Breakdown of ظلت الأم تربي أطفالها وحدها.
الal
the
هاhâ
her / her (object) / it (feminine)
أمumm
mother
طفلtifl
child
وحدهwaHdahu
alone, by himself
ظلdhalla
to keep on, remain (+ present verb)
ربىrabbâ
to raise
Questions & Answers about ظلت الأم تربي أطفالها وحدها.
How does ظلت work with the present tense verb تربي here?
ظلت comes from ظل, which is a "sister of Kana" (a group of verbs that set the time or state of a sentence, much like "to be"). When you use the past tense of ظل followed by a present tense verb like تربي, it expresses an action that continued over a period of time in the past, meaning "she kept raising" or "she remained raising."
What is the root and verb form of تربي, and why does it translate to "raising"?
It is a Form II verb from the defective root ر-ب-ي. Form II often makes a verb causative. While the basic Form I root relates to growing or increasing, the Form II verb رَبَّى (present tense يُرَبِّي) means "to make grow." When applied to children, it means "to raise," "to bring up," or "to educate."
Why does the word for "alone" (وحدها) have the pronoun suffix ها attached to it?
In Arabic, "alone" is not a fixed adverb. It is expressed using the noun وحد (meaning "aloneness" or "solitude") followed by a pronoun suffix that matches the person you are talking about. Here, the suffix ها (her) refers back to the mother (الأم). It is always used in the accusative case (وحدَها) because it acts as an adverb of state, describing the condition she was in.
What case ending does أطفال take before the pronoun suffix?
It takes a fatha, making it أطفالَها. This is because it is the direct object of the verb تربي, and direct objects are always in the accusative case. The grammatical influence of ظلت at the beginning of the sentence doesn't change this, because أطفال belongs entirely to the internal verbal sentence.
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