Breakdown of تفرز المهملات المنزلية من قبل العمال.
الal
the
عاملâmil
worker
فرزfaraza
to sort
من قبلmin qibali
by (used in passive sentences)
مهملاتmuhmalât
trash
منزليmanziliyy
household
Questions & Answers about تفرز المهملات المنزلية من قبل العمال.
I thought passive sentences in Arabic couldn't mention who did the action. Why is العمال (the workers) mentioned here?
Traditionally, classical Arabic hides the agent in a passive sentence. However, in Modern Standard Arabic, it is very common to include the agent using the phrase من قبل (by, or literally 'from the part of'). You will also sometimes see بواسطة used for this same purpose.
Why do the verb تفرز and the adjective المنزلية take the singular feminine form if المهملات (trash/waste) is plural?
In Arabic grammar, non-human plurals like المهملات are treated grammatically as singular feminine. Therefore, any verbs acting on them (like the passive verb تفرز) and any adjectives describing them (like المنزلية) must take the singular feminine form.
Since Arabic is typically written without short vowels, how can I tell that تفرز is passive rather than active?
Context is your main clue. The active form (tafrizu) means 'she sorts' or 'it sorts', but trash cannot sort itself. Additionally, seeing the phrase من قبل (by) later in the sentence is a huge structural hint that the main verb is passive and should be read as 'tufrazu' (is sorted).
What is the root of المهملات and how does it translate to 'trash'?
It comes from the root ه م ل which means to neglect, ignore, or leave something alone. المهملات is a passive participle form that literally translates to 'neglected things' or 'discarded things', making it a formal but common word for trash or waste.
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