لم يقرأ فريق المتطوعين قائمة المهام.

لم is a negative particle used to negate a verb in the past.

So:

• يقرأ by itself = he reads / he is reading
• لم يقرأ = he did not read

In Modern Standard Arabic, لم is commonly followed by the present/imperfect verb form, but the meaning becomes past negative.

So in this sentence, لم يقرأ means did not read.

That is a very common Arabic pattern.

After لم, Arabic uses the imperfect/present-form verb, but the whole expression refers to the past:

• يقرأ = he reads / is reading
• لم يقرأ = he did not read

So even though the verb looks like a present-tense form, لم changes both its meaning and its grammar.

Because the subject here is actually فريق (team), which is singular.

The phrase فريق المتطوعين means:

• فريق = team
• المتطوعين = of the volunteers

So the true grammatical subject is team, not volunteers.

That is why the verb is singular masculine:

• يقرأ = he/it reads

A natural English translation is The volunteer team did not read the task list.

This is an iḍāfa construction, often called a genitive construction or noun annexation.

فريق المتطوعين literally means:

• team of the volunteers

In smoother English, this can be:

• the volunteers’ team
• the volunteer team

In an iḍāfa:

1. the first noun is the main thing: فريق
2. the second noun tells what it is connected to: المتطوعين

So المتطوعين is not the subject by itself; it depends on فريق.

Because المتطوعين is in the genitive case, since it is the second noun in an iḍāfa.

The word متطوعون is a sound masculine plural. Its endings change by case:

• متطوعون = nominative
• متطوعين = accusative or genitive

Here it is genitive because it follows فريق in the iḍāfa:

• فريقُ المتطوعينِ = the team of the volunteers

So -ين is exactly what we expect.

قائمة المهام is the direct object of the verb.

The sentence structure is:

• لم يقرأ = did not read
• فريق المتطوعين = the volunteer team
• قائمة المهام = the task list / list of tasks

So the team did not read what?
Answer: قائمة المهام

This phrase is also an iḍāfa:

• قائمة = list
• المهام = of the tasks

So قائمة المهام literally means list of the tasks, or more naturally the task list.

Because the sentence is talking about one list that contains many tasks.

So:

• قائمة = one list
• المهام = the tasks

This is completely normal in both Arabic and English:

• task list
• list of tasks

If there were several lists, Arabic could use the plural قوائم instead.

المهام is plural.

Its singular is usually مهمة, meaning task or mission.

So:

• مهمة = a task
• المهام = the tasks

In the phrase قائمة المهام, the second noun is plural because the list contains multiple tasks.

A fully vowelled version would be:

لَمْ يَقْرَأْ فَرِيقُ الْمُتَطَوِّعِينَ قَائِمَةَ الْمَهَامِّ

Here is why:

• لَمْ: sukoon on م
• يَقْرَأْ: jussive after لم
• فَرِيقُ: nominative, because it is the subject
• الْمُتَطَوِّعِينَ: genitive, because it is the second part of iḍāfa
• قَائِمَةَ: accusative, because it is the direct object
• الْمَهَامِّ: genitive, because it is the second part of iḍāfa

In normal unvowelled writing, these endings are usually not written.

After لم, the imperfect verb goes into the jussive mood.

For يقرأ, that means the final vowel is removed:

• indicative: يقرأُ
• jussive after لم: يقرأْ

In normal Arabic text without full vowel marks, you usually will not see much difference in spelling, but grammatically the change is important.

So لم does two things:

1. negates the verb
2. puts it in the jussive

Actually, both phrases are still definite, even without ال on the first noun.

This is because of the iḍāfa construction.

In Arabic, if the second noun in an iḍāfa is definite, the whole phrase becomes definite.

So:

• فريق المتطوعين = the team of the volunteers / the volunteer team
• قائمة المهام = the list of the tasks / the task list

The first noun in an iḍāfa usually does not take ال, even when the whole phrase is definite.

Yes. Literally, it is team of the volunteers.

Depending on context, good English translations include:

• the volunteer team
• the team of volunteers
• the volunteers’ team

Usually the volunteer team or the team of volunteers sounds most natural.

Yes. This is a very normal Arabic word order:

• verb + subject + object

So:

• لم يقرأ = verb phrase
• فريق المتطوعين = subject
• قائمة المهام = object

Arabic also allows other word orders in some contexts, but this one is very common and neutral.

If the subject were directly the volunteers, the grammar would change because the subject would be a plural human noun.

You could say:

لم يقرأ المتطوعون قائمة المهام

This means The volunteers did not read the task list.

Notice:

• subject = المتطوعون
• verb still often appears in singular masculine in verb-first order: لم يقرأ
• if the subject came before the verb, then full agreement would normally appear:
  المتطوعون لم يقرؤوا قائمة المهام

So the original sentence is different because the subject is not the volunteers but the team.

It is pronounced roughly yaqraʾ.

Important points:

• يَـ = ya
• قْ = a q sound, deeper/farther back than English k
• رَ = ra
• final ء = a hamza, a glottal stop, like the break in uh-oh

After لم, the fully vowelled form is يَقْرَأْ.

So the end is not a long vowel; it ends with the hamza sound.