaniment' must be in the accusative case.
How does the grammar work in the phrase لمدة نصف ساعة (for half an hour)?
This is a chain of possessives (an Idafa structure). It literally translates to 'for a duration of a half of an hour.' Because the preposition لـ puts مدة in the genitive case (لمدةِ), the following nouns in the chain also take the genitive case as they are possessed by the previous word. So you read it as لمدةِ نصفِ ساعةٍ.
Why isn't there an 'al-' (ال) on ضفة?
ضفة is the first word in a possessive phrase (Idafa), connecting to النهر (the river). The phrase means 'the bank of the river.' In Arabic, the first word of an Idafa never takes the definite article ال, even though the phrase as a whole is definite.
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