أنتظر ست دقائق.

أنتظر is the verb I wait / I am waiting.

It is in the present/imperfect form, first person singular. In Arabic, this form can cover several English ideas depending on context, such as:

• I wait
• I am waiting
• sometimes even a near future idea

If you want to make the future very clear, you would usually say:

• سأنتظر ست دقائق = I will wait six minutes

Because Arabic verbs usually already include the subject.

So أنتظر by itself already means I wait. You do not need to add أنا unless you want emphasis or contrast.

Compare:

• أنتظر ست دقائق. = I wait / I am waiting six minutes.
• أنا أنتظر ست دقائق. = I am waiting six minutes (with extra emphasis on I)

This sentence is a statement, not a command.

• أنتظر = I wait / I am waiting
• انتظر = Wait! (command to one male)

That small initial أ matters. English speakers often confuse these at first because the words look very similar.

So:

• أنتظر ست دقائق. = I wait six minutes.
• انتظر ست دقائق. = Wait six minutes!

This is because numbers 3–10 in Arabic usually show gender polarity: the number takes the opposite gender of the noun being counted.

The noun دقيقة (minute) is feminine, so the number uses the masculine form:

• ست دقائق = six minutes

If the noun were masculine, you would use ستة instead:

• ستة كتب = six books

This is a very common Arabic pattern, even though it feels strange to English speakers at first.

After the numbers 3–10, the counted noun is normally plural in Arabic.

So:

• دقيقة واحدة = one minute
• دقيقتان / دقيقتين = two minutes
• ست دقائق = six minutes

So دقائق is exactly what you expect after ست.

Also, دقائق is the broken plural of دقيقة.

In Arabic, a duration of time can often be expressed directly, without a separate word meaning for.

So:

• أنتظر ست دقائق literally gives the idea I wait six minutes
• in natural English, that is often translated as I wait for six minutes or I am waiting for six minutes

If you want a more explicit version in Arabic, you could say:

• أنتظر لمدة ست دقائق = I wait for a period of six minutes

But the shorter sentence أنتظر ست دقائق is normal and correct.

Yes.

Both are possible:

• أنتظر ست دقائق
• أنا أنتظر ست دقائق

The version without أنا is very normal, because the verb already tells you the subject is I.

Adding أنا usually gives:

• emphasis
• contrast
• clarity in conversation

For example:

• أنا أنتظر ست دقائق، وهو ينتظر عشر دقائق. = I am waiting six minutes, and he is waiting ten minutes.

Yes, to a degree.

Arabic often allows more than one word order. Since the subject I is already built into أنتظر, the short form is very natural:

• أنتظر ست دقائق

You can also add the pronoun first:

• أنا أنتظر ست دقائق

That sounds more explicit or emphatic. For a learner, the first version is the simplest and most standard here.

A fully vocalized version would be:

• أَنْتَظِرُ سِتَّ دَقَائِقَ

A few things are happening here:

1. أنتظرُ has the normal present-tense ending.
2. ستَّ is in the accusative here because the whole number phrase functions as the object/duration.
3. دقائقَ is the counted noun after a number from 3–10, so grammatically it is treated as genitive.

The reason it still shows fatḥa instead of the ending some learners expect is that دقائق is a special kind of broken plural called a diptote. In normal unvoweled writing, you do not need to worry about this, because it is just written:

• دقائق

Many learners do not need this point right away, but it explains why the ending may look unusual in fully vocalized Arabic.