أقول وداعا.

A careful pronunciation is aqūlu wadāʿan.

A quick breakdown:

• أقول = a-qū-lu
• وداعًا = wa-dā-ʿan

A few sounds that matter:

• ق in أقول is q, a deeper sound than English k
• و can sound like w or a long ū depending on position
• ع in وداعًا is the letter ʿayn, a sound English does not have
• The final -an is the indefinite accusative ending in careful MSA pronunciation

In normal unvoweled writing, you will often see أقول وداعا without the short-vowel marks.

أقول is the verb I say or I am saying.

It comes from the root ق و ل, which is connected with speaking or saying.

Its dictionary form is قال = he said.
From that, the present/imperfect form أقول means:

• I say
• I am saying
• sometimes I will say, depending on context

So in this sentence, أقول is the first-person singular verb.

Because Arabic verbs already show the subject.

In أقول, the prefix أـ tells you the subject is I. So أنا is not necessary.

• أقول وداعًا = I say goodbye
• أنا أقول وداعًا = also I say goodbye, but أنا adds emphasis, contrast, or clarity

This is very common in Arabic. Subject pronouns are often omitted unless they are needed for emphasis.

In fully vocalized MSA, it is وداعًا.

That final -an is called tanwīn fatḥ. Here it shows that the word is indefinite and in the accusative case.

In this sentence, وداعًا functions like the thing being said, so it is treated as a direct object or object-like verbal noun.

You can think of the structure as:

• أقول = I say
• وداعًا = farewell / goodbye

So literally, it is something like I say a farewell.

In everyday writing, the ending is usually not written with full vowel marks, so you often see وداعا.

وداع is a noun, specifically a verbal noun or maṣdar, meaning farewell, leave-taking, or goodbye.

In this sentence, it is being used in a very natural Arabic way after أقول:

• أقول وداعًا = I say goodbye

So even though English uses goodbye almost like a fixed expression, Arabic here uses a noun meaning farewell.

Also, وداعًا can be used by itself as an expression:

• وداعًا = Goodbye / Farewell

Yes, it is grammatical and understandable in MSA.

However, it sounds more formal, literary, or written than many everyday farewells.

Common possibilities include:

• وداعًا = Goodbye / Farewell
• إلى اللقاء = See you
• أقول وداعًا = I say goodbye / I bid farewell

So أقول وداعًا is perfectly good Arabic, but it is not the most casual way to say goodbye in everyday conversation.

Without الـ, وداعًا means something like farewell in an indefinite, expression-like sense.

That works well after أقول, because the meaning is general:

• أقول وداعًا = I say goodbye / I bid farewell

If you say الوداع, you are making it definite:

• الوداع = the farewell / the goodbye

That would usually be used in a more specific context, not as the normal expression here.

So in this sentence, the indefinite form وداعًا is the expected choice.

The basic order here is:

• verb + object

So:

• أقول = verb
• وداعًا = object-like noun

This is completely normal in Arabic.

You could also add the pronoun for emphasis:

• أنا أقول وداعًا

And in very literary or poetic language, you might see different word order for style, but أقول وداعًا is the straightforward version.

The fully vowelled form is:

أقولُ وداعًا

Why those endings?

• أقولُ ends in -u because it is the present/imperfect verb in the indicative mood
• وداعًا ends in -an because it is indefinite accusative

In most ordinary Arabic writing, these short vowels are omitted, so you usually see:

أقول وداعا

Both represent the same sentence.

Yes.

A learner may also come across verbs such as:

• أودّع = I bid farewell / I say goodbye
• أقول لك وداعًا = I say goodbye to you
• أقول لهم وداعًا = I say goodbye to them

So أقول وداعًا is one correct way to express the idea, but Arabic has other natural patterns too.

For learning purposes, this sentence is useful because it clearly shows:

• a first-person verb
• an omitted subject pronoun
• a noun in the accusative used as the thing being said