Questions & Answers about يوجد مصرف جديد في المدينة.
Why use يوجد here instead of هناك for 'there is'?
While هناك is the standard way to say 'there is' or 'there are' in early levels and spoken Arabic, يوجد (literally 'it is found') is frequently used in written or formal Modern Standard Arabic to express existence.
Since يوجد is a verb, what is its subject in this sentence?
The subject is مصرف جديد (a new bank). Because Arabic is generally a Verb-Subject-Object (VSO) language, the verb يوجد comes first, followed by the thing that exists. Grammatically, يوجد is a passive verb, so مصرف acts as the deputy subject and takes the nominative case.
I usually see the word بنك for bank. What is the difference between بنك and مصرف?
Both mean 'bank,' but بنك is a direct loanword, while مصرف is a native Arabic word. مصرف follows the noun-of-place pattern مَفْعِل built on the root ص-ر-ف (related to exchanging or spending money), literally meaning 'a place of money exchange.'
What would happen to the first word if we were talking about a new library (مكتبة) instead of a bank?
Because مكتبة is feminine, the verb must agree with it. You would change the masculine passive verb يوجد to its feminine form, توجد, resulting in: توجد مكتبة جديدة في المدينة.