Breakdown of يجب على مالك العقار أن يعاين عداد الكهرباء وتسرب المياه.
أن
(subordinating particle)
على
on
يجب
must
مالك العقارmâliku al-'aqâr
landlord; property owner
Questions & Answers about يجب على مالك العقار أن يعاين عداد الكهرباء وتسرب المياه.
Why is على used after يجب?
A very common Arabic pattern is:
يجب على + person + أن + verb
Literally, this means it is obligatory upon X to do Y.
So:
يجب على مالك العقار أن يعاين...
means something like:
The property owner must inspect...
In English we usually just say must, but Arabic often expresses that idea with يجب على.
Why is it مالك العقار and not المالك العقار?
Because مالك العقار is an iḍāfa (an of-construction / construct phrase).
It literally means:
- مالك = owner
- العقار = the property / the real estate
Together: owner of the property
In an iḍāfa:
- the first noun usually does not take الـ
- the second noun defines or specifies it
So مالك العقار already means the property owner. You do not normally say المالك العقار for this structure.
Why do مالك and العقار both have genitive meaning here?