Breakdown of احتلت الملكة المدينة، إذ كانت مركزا مهما.
الal
the
مدينةmadîna
city
مهمmuhimm
important
كانkâna
to be
مركزmarkaz
center
ملكةmalika
queen
احتلihtalla
to occupy
إذidh
since / seeing that (causal)
Questions & Answers about احتلت الملكة المدينة، إذ كانت مركزا مهما.
The lesson is about إذ and إذ إنّ. Could we use إذ إنّ in this exact sentence instead?
Not exactly as written. The conjunction إذ can be followed directly by a verb, as seen here with كانت. If you wanted to use إذ إنّ, it acts like إنّ and must be followed by a noun or an attached pronoun. You would have to say إذ إنها كانت (seeing that it was...).
Why do مركزا and مهما have an extra alif at the end?
They are the predicate (the news or خبر) of the verb كانت. Remember that كان (to be) makes its predicate accusative (منصوب). The extra alif carries the tanween fath (-an sound) showing this accusative case. The hidden subject of كانت is 'it', referring back to the city.
I see a shadda on the laam in احتلت. What is the root of this verb?
The root is ح - ل - ل. This is a Form VIII verb (احتَلَّ). When a verb root's second and third letters are the same, they merge and take a shadda. The ت at the end is just the feminine past-tense marker matching the queen.
How should I pronounce the transition between احتلت and الملكة?
Normally, the feminine past tense ending ـت takes a sukoon (no vowel). But since الملكة starts with a sukoon on the ل (because of the definite article), Arabic adds a helper kasra to the ت to connect them smoothly. It is pronounced 'iHtallat-i-l-malikatu'.
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