Breakdown of لك الطاعة يا سيدي، وفيك العظمة.
الal
the
وwa
and
فيfî
in / about, regarding
أنتanta
you (singular)
Questions & Answers about لك الطاعة يا سيدي، وفيك العظمة.
Why does the English translation use 'alone' when there is no word like وحدك or فقط in the Arabic text?
This is due to the stylistic fronting for exclusivity. By moving the prepositional phrases لك and فيك to the very front of their clauses, before the definite subjects الطاعة and العظمة, the sentence restricts the meaning. It implies that obedience and greatness belong exclusively to the master.
If the sentence used normal word order, like الطاعة لك... والعظمة فيك, how would the meaning change?
The standard word order would simply state a fact: 'Obedience belongs to you... and greatness is in you.' It would lose the restricted, exclusive meaning, leaving open the possibility that obedience and greatness could also belong to someone else.
Would we still get the 'exclusively' meaning if the words for obedience and greatness were indefinite?
No. When a nominal sentence has an indefinite subject, Arabic actually requires the prepositional phrase to be fronted. For example, لك طاعةٌ just means 'You have obedience' (a standard way to express possession). The exclusive 'only' meaning is only created when you front a prepositional phrase before a definite subject.
In the phrase يا سيدي, what grammatical case is the word سيد in?
It is technically in the accusative case (mansub) because it is a vocative noun acting as the first part of a possessive construction (mudaaf). However, you cannot see the accusative 'a' ending because the letter before the 'my' suffix (ـي) must always take a kasra (an 'i' sound) to blend with the suffix.