صديقي يتأخر اليوم.

In Arabic, possessive pronouns are often attached directly to the noun.

• صديق = friend
• ـي = my

So:

• صديقي = my friend

This is very normal in Arabic. Instead of saying my friend with a separate word like English does, Arabic usually says friend-my as a single unit.

يتأخر is a present-tense verb in the 3rd person masculine singular.

It means something like:

• he is late
• he arrives late
• he is being delayed
• he is running late

The basic dictionary form is تأخّر meaning to be late / to be delayed.

Because the subject is صديقي (my friend), which is masculine singular, the verb appears as يتأخر.

In the Arabic present tense, the beginning of the verb helps show the person and gender.

Here:

• يـ usually marks he
• so يتأخر means he is late / he is being delayed

A learner often compares this with other forms:

• أتأخر = I am late
• تتأخر = you are late or she is late
• يتأخر = he is late
• نتأخر = we are late

So the يـ is an important clue that the verb matches he.

Arabic usually does not use a present-tense verb meaning is/am/are the way English does.

In this sentence, the main idea is already carried by يتأخر (is late / arrives late / is delayed), so no extra word for is is needed.

This is very common in Arabic. English often needs is, but Arabic often does not.

Yes. يتأخر can be translated in slightly different ways depending on context.

Possible English translations include:

• My friend is late today.
• My friend is running late today.
• My friend will be late today.
• My friend is delayed today.

The exact best translation depends on the situation. Arabic often leaves this kind of nuance to context.

Both word orders are possible in Arabic.

1. صديقي يتأخر اليوم

This starts with the noun my friend. It can feel a bit like:

• My friend, he is late today
• or simply a normal topic-first sentence

2. يتأخر صديقي اليوم

This starts with the verb. Verb-first order is also very common in Arabic, especially in more neutral narration.

So both are correct. The difference is mostly about style, emphasis, and sentence structure, not basic meaning.

اليوم means today.

In this sentence, it functions as an adverb of time, telling us when the lateness happens.

So:

• صديقي = my friend
• يتأخر = is late / is delayed
• اليوم = today

Arabic does not need a preposition here. Just اليوم by itself is enough.

In full formal Arabic grammar, yes, the sentence has case/mood endings, even though they are usually not written in everyday unvowelled text.

A fully vocalized version would look like:

صديقي يتأخَّرُ اليومَ

A few notes:

• يتأخَّرُ ends in ـُ because it is an indicative present-tense verb.
• اليومَ often has ـَ because it functions as an adverbial expression of time.
• صديقي is the subject, but because of the attached ـي (my), the nominative ending is not clearly visible in the usual written form.

So yes, the grammar is there, even if normal writing does not show all the endings.

It is pronounced roughly like:

yata'akhkharu

Important points:

• The أ represents a hamza, a little catch in the throat.
• The خ is the throaty sound like the ch in German Bach or Scottish loch.
• The verb is often fully written as يتأخّر with a shadda on خ, showing that the consonant is doubled.

So the pronunciation is not just yata-kharu. It has a clearer break and a doubled kh sound:
ya-ta-akh-kha-ru

Because صديقي refers to a masculine noun: friend in the masculine form.

So Arabic uses the masculine singular verb:

• صديقي يتأخر اليوم = My male friend is late today

If you wanted my female friend, you would say:

• صديقتي تتأخر اليوم

Notice two changes:

• صديقي → صديقتي
• يتأخر → تتأخر

So the verb changes to match the gender of the subject.

It is definite.

That is because adding a possessive ending like ـي (my) automatically makes the noun specific:

• صديق = a friend / friend
• صديقي = my friend

Anything with my, your, his, her, and so on is naturally definite, because it refers to a specific person or thing.

Yes. Arabic word order is fairly flexible, especially with time expressions.

You can find things like:

• صديقي يتأخر اليوم
• اليوم صديقي يتأخر
• يتأخر صديقي اليوم

All of these can work, though the emphasis may shift a little.

For a learner, صديقي يتأخر اليوم is a very good clear pattern to remember.