أختار الجولة الذاتية بالإضافة إلى زيارة متجر المتحف.

Yes. أختار is the imperfect verb form, which often covers both simple present and present-progressive meanings in English.

So depending on context, it can mean:

• I choose
• I am choosing

The أ- at the beginning marks first person singular: I.

The dictionary form is اختار = to choose.

Because Arabic verbs already show the subject.

In أختار, the verb itself already tells you the subject is I, so أنا is not necessary.

• أختار... = I choose...
• أنا أختار... = also I choose..., but with extra emphasis, contrast, or clarity

Arabic often leaves the subject pronoun unstated when the verb already makes it clear.

Starting with the verb is very normal in Arabic.

So:

• أختار الجولة الذاتية... = a natural, neutral way to say it
• أنا أختار الجولة الذاتية... = also correct, but more emphatic

Modern Standard Arabic often prefers verb-first wording in simple statements.

This is a noun + adjective combination:

• الجولة = the tour
• الذاتية = self-guided / self- here

Since الذاتية describes الجولة, it must match it in grammar. In Arabic, adjectives agree with the noun in:

• gender
• number
• definiteness

So because الجولة is:

• feminine
• singular
• definite (ال)

the adjective must also be:

• feminine
• singular
• definite

That is why you get الجولة الذاتية and not just الجولة ذاتي or جولة الذاتية.

Literally, الذاتية comes from ذات, which has to do with self.

In this sentence, الجولة الذاتية means the self-guided tour or the self tour, depending on how naturally you want to translate it.

A learner may notice that ذاتي can sometimes mean things like:

• personal
• subjective
• self-

But here, in a tourism context, it means self-guided.

بالإضافة إلى is a fixed expression meaning:

• in addition to
• besides
• along with

So:

• بالإضافة إلى زيارة متجر المتحف = in addition to visiting the museum shop

Literally, it is built from:

• بـ = with / by
• إضافة = adding
• إلى = to

But as a whole, you should learn it as one expression: بالإضافة إلى.

زيارة is a verbal noun (also called a maṣdar) from the verb زار = to visit.

So زيارة means:

• visiting
• a visit

In this sentence, it works like an English -ing form:

• زيارة متجر المتحف = visiting the museum shop

Arabic often uses verbal nouns this way where English might use to visit or visiting.

Because it is being used in a general/activity sense: visiting the museum shop, not necessarily the specific visit.

So:

• زيارة متجر المتحف = visiting the museum shop
• الزيارة would sound more like the visit, referring to a specific known visit

In this sentence, the indefinite form is the natural choice.

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

It is made of:

• متجر = shop/store
• المتحف = the museum

Together:

• متجر المتحف = the museum’s shop / the museum shop

Important things about iḍāfa:

1. The first noun usually does not take ال
2. The second noun determines whether the whole phrase is definite

So although متجر has no ال, the whole phrase is definite because المتحف is definite.

Good question. With a verbal noun like زيارة, Arabic often uses an iḍāfa structure instead of an ordinary verb-object structure.

So instead of something like:

• visiting the museum shop

Arabic can express it as:

• زيارةِ متجرِ المتحفِ

Here, متجر is attached to زيارة in an iḍāfa relationship, so it appears in the genitive, not the accusative.

This is a very common pattern with verbal nouns in Arabic.

A fully vocalized version would be:

أَخْتارُ الجَوْلَةَ الذّاتِيَّةَ بِالإِضافَةِ إِلى زِيارَةِ مَتْجَرِ المَتْحَفِ

Here is what is happening:

• أَخْتارُ — indicative verb, ending in -u
• الجَوْلَةَ — direct object, so accusative
• الذّاتِيَّةَ — adjective matching الجولة, so also accusative
• بِالإِضافَةِ — after the preposition بـ, so genitive
• إِلى زِيارَةِ — after إلى, so زيارة is genitive
• مَتْجَرِ — genitive as part of the iḍāfa after زيارة
• المَتْحَفِ — genitive as the second term of the iḍāfa

In careful pronunciation, it is roughly:

• adh-dhātiyya

The reason is that ذ is a sun letter, so the ل of ال is not pronounced clearly before it.

So:

• الذاتية is pronounced more like
• adh-dhātiyya

This kind of assimilation is very common in Arabic with sun letters.