تتحرك السيارة الآن.

A common pronunciation is:

tataḥarraku as-sayyāratu al-ʾāna

With full vowels, it is:

تَتَحَرَّكُ السَّيَّارَةُ الآنَ

A few pronunciation notes:

• تتحرك = ta-ta-ḥar-ra-ku
• ḥ is a stronger, breathier h sound than in English
• السّيارة is pronounced as-sayyārah, not al-sayyārah, because of sound assimilation
• الآن begins with a hamza: al-ʾān

Here is the breakdown:

• تتحرك — is moving / moves
• السيارة — the car
• الآن — now

So the structure is:

• verb
  • subject
    • time expression

This is a very normal Arabic sentence pattern.

Because Arabic commonly uses a verbal sentence structure, especially in Modern Standard Arabic.

So instead of starting with the car, Arabic often starts with the action:

• تتحرك السيارة الآن
• literally: is moving the car now

In natural English, of course, you would say The car is moving now.

Arabic can also put the subject first:

• السيارة تتحرك الآن

That version is also correct, but تتحرك السيارة الآن is a very standard verbal-sentence order.

Because السيارة (the car) is grammatically feminine in Arabic.

In the present tense:

• يتحرك = he moves / it moves for a masculine subject
• تتحرك = she moves / it moves for a feminine subject

Since سيارة is feminine, the verb must agree with it:

• تتحرك السيارة
• not يتحرك السيارة

This is grammatical gender, not biological gender. Many non-human nouns in Arabic are simply assigned masculine or feminine.

It can mean either, depending on context.

In Modern Standard Arabic, the present tense often covers both:

• moves
• is moving
• sometimes even does move

So:

• تتحرك السيارة الآن most naturally means The car is moving now
• without الآن, it could also mean The car moves

The word الآن helps make the ongoing right now meaning very clear.

Because Arabic does not usually use a present-tense verb equivalent to English is in sentences like this.

In this sentence, though, the main point is even simpler: the sentence already has a real verb:

• تتحرك = moves / is moving

So Arabic does not need another word for is.

English says:

• The car is moving

Arabic just says:

• تتحرك السيارة

The tense is built into the verb itself.

Because س is a sun letter.

When ال (the) comes before a sun letter, the l sound of al- is not pronounced. Instead, the next consonant is doubled.

So:

• السيارة
• written with ال
• pronounced as-sayyārah

You can hear this doubling in the ss sound.

This is why the word is written with a shadda on س in fully vowelled text:

• السَّيَّارَة

Other sun letters include ت، ث، د، ذ، ر، ز، س، ش، ص، ض، ط، ظ، ل، ن.

The root is:

• ح ر ك

This root is connected with movement or motion.

The verb here is from Form V:

• base idea: to move
• تتحرك = it moves / it is moving for a feminine singular subject

You do not need to master the form system immediately, but it helps to know that Arabic words are often built from a 3-letter root plus a pattern.

Because it is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case.

With full endings:

• تَتَحَرَّكُ السَّيَّارَةُ الآنَ

Here:

• تتحركُ ends in -u because the present tense is indicative here
• السيارةُ ends in -u because it is the subject
• الآنَ ends in -a, which is the usual form of this adverb

In everyday writing, these short vowel endings are usually not written, so learners often just see:

• تتحرك السيارة الآن

Yes. That is also correct.

Compare:

• تتحرك السيارة الآن — verb first
• السيارة تتحرك الآن — subject first

Both mean essentially the same thing: The car is moving now.

Very roughly:

• verb-first often feels more classically Arabic and very standard in MSA
• subject-first can feel a bit more straightforward or slightly more topic-focused: The car, it is moving now

Both are useful and common.

Yes, الآن can move around.

All of these are possible:

• تتحرك السيارة الآن
• الآن تتحرك السيارة
• السيارة تتحرك الآن

The position can slightly affect emphasis, but the meaning stays basically the same.

Putting الآن at the end is very natural and neutral:

• The car is moving now

Putting الآن first emphasizes the time:

• Now the car is moving

Yes, سيارة is treated as a feminine noun in Modern Standard Arabic.

You can often recognize many feminine nouns by the ending ـة (taaʾ marbuuṭa), as in:

• سيارة
• مدرسة
• مدينة

Because سيارة is feminine, adjectives and verbs referring to it also use feminine forms when appropriate.

That is why you get:

• تتحرك السيارة
• not يتحرك السيارة

It would be:

تَتَحَرَّكُ السَّيَّارَةُ الآنَ

Word by word:

• تَتَحَرَّكُ — present tense verb, feminine singular
• السَّيَّارَةُ — subject, nominative
• الآنَ — adverb of time

In normal Arabic texts, these short vowels are usually omitted:

تتحرك السيارة الآن

So learners should get used to seeing the unvowelled form, even though the fully vowelled version is helpful for study.