Breakdown of ما أجمل الرضا! كفى بالصحة رضا.
الal
the
أجملajmal
most beautiful
كفىkafâ
to suffice
ماmâ
how (exclamatory)
صحةsihha
health
بbi
emphatic marker (adds emphasis, no English equivalent)
رضاridâ
satisfaction
Questions & Answers about ما أجمل الرضا! كفى بالصحة رضا.
Why is the preposition بـ attached to الصحة if "health" is the thing doing the sufficing?
This is a special structure used with the verb كفى (to suffice). The بـ here is a "redundant preposition" (حرف جر زائد) used for emphasis. Because of the preposition, بالصحة is technically genitive in its form, but logically it acts as the nominative subject of the sentence (Health is what suffices).
What grammatical role does the second رضا play at the end of the sentence?
It functions as the "accusative of specification" (تمييز), which clarifies in what capacity health is sufficient. It is standard to use an indefinite noun in the accusative case after the كفى بـ structure to explain the "as what" part of the sentence (here, "as contentment"). Even though the word ends in a long vowel and doesn't visually show a case ending here, it is grammatically in the accusative case (منصوب).
In the exclamation ما أجمل الرضا, why is أجمل acting like a verb instead of an adjective?
This is the standard Arabic exclamatory style (أسلوب التعجب). The structure ما أَفْعَلَ literally works like "What made [something] beautiful?". Here, ما acts as the subject, أجمل is a past-tense verb, and الرضا is its direct object, which is why it takes the accusative case.
Why does الرضا end in a regular tall alif (ا) rather than an alif maqsura (ى)?
For three-letter Arabic nouns ending in a vowel, the spelling depends on the original root. Because the final root letter of رضا is a waw (و), it is written with a tall alif (ا). If the final root letter were a yaa (ي), it would be written with an alif maqsura (ى).
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