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هل سمعت مواء القط في الليل؟

هل سمعت مواء القط في الليل؟hal sami'ta muwâ'a l-qitti fil-layli?
Did you hear the cat's meow in the night?
From Lesson 388:Everyday Sounds and Noises·Arabic (Modern Standard)

Questions & Answers about هل سمعت مواء القط في الليل؟

If I were to read this sentence with full case endings, what vowels would go on مواء القط?
It would be مواءَ القطِّ (muwā'a l-qiṭṭi). مواء gets a fat-ha because it is the direct object of the verb سمعت, and it drops the tanween because it is the first part of an Idafa (possessive) structure. القط gets a kasra because it is the second part of the Idafa.
The word مواء (meow) sounds exactly like the noise a cat makes. Does it follow a specific grammatical pattern?
Yes! Aside from being onomatopoeic, it follows the pattern فُعال (fu'āl). In Arabic, this pattern is frequently used to derive nouns for animal sounds, such as نُباح (barking) and عُواء (howling), as well as for ailments.
Why is the hamza at the end of مواء written on the line by itself instead of on a letter?
This is a spelling rule for the terminal hamza. When a hamza at the very end of a word is preceded by a long vowel like the alif here, or by a consonant with no vowel, it sits alone on the line rather than on a 'seat' like waw or yaa.
Would I need to change القط to القطة if I specifically heard a female cat?
While القط technically means a male cat and القطة means a female cat, masculine forms are often used in Arabic as the generic term for the species. You would only say مواء القطة if the cat's female gender was important to the context.

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