أفضل هذا النوع.

Because Arabic script usually leaves out short vowels and the shadda marker in normal writing, أفضل can represent more than one word.

In this sentence, it is read as أُفَضِّلُ (ʾufaḍḍilu) = I prefer.

A different reading of the same spelling is أَفْضَلُ (afḍalu) = better / best.

So the context tells you which one is meant. If the sentence were fully vowelled, it would be written something like:

أُفَضِّلُ هذا النوعَ

Because the verb itself already shows the subject.

أُفَضِّلُ means I prefer. The أ... pattern at the start of the present-tense verb tells you the subject is I.

So Arabic often leaves out أنا when it is not needed.

• أفضّل هذا النوع = I prefer this type
• أنا أفضّل هذا النوع = also correct, but أنا adds emphasis or contrast, like I prefer this type

The dictionary form is usually given as the past tense verb فَضَّلَ = to prefer / to favor.

This is a Form II verb, built from the root ف-ض-ل. That root is related to ideas of excellence, superiority, or preference.

So:

• فَضَّلَ = he preferred
• يُفَضِّلُ = he prefers
• أُفَضِّلُ = I prefer

In Modern Standard Arabic, after a demonstrative like هذا (this), the noun is normally definite, so it usually takes الـ.

So the normal pattern is:

• هذا الكتاب = this book
• هذا النوع = this type / this kind

Using هذا نوع would usually not be the standard way to say this type in MSA.

Because النوع is grammatically masculine singular.

The demonstrative has to match the noun in gender and number:

• هذا النوع = this type (masculine singular)
• هذه السيارة = this car (feminine singular)

So even if the English word type does not feel masculine to you, in Arabic نوع is masculine, so it takes هذا.

It is the direct object of the verb أفضّل, so it is in the accusative case.

Fully vowelled, that would be:

أُفَضِّلُ هذا النوعَ

The final fatḥa on النوعَ marks the accusative.

A useful detail:

• هذا itself is generally treated as indeclinable, so the case marking shows up on النوع, not on هذا.

In normal speech and in most unvowelled writing, learners often will not hear or see that final case ending clearly.

Because Arabic often uses a verbal sentence structure, where the verb comes first.

So:

• أفضّل هذا النوع = natural verbal sentence
• أنا أفضّل هذا النوع = also correct, with an explicit subject

Both are fine. The version without أنا is very common because the verb already tells you the subject.

Yes, absolutely.

Both are correct:

• أفضّل هذا النوع
• أنا أفضّل هذا النوع

The version with أنا is often used for emphasis, contrast, or clarity.

For example:

• أنا أفضّل هذا النوع، لكن أخي يفضّل النوع الآخر = I prefer this type, but my brother prefers the other type

A careful MSA pronunciation would be:

ʾufaḍḍilu hādhā an-nawʿa

A few notes:

• أفضّل = ʾufaḍḍilu
• هذا = hādhā
• النوع = an-nawʿ
• In full grammatical pronunciation, the object ending is -a, so an-nawʿa

In everyday pausal pronunciation, many speakers would stop without clearly pronouncing the final case vowel, so you may hear something closer to:

ʾufaḍḍil hādhā an-nawʿ

Yes. A common pattern is:

أفضّل هذا النوع على ذاك = I prefer this type to that one

So على is often used after أفضّل when comparing one thing with another.

Examples:

• أفضّل الشاي على القهوة = I prefer tea to coffee
• أفضّل هذا النوع على النوع الآخر = I prefer this type to the other type

You can simply put لا before the present-tense verb:

لا أفضّل هذا النوع = I do not prefer this type

So:

• أفضّل هذا النوع = I prefer this type
• لا أفضّل هذا النوع = I do not prefer this type