صديقي يقارن باقتين.

The base word is صديق = friend.

The ending -ي is a attached possessive pronoun meaning my, so:

• صديق = friend
• صديقي = my friend

Arabic usually attaches these possessive pronouns directly to the noun, instead of using a separate word for my.

يقارن is a present-tense verb.

In Arabic, the present tense often covers both:

• the simple present: compares
• the present progressive: is comparing

So depending on context, يقارن can mean either one.

This verb comes from قارن = to compare.

In the present tense, Arabic verbs take prefixes that show the person.

The prefix يـ usually marks third person masculine singular, so يقارن means:

• he compares
• he is comparing

Since صديقي refers to one male friend, يقارن matches it correctly.

باقتين is the dual form of باقة.

Arabic has a special form for exactly two of something. For many feminine nouns, the dual looks like this:

• باقة = one
• باقتان = two (nominative)
• باقتين = two (accusative/genitive)

In this sentence, باقتين is the object of the verb, so the accusative dual form is used: -تين.

So this ending is doing two jobs at once:

• it shows two
• it shows the noun’s grammatical case here

Because Arabic often builds two-ness directly into the noun with the dual ending.

So instead of saying a separate word for two, Arabic can simply use the noun in its dual form:

• باقة = one
• باقتين = two

This is very normal in Arabic.

This is about case.

For dual nouns in Arabic:

• -ان / -تان = nominative
• -ين / -تين = accusative or genitive

Because باقتين is the direct object of يقارن, it is in the accusative, so -تين is used.

If it were the subject, you would expect باقتان instead.

Because the noun is indefinite here.

So باقتين means two ... in a general sense, not the two ....

Compare:

• باقتين = two ...
• الباقتين = the two ... (accusative/genitive)

So the absence of الـ tells you the noun is not definite.

Yes, both word orders are possible in Arabic.

• صديقي يقارن باقتين = My friend compares/is comparing two ...
• يقارن صديقي باقتين = also possible

Starting with صديقي puts a little more attention on my friend. Starting with the verb is also very common in Arabic.

So the sentence you have is normal; it just begins with the subject.

A careful formal pronunciation would be roughly:

ṣadīqī yuqārinu bāqatayni

If you are not yet reading full case endings, you will often hear something closer to:

ṣadīqī yuqārin bāqatayn

A few sound notes:

• ص is an emphatic s
• ق is a deep q sound, not an English k
• ي in صديقي gives the my ending

So the sentence is straightforward once you spot:

• صديقي = my friend
• يقارن = compares / is comparing
• باقتين = two ... (dual form)