Breakdown of هذا الرجل الكريم ذاهب إلى المسجد.
الal
the
هذاhâdhâ
this (m)
إلىilâ
to
رجلrajul
man
مسجدmasjid
mosque
كريمkarîm
noble, generous
ذاهبdhâhib
going (on one's way)
Questions & Answers about هذا الرجل الكريم ذاهب إلى المسجد.
Why does the sentence use the active participle ذاهب instead of the present tense verb يذهب?
In Arabic, the active participle of verbs of motion (like ذاهب for going) is often used to express a current, ongoing state or an immediate future action. While يذهب usually means "he goes" as a habit, ذاهب translates more naturally to the continuous "is going" right now.
Why does الرجل have the definite article ال after هذا?
When a demonstrative like هذا is followed by a definite noun (with ال), they form a single phrase meaning "this man". If you dropped the ال, the phrase would turn into a complete sentence: هذا رجل meaning "This is a man".
Why does the adjective الكريم also have the definite article ال?
In Arabic, adjectives must match their noun in definiteness. Because الرجل is definite (acting as the specific noun being pointed to by "this"), the adjective الكريم must also be definite. If you wrote هذا الرجل كريم without the ال on the adjective, it would change the sentence to mean "This man is generous" instead of "This generous man".
Where is the word for "is" in this sentence?
Arabic does not use a "to be" verb in the present tense. This is a nominal sentence. The subject is هذا الرجل الكريم (This generous man), and the predicate that completes the meaning is ذاهب (going). The "is" is simply implied by putting the subject and predicate together.
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