انتظر ثانية.

انتظر is the imperative form of the verb انتظرَ (to wait).

So in انتظر ثانية., انتظر means wait!

More specifically, this form is addressed to one male in Modern Standard Arabic.

In Arabic, the verb itself often already includes the subject.

So انتظر by itself means wait! addressed to you (masculine singular). Arabic does not need a separate word for you here.

That is very normal in Arabic commands.

Yes. In MSA, انتظر is the command form for one masculine singular person.

Other common forms are:

• انتظري = wait! (to one woman)
• انتظروا = wait! (to a group of men or a mixed group)
• انتظرنَ = wait! (to a group of women, formal/literary)

So if you are speaking to a woman, you would say:

• انتظري ثانية.

Here ثانية means a second as a unit of time.

So the whole sentence means Wait a second.

In context, it can also sound natural like English Just wait a moment.

Because the meaning is a second, not the second.

• ثانية = a second / one second
• الثانية = the second or the second one

In this sentence, the speaker is asking someone to wait for an unspecified short amount of time, so ثانية is indefinite.

The ـة is tāʾ marbūṭa, a very common ending on many feminine nouns and adjectives.

The word ثانية is the feminine form related to second. In time expressions, Arabic commonly uses this feminine form for a second.

When you pause at the end of the sentence, ثانية is usually pronounced thaaniya / thāniyah without strongly pronouncing the final t sound.

If the word is followed by another word in connected speech, the t can reappear in grammatical contexts.

A helpful pronunciation guide is:

intaẓir

Roughly:

• in as in in
• ta
• ẓir

Important note:

• The letter ظ is an emphatic sound, often written ẓ in transliteration.
• It is deeper/heavier than a plain English z.

A learner-friendly approximation is in-TA-zir, but try to make the z sound fuller and darker.

Yes. At the beginning of speech, you pronounce the initial vowel: i- → intaẓir.

This initial ا in imperative forms like انتظر helps make the word pronounceable. If the word comes after something before it in connected speech, Arabic pronunciation rules can affect how that initial vowel behaves, but for learners it is perfectly fine to say intaẓir clearly.

Because this verb belongs to a derived verb pattern, not the simplest basic pattern.

The past tense is:

• انتظرَ = he waited

The imperative is built from that verb pattern, giving:

• انتظر = wait!

So this is just the normal command form for this particular verb.

Yes, depending on context, ثانية can also mean second in the sense of second/feminine ordinal, as in the second page when used as an adjective.

But in انتظر ثانية., the meaning is clearly a second as a time expression.

Context makes that clear.

Yes, it is natural and understandable.

انتظر ثانية. is a simple MSA way to say Wait a second.

Depending on tone and situation, Arabic speakers might also say similar expressions such as:

• انتظر لحظة. = wait a moment
• انتظر قليلًا. = wait a little / wait a bit

But انتظر ثانية. is perfectly straightforward and correct.

Yes. In a short command like this, it is very normal to put the verb first:

• انتظر ثانية. = Wait a second.

Arabic often places the command first and then adds the object or time expression after it.

In full grammatical analysis, ثانية here is functioning as an adverbial expression of time, and it is in the accusative.

In fully vowelled Arabic, you could write it as:

• انتظر ثانيةً.

That final ً marks the accusative indefinite ending.

In normal everyday writing, short vowels are usually omitted, so you normally just see:

• انتظر ثانية.

Not naturally in English. The natural translation is:

• Wait a second.
• Wait a moment.
• Just wait a second.

Arabic often omits words that English requires, so a very literal word-for-word translation may sound incomplete in English even though the Arabic is fully correct.