انتهت الوردية. مع ذلك يزرع صديقي شتلة.

Because the subject الوردية is grammatically feminine.

• انتهى = it ended / he ended
• انتهت = it ended with a feminine subject

Since الوردية has the feminine ending ـة and is treated as feminine, the past-tense verb agrees with it:

• انتهت الوردية = The shift ended

This is very common in Arabic: past verbs show gender agreement.

This is a very common Arabic word order: verb + subject.

So:

• انتهت الوردية literally follows ended the shift
• natural English translation: The shift ended

Arabic often prefers verb-first order, especially in formal written language like Modern Standard Arabic.

You could also see a subject-first version:

• الوردية انتهت

That is also possible, but the original verb-first order is very normal and natural.

الوردية means the shift, usually a work shift.

For example, it can refer to:

• a hospital shift
• a factory shift
• a security shift
• any scheduled period of work

The الـ at the beginning is the definite article, meaning the.

So:

• وردية = a shift
• الوردية = the shift

مع ذلك means however, nevertheless, or even so.

Literally, it is something like with that:

• مع = with
• ذلك = that

But as a phrase, it functions like a connector between two ideas:

• انتهت الوردية. مع ذلك يزرع صديقي شتلة.
• The shift ended. Nevertheless, my friend is planting a seedling.

So this phrase signals contrast: something happened, but despite that, something else is still true.

In this expression, ذلك means that, referring back to the previous statement.

So مع ذلك is an idiomatic phrase meaning:

• despite that
• with that being the case
• nevertheless

You do not need to interpret it word-by-word every time. It is best learned as a fixed expression.

Because Arabic can shift tense just like English can.

• انتهت الوردية = The shift ended (past)
• يزرع صديقي شتلة = My friend is planting a seedling / plants a seedling (present)

This can suggest that after the shift ended, the current or ongoing action is that the friend is planting.

The imperfect verb يزرع can mean:

• he plants
• he is planting
• sometimes he will plant, depending on context

Here, the most natural reading is a present action: my friend is planting a seedling.

If the sentence wanted a simple past action, it would more likely use:

• زرع صديقي شتلة = My friend planted a seedling

Both are possible.

The sentence uses verb-first order:

• يزرع صديقي شتلة

A more subject-first version would be:

• صديقي يزرع شتلة

Both can mean My friend is planting a seedling.

The difference is mostly about style and emphasis:

• يزرع صديقي شتلة = more neutral/formal/written-feeling
• صديقي يزرع شتلة = puts a bit more focus on my friend

Modern Standard Arabic often likes verb-first order, especially in straightforward narration.

صديقي means my friend.

It is made of:

• صديق = friend
• ـي = my

So:

• صديق = friend
• صديقي = my friend

This ـي is a possessive suffix attached directly to the noun.

A useful comparison:

• صديق = a friend
• الصديق = the friend
• صديقي = my friend

When a noun takes a possessive suffix like ـي, you do not use الـ with it.

There are two reasons you may notice an i sound here.

First, the attached suffix ـي itself means my.

Second, in full grammatical analysis, صديقي is the subject of the verb يزرع, so it is nominative. But because it ends with the possessive suffix ـي, the form stays صديقي.

In other words, the visible ending here is mainly because of the possessive suffix, not because Arabic is marking it the way it would mark a regular noun without a suffix.

شتلة means a seedling or a young plant for planting.

It is indefinite because the sentence is talking about one seedling, not a specific previously known one.

So:

• شتلة = a seedling
• الشتلة = the seedling

Since it is the direct object of يزرع, in fully vowelled Arabic it would be accusative:

• شتلةً

But in normal unvowelled writing, the final case ending is usually not shown, so you just see:

• شتلة

Yes, شتلة is grammatically feminine because it ends in ـة.

However, in this sentence that does not affect the verb يزرع, because شتلة is the object, not the subject.

The verb agrees with the subject صديقي:

• يزرع = he plants / is planting

If the seedling were the subject of a verb, then its feminine gender could matter for agreement.

Arabic handles definiteness differently from English.

• الـ means the
• there is no separate word for a/an

Examples from the sentence:

• الوردية = the shift
• شتلة = a seedling

So Arabic marks the, but usually leaves a/an unmarked.

That means an indefinite noun often appears as just the basic noun form.

A careful pronunciation would be:

• intahat al-wardiyyatu. maʿa dhalika yazraʿu ṣadīqī shatlatan.

In normal reading without full case endings, you might hear something closer to:

• intahat al-wardiyya. maʿa dhalika yazraʿ ṣadīqī shatla.

A simpler learner-friendly approximation is:

• in-ta-hat al-war-diy-ya. ma-a dha-li-ka yaz-ra-u sa-dii-qii shat-la.

Some sounds to notice:

• ع in مع and يزرع is a special Arabic consonant with no exact English equivalent
• ذ in ذلك sounds like th in this
• ص in صديقي is an emphatic s

Yes. Depending on tone and style, Arabic has several contrast expressions, for example:

• لكن = but
• ولكن = however / but
• رغم ذلك = despite that
• مع ذلك = nevertheless / even so

These are not always perfectly identical, but they often overlap.

In this sentence, مع ذلك gives a nice formal sense of contrast, similar to nevertheless.

The dictionary forms are:

• انتهى = to end / to be finished
• زرع = to plant

From these, the sentence uses:

• انتهت = feminine past form of انتهى
• يزرع = imperfect form of زرع

So this sentence gives you one past-tense verb and one imperfect verb from two different roots.