Breakdown of هل ينتظر أحد في الاستقبال غير الضيوف الذين عندهم حجز مسبق؟
الal
the
هلhal
is / are (question marker)
فيfî
in / about, regarding
ضيفdayf
guest
عند'inda
at / to have
انتظرintazir
to wait
همhum
their / them (object)
أحدaḥad
someone / anyone
الذينalladhîna
who (m. pl.)
غيرghayr
not, un- (before an adjective); other than
حجزhajz
reservation
مسبقmusbaq
prior
استقبالistiqbâl
reception
Questions & Answers about هل ينتظر أحد في الاستقبال غير الضيوف الذين عندهم حجز مسبق؟
What vowel should go on the end of غير in this sentence?
Because this is an interrogative sentence (which behaves like a negative sentence for exception rules) and the group being excepted from (أحد) is explicitly mentioned, غير can take one of two cases. It can be accusative (غيرَ, ghayra) as the direct exception, or it can act as a substitute (badal) and copy the case of the word it is excluding from. Since the subject أحد is nominative, you can correctly say either غيرَ or غيرُ.
Why must the word for guests (الضيوف) be in the genitive case (majrur)?
Unlike the standard exception particle إلا (illa), the words غير (ghayr) and سوى (siwa) always grammatically act as the first part of an idafa (possessive construction). Therefore, the noun immediately following them is forced into the genitive case because it is the second part of the idafa (mudhaf ilayh). Here it becomes الضيوفِ (al-dhuyuufi).
Why do we use the relative pronoun الذين here?
الذين (who/which) is the masculine plural relative pronoun. It is used here to agree with الضيوف (the guests), which is treated as a rational (human) plural. Remember that if the plural noun were non-human, you would use the feminine singular relative pronoun التي instead.
In the phrase عندهم حجز مسبق, what case is حجز (reservation) and why?
It is in the nominative case (حجزٌ, hajzun). The relative clause عندهم حجز is a mini verbless (nominal) sentence where the usual word order is flipped. The phrase عندهم (with them) acts as the predicate, while حجز is the delayed subject. Since subjects of nominal sentences are always nominative, حجز and its adjective مسبق both take the nominative case.
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