Breakdown of ما الجار المتطفل بجاهل بالنميمة.
الal
the
جارjâr
neighbor
بbi
by, with (attached)
ماmâ
not (negating a past verb or a sentence)
متطفلmutatafil
nosy
جاهلjâhil
ignorant
نميمةnamîma
gossip
Questions & Answers about ما الجار المتطفل بجاهل بالنميمة.
Why does the word for ignorant (جاهل) have the preposition بـ attached to it here?
This is the core of this lesson. Here, ما is the Hijazi ما, which functions exactly like ليس to mean 'is not'. To make the negation emphatic, Arabic often attaches a redundant preposition بـ to the predicate. This makes the word formally genitive (بجاهلٍ, bi-jāhilin) while remaining the logical predicate of the sentence.
The sentence has two consecutive words starting with بـ (بجاهل and بالنميمة). Do these prefixes do the same thing?
No, they serve completely different roles. The first بـ in بجاهل is the redundant emphatic preposition used with the negation ما. The second بـ in بالنميمة is a standard required preposition; in Arabic, to be 'ignorant of' something is expressed using the combination جاهل بـ.
If we wanted to express this same meaning without the emphatic بـ in بجاهل, how would the case ending change?
The word would change to the accusative case (جاهلاً, jāhilan). Because Hijazi ما acts like ليس, it requires its predicate to be accusative unless the redundant بـ is added, which forces it into the genitive form. So you would write: ما الجار المتطفل جاهلاً بالنميمة.
What case ending does the subject الجار المتطفل take in this sentence?
Both words take the nominative case ending (Damma). Just like ليس, the Hijazi ما keeps its subject in the nominative. Therefore, it is read as الجارُ المتطفلُ (al-jāru l-mutaṭaffilu).
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