اختي نضفت الترابيزة قبل ما الاكل ييجي.

My sister cleaned the table before the food came.

Breakdown of اختي نضفت الترابيزة قبل ما الاكل ييجي.

• ال: the
• ي: my
• اخت: sister
• ييجي: to come

Questions & Answers about اختي نضفت الترابيزة قبل ما الاكل ييجي.

How would I pronounce the whole sentence?

A natural Egyptian Arabic pronunciation would be:

okhti naddafet et-tarabeeza abl ma l-akl yiigi

A few helpful notes:

• اختي = okhti or ukhti
• نضفت = naddafet
• الترابيزة = et-tarabeeza
• قبل ما = abl ma
• الاكل = el-akl, but in connected speech it often sounds like l-akl
• ييجي = yiigi

So in smooth speech, it may sound like:

okhti naddafet et-tarabeeza abl ma l-akl yiigi

Why does اختي mean my sister?

Because it is made of:

• أخت / اخت = sister
• -ي = my

So:

• اخت = sister
• اختي = my sister

This -i / -y ending is a very common possessive suffix in Arabic:

• بيتي = my house
• اسمي = my name
• أمي = my mother

Also, the t of أخت stays when a suffix is attached, so أختي is literally sister-my.

Why is نضفت translated as something like she cleaned, and how do I know it is feminine?