Breakdown of يجب أن تستوفي الشروط بنفسك.
الal
the
كka
your / you (object)
بbi
by, with (attached)
أنan
to (with verbs)
يجبyajibu
must / has to
نفسnafs
self (reflexive)
شرطshart
condition
استوفىistawfâ
to fulfill (conditions, requirements)
Questions & Answers about يجب أن تستوفي الشروط بنفسك.
Why is the preposition ب attached to نفسك here?
Adding the preposition ب to نفس plus a pronoun (like بنفسك) is the standard way to say 'by yourself' or 'personally' in Arabic. Without the ب, نفسك would just mean 'your soul' or act as a direct object, but here it acts as an adverbial phrase emphasizing that you must do the action alone.
What is the root and form of the verb تستوفي, and how does that affect its meaning?
It comes from the root و-ف-ي, which relates to completion, loyalty, or fulfilling a promise. تستوفي is a Form X verb (استوفى). While Form X often means 'to seek' something, here it carries the meaning of doing something fully or exhaustively, hence 'to fulfill' or 'to satisfy' the conditions entirely.
Since تستوفي comes after أن, what happens to its grammatical mood and pronunciation?
The particle أن forces the following verb into the subjunctive mood (منصوب). Because تستوفي is a 'defective' verb (ending in the weak letter ي), the subjunctive is actually shown with a pronounced 'a' sound at the end. So if you read it aloud with full vowels, it is pronounced 'tastawfiya', not just 'tastawfee'.
If I wanted to change the sentence to say 'She must fulfill the conditions', would I change the word يجب?
No, يجب (it is necessary) is an impersonal verb here and always stays in the third-person masculine singular form when followed by أن. To change the subject, you only change the second verb and the pronoun suffix on بنفسك. Coincidentally, 'you' (masculine singular) and 'she' look exactly the same for this present tense verb: تستوفي.
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