يدفع الزبون السعر.

Because verb–subject–object order is very common in Modern Standard Arabic.

So يَدْفَعُ الزَّبُونُ السِّعْرَ is a normal Arabic sentence pattern:

• يَدْفَعُ = the verb
• الزَّبُونُ = the subject
• السِّعْرَ = the object

Arabic can also say:

الزَّبُونُ يَدْفَعُ السِّعْرَ

That is also correct, but it puts the subject first and can feel slightly more like The customer pays the price with extra focus on the customer.

يَدْفَعُ is the imperfect form, which in MSA usually covers:

• the present: pays
• the general/habitual: does pay / pays regularly
• sometimes the future, if the context makes that clear, though future is often marked with سَـ or سَوْفَ

In this sentence by itself, the most natural understanding is simple present.

The usual dictionary form is the past tense, 3rd person masculine singular:

دَفَعَ

From that, the imperfect is:

يَدْفَعُ

This verb comes from the root:

د ف ع

A root often carries a basic idea, and here it relates to pushing / دفعing away / paying depending on context.

Because the subject الزبون is singular masculine.

Arabic verbs agree with the subject in gender and number, but in a verb-first sentence like this, the verb is often singular when the subject comes after it.

Here that gives:

• يَدْفَعُ = he pays / pays for a masculine singular subject

If the subject were feminine singular, you would get:

• تَدْفَعُ

In fully vocalized Arabic, the sentence is:

يَدْفَعُ الزَّبُونُ السِّعْرَ

The endings show grammatical function:

• يَدْفَعُ ends in ـُ because it is an indicative imperfect verb
• الزَّبُونُ ends in ـُ because it is the subject and is in the nominative
• السِّعْرَ ends in ـَ because it is the direct object and is in the accusative

So:

• subject → usually nominative
• direct object → usually accusative

In careful MSA reading, recitation, and formal speech, yes, they may be pronounced:

يَدْفَعُ الزَّبُونُ السِّعْرَ

But in pausal pronunciation, especially at the end of an utterance, the final short vowel is often dropped in speech. So you may hear something closer to:

يَدْفَعْ الزَّبُونْ السِّعْرْ

Learners should still know the grammatical endings, even if everyday pronunciation may reduce them.

Because both are definite:

• الزبون = the customer
• السعر = the price

Without الـ, they would be indefinite:

• زَبُونٌ = a customer
• سِعْرٌ = a price

So Arabic is being specific here: not just any customer and any price, but the customer and the price.

Because ز is a sun letter.

With sun letters, the ل of الـ is not pronounced, and the following consonant is doubled.

So:

• الزبون is pronounced az-zabūn
• not al-zabūn

The same thing happens in السعر because س is also a sun letter:

• السعر is pronounced as-siʿr

In writing, الـ stays the same, but the pronunciation changes.

A careful pronunciation is:

as-siʿr

Notes:

• الـ becomes as- because س is a sun letter
• the س is doubled in pronunciation
• ع is the Arabic letter ʿayn, a sound English does not have
• the word is compact; it is not pronounced like three separate syllables in slow English style

A rough learner-friendly breakdown is:

• as
• siʿr

But the best approach is to hear it from native audio and imitate it.

Grammatically, زَبُون is usually treated as a masculine noun in this form.

If you want to refer clearly to a female customer, Arabic often uses:

• زَبُونَة

So:

• الزَّبُونُ = the male customer / customer in a masculine grammatical form
• الزَّبُونَةُ = the female customer

Because دَفَعَ can directly take an object in Arabic.

So Arabic can say:

• دفع السعر = paid the price
• دفع المال = paid the money

English sometimes uses different phrasing, but Arabic often just uses the verb directly with a direct object.

Yes. The imperfect form يَدْفَعُ often has a general or habitual meaning.

So depending on context, the sentence could describe:

• a present action
• a repeated action
• a general fact

For example, it might mean something like:

• this is what the customer does in the transaction
• the customer usually pays the price
• the customer is paying the price now

Context decides which reading is best.

Because normal Arabic writing usually leaves out most short vowels.

So you often see:

يدفع الزبون السعر

instead of the fully vowelled version:

يَدْفَعُ الزَّبُونُ السِّعْرَ

Native readers usually supply the vowels from grammar and context. For learners, adding vowels can be very helpful, especially for:

• verb forms
• case endings
• correct pronunciation

Yes.

Both of these are correct:

• يَدْفَعُ الزَّبُونُ السِّعْرَ
• الزَّبُونُ يَدْفَعُ السِّعْرَ

The core meaning stays the same, but the structure changes:

• verb first is a very common neutral narrative style
• subject first can sound more topic-oriented or emphatic

So Arabic gives you some flexibility in word order.