الطفل يجري في الحديقة.

الـ is the Arabic definite article, equivalent to the in English.

• طفل = a child
• الطفل = the child
• حديقة = a garden
• الحديقة = the garden

So both nouns in this sentence are definite.

Because ط is a sun letter.

With sun letters, the l sound of الـ is not pronounced, and the next consonant is doubled. So:

• الطفل is pronounced aṭ-ṭifl
• not al-ṭifl

By contrast, ح in الحديقة is a moon letter, so the l is pronounced there:

• الحديقة = al-ḥadīqah

This is a pronunciation rule only. The spelling still keeps الـ.

في is a preposition meaning in.

So في الحديقة means in the garden.

A useful grammar point: after a preposition like في, the following noun goes into the genitive case.

In Arabic, prepositions such as في, من, إلى, على, and بـ make the following noun genitive.

So in a fully vocalized version, you would have:

• في الحديقةِ

The final kasra on الحديقةِ shows the genitive case. In normal Arabic writing, those short vowels are usually omitted, so learners often see only الحديقة.

The final ة is called tāʾ marbūṭa. It often marks a feminine noun.

For pronunciation:

• In pause, حديقة is usually pronounced ḥadīqah
• When case endings are fully pronounced, it behaves like t:
  • الحديقةُ
  • الحديقةِ

So this ending is important both for gender and for formal pronunciation.

يجري is a present/imperfect verb, third person masculine singular.

It comes from the past tense verb جرى and the root ج ر ي.

So grammatically it means he runs / he is running, matching the masculine singular subject الطفل.

It can mean either one, depending on context.

In Arabic, the present/imperfect often covers both:

• he runs
• he is running

If the context makes it clear that the action is happening right now, English may translate it as is running. If the sentence is more general, English may use runs.

This verb is slightly special because it is a weak verb ending in ي.

In a regular present-tense verb, you might see a clear ending such as:

• يكتبُ

But with يجري, the ending is not heard as a separate short vowel in the same way. It is pronounced simply as yajrī.

So even though it is still grammatically in the normal indicative form here, learners do not hear a final -u.

Yes, you can say both.

• الطفل يجري في الحديقة = subject first
• يجري الطفل في الحديقة = verb first

Both are correct in Modern Standard Arabic.

A simple way to think about the difference:

• subject-first can feel a bit more topic-focused: the child is what we are talking about
• verb-first is also very common and often feels more neutral in formal Arabic

This flexibility is normal in Arabic word order.

A fully vocalized version is:

الطِّفْلُ يَجْرِي فِي الْحَدِيقَةِ

Here is the breakdown:

• الطِّفْلُ — nominative
• يَجْرِي — present/imperfect verb
• فِي — preposition
• الْحَدِيقَةِ — genitive after في

In most everyday writing, these short vowels are left out, so learners usually see:

الطفل يجري في الحديقة

If the subject were feminine singular:

• الطفلة تجري في الحديقة

If the subject were plural and came first:

• الأطفال يجرون في الحديقة

A useful extra note: with a plural subject after the verb, standard MSA often uses a singular verb:

• يجري الأطفال في الحديقة

So word order can affect agreement patterns, especially with plural subjects.