أعمل طوال اليوم.

A careful MSA pronunciation is:

aʿmalu ṭawāla al-yawmi

In everyday reading without full case endings, learners often say something closer to:

aʿmal ṭawāl al-yawm

A few sound notes:

• ع in أعمل is the consonant ʿayn, a throat sound with no exact English equivalent.
• ط in طوال is an emphatic t, heavier and deeper than regular ت.
• اليوم is al-yawm, with yawm meaning day.

If you are a beginner, the hardest part is usually أعمل because of ع.

Because the verb itself already tells you the subject.

أعمل means I work / I am working. The prefix أ- marks first person singular in the present/imperfect tense.

So Arabic often does not need أنا.

• أعمل طوال اليوم = I work all day
• أنا أعمل طوال اليوم = I work all day, but with extra emphasis on I

This is very normal in Arabic. Subject pronouns are often omitted unless they are needed for emphasis, contrast, or clarity.

It is the present/imperfect form.

In Arabic, this form can express several ideas that English splits up:

• I work
• I am working
• I do work

The exact meaning depends on context.

In أعمل طوال اليوم, the most natural meaning is usually I work all day or I work throughout the day, which sounds habitual or general. But in the right context it could also describe what is happening now.

Here, أعمل comes from the verb عَمِلَ / يَعْمَلُ, which means to work.

So أعمل = I work.

Depending on context, this verb can sometimes also relate more broadly to doing or working on something, but in this sentence the meaning is clearly I work.

طوال means throughout, for the whole duration of, or more simply all in time expressions.

So:

• طوال اليوم = throughout the day
• idiomatically: all day

It is commonly used with periods of time, for example:

• طوال الليل = all night
• طوال الأسبوع = all week
• طوال السنة = all year

So in this sentence, طوال is what gives the sense of all day long.

Because اليوم means the day / today, and after طوال Arabic normally uses a definite time expression here.

So:

• طوال اليوم = throughout the day / all day

Using يوم by itself would not sound as natural in this sentence.

This is one of those places where Arabic and English structure things differently. English says all day, while Arabic says something more like throughout the day.

Yes.

• أعمل طوال اليوم = neutral, natural
• أنا أعمل طوال اليوم = also correct, but more emphatic

Adding أنا can suggest:

• contrast: I work all day, but he doesn’t
• emphasis: I really do work all day

Without a special reason, Arabic often prefers just أعمل طوال اليوم.

Yes, potentially.

Arabic present/imperfect verbs do not force the same distinction that English does between:

• I work
• I am working

So أعمل can cover both, depending on context.

Still, if you see the sentence by itself, the most likely reading is habitual:

• I work all day

If the speaker is describing a current situation, it could also be understood as:

• I am working all day

Yes. Some common alternatives are:

• طوال اليوم — very natural in MSA; throughout the day
• اليوم كله — the whole day
• على مدار اليوم — throughout the day / over the course of the day

For example:

• أعمل اليوم كله = I work the whole day
• أعمل على مدار اليوم = I work throughout the day

For formal standard Arabic, طوال اليوم is an excellent and very natural choice.

In fully vowelled formal Arabic, it is:

أَعْمَلُ طَوَالَ الْيَوْمِ

Here is the grammar:

• أعملُ: present/imperfect verb, indicative, so it ends in -u
• طوالَ: an adverbial expression of duration, so it is in the accusative
• اليومِ: genitive here because it follows طوال in an iḍāfa-like relationship

In normal printed Arabic, these short vowels are usually omitted, so learners just see:

أعمل طوال اليوم

Yes, mainly these two:

• ع in أعمل
• ط in طوال

ع:

• This is the famous Arabic ʿayn
• It is made in the throat
• English does not have an equivalent sound

ط:

• This is an emphatic t
• Your tongue position is similar to t, but the sound is darker/heavier

Also, ال in اليوم is pronounced clearly here because ي is a moon letter, not a sun letter. So you say:

al-yawm

not something assimilated like ay-yawm.

The sentence begins with the verb:

• أعمل = I work
• طوال اليوم = all day / throughout the day

So the structure is:

verb + time expression

This is very normal in Arabic. You could also put the subject pronoun in front for emphasis:

• أنا أعمل طوال اليوم

But the shorter version is more straightforward and more typical when no emphasis is needed.