يرفع صديقي الأثقال ويتعرق في الصالة الرياضية.

Because verb-first order is very common in Modern Standard Arabic.

So يرفع صديقي الأثقال is a normal Arabic pattern:

• يرفع = he lifts
• صديقي = my friend
• الأثقال = the weights

This is called VSO order: Verb – Subject – Object.

Arabic can also use SVO order:

• صديقي يرفع الأثقال

That also means My friend lifts weights, but the original sentence uses the very common verb-first style.

صديقي means my friend.

It is made of:

• صديق = friend
• ـي = my

So the ـي is a possessive suffix meaning my.

This suffix attaches directly to the noun:

• كتاب = book
• كتابي = my book

So:

• صديق = friend
• صديقي = my friend

In Arabic, when the verb comes before the subject, it is usually kept in the singular form, even if the subject is plural.

In your sentence, the subject is singular anyway:

• صديقي = my friend

So يرفع is 3rd person masculine singular, which matches he lifts.

If the subject were feminine, you would change the verb:

• ترفع صديقتي الأثقال = my female friend lifts weights

يتعرق means he sweats or he is sweating, depending on context.

It comes from the verb تعرّق = to sweat.

In the present tense:

• يتعرق = he sweats
• أتعرق = I sweat
• تتعرق = she sweats / you sweat
• نتعرق = we sweat

So in this sentence, ويتعرق means and he sweats.

The و means and.

In Arabic, some short words are written attached to the following word, and و is one of them. So:

• و + يتعرق = ويتعرق

This is completely normal in Arabic spelling.

So:

• يرفع صديقي الأثقال ويتعرق... means
• My friend lifts weights and sweats...

Yes, الأثقال literally means the weights:

• أثقال = weights
• الأثقال = the weights

But in Arabic, the definite article is often used where English might use a more general expression.

So يرفع الأثقال is the standard way to say lift weights or do weightlifting.

Even though it literally looks like the weights, the natural English translation is often just lifts weights.

في means in.

So:

• في الصالة الرياضية = in the gym

It is a very common preposition in Arabic:

• في البيت = in the house
• في المدرسة = in the school
• في العمل = at work / in work context

Here it tells you where the sweating happens:

• ويتعرق في الصالة الرياضية = and sweats in the gym

Because الصالة الرياضية is a standard Modern Standard Arabic expression for gym or sports hall.

Literally:

• الصالة = the hall
• الرياضية = the athletic / sports-related

Together:

• الصالة الرياضية = the sports hall / gym

This is a very normal MSA phrase. In everyday speech, some people may also use borrowed words like جيم, but الصالة الرياضية is more standard in formal Arabic.

Because it describes الصالة, and صالة is a feminine noun.

In Arabic, adjectives must match the noun they describe in:

• gender
• number
• definiteness

So:

• الصالة = feminine singular definite
• الرياضية must also be feminine singular definite

That is why you get:

• الصالة الرياضية

If the noun were masculine, the adjective would also be masculine.

It can mean either, depending on context.

The present tense in Arabic often covers both:

• habitual/general action: My friend lifts weights and sweats in the gym
• action happening now: My friend is lifting weights and sweating in the gym

Without extra context, many learners should understand it as a simple present statement about what the friend does.

If Arabic wants to make right now clearer, it often adds context words such as:

• الآن = now

In normal Arabic writing, short vowel case endings are usually not written, but they still exist grammatically.

A fully vocalized version would look like this:

• يَرْفَعُ صَديقي الأَثْقالَ وَيَتَعَرَّقُ في الصّالَةِ الرِّياضِيَّةِ

Very roughly:

• يرفعُ = verb, with u
• صديقي = the subject
• الأثقالَ = direct object, so it takes the accusative
• في الصالةِ الرياضيةِ = after a preposition, these are in the genitive

But at an early stage, it is completely fine to focus first on the basic sentence structure and meaning.

Yes. That is also correct.

Compare:

• يرفع صديقي الأثقال... = verb first
• صديقي يرفع الأثقال... = subject first

Both are grammatical. The difference is mainly one of style and emphasis:

• verb-first is very common in formal Arabic
• subject-first can feel a bit more direct or slightly more emphatic on my friend

So both are useful to know.

A common difficulty is the letter ث, which sounds like th in think.

So الأثقال is approximately:

• al-athqaal

A rough breakdown:

• ال = al-
• أث = ath
• قال = qaal

Also note:

• ق is a deep q sound, not an English k
• the long ا gives a stretched vowel: qaal

So the word is not pronounced like a simple English-style asqal; try to keep the th and the deeper q.