عندي صديقة بالجامعة.

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Breakdown of عندي صديقة بالجامعة.

• ي: me
• عند: at
• صديق: friend

Questions & Answers about عندي صديقة بالجامعة.

What does عندي literally mean?

عندي is made of:

• عند = at, by, with
• -ي = my / me

So literally it means something like at me. In Arabic, that is a very common way to express I have.

So عندي صديقة is literally at me a female friend, but naturally it means I have a female friend.

Why is there no verb for have in this sentence?

Because Arabic usually does not use a normal verb equivalent to English to have in sentences like this.

Instead, it often uses a possession structure such as:

• عندي = I have
• عندك = you have
• عنده = he has
• عندها = she has

So this is completely normal Arabic structure, especially in spoken Levantine.

Why is it صديقة and not صديق?

صديقة is the feminine form, meaning female friend.

• صديق = male friend
• صديقة = female friend

The ending ـة is a very common feminine ending in Arabic.

So if you were talking about a male friend, you would say:

عندي صديق بالجامعة