يتوقع صديقي تأخر القطار.

Because Arabic very often uses verb–subject–object order, especially in straightforward statements.

So:

• يتوقع = expects
• صديقي = my friend
• تأخر القطار = the train’s delay / the train being late

A very natural Arabic word order is:

• يتوقع صديقي تأخر القطار
• literally: expects my friend the train’s delay

You could also say صديقي يتوقع تأخر القطار, and that is also correct. Starting with the verb is just very common in MSA.

صديق means friend.

When you add ـي, it becomes صديقي = my friend.

This ـي is a possessive suffix meaning my.

Compare:

• صديق = a friend / friend
• صديقي = my friend
• صديقك = your friend
• صديقه = his friend

So the ـي here is not part of the basic noun; it shows possession.

Arabic often expresses ideas more compactly than English.

In English, we might say:

• My friend expects the train to be delayed
• My friend expects that the train will be late

In Arabic, this sentence uses a verbal noun instead:

• تأخر القطار = the delay of the train / the train’s being late

So instead of saying something like expects that the train will be late, Arabic says expects the train’s delay.

That is a very normal MSA style.

Here, تأخر is a verbal noun (called maṣdar in Arabic grammar), not a finite verb.

It comes from the verb:

• تأخر = to be late / to be delayed

As a verbal noun, it means:

• delay
• being late
• lateness

So in this sentence, تأخر القطار means:

• the train’s delay
• or more naturally in English, the train being delayed / the train being late

Because تأخر القطار is a kind of noun phrase meaning the delay of the train.

In Arabic, this is an iḍāfa construction, often translated as X of Y.

So:

• تأخر = delay
• القطار = the train

Together:

• تأخر القطار = the delay of the train

This is why القطار comes after تأخر.

In an iḍāfa construction, the first noun usually does not take الـ, while the second noun can.

So:

• تأخر القطار = the train’s delay

Here:

• تأخر is the first part of the iḍāfa
• القطار is the second part

The definiteness of the whole phrase is determined by the second noun. Since القطار is definite (the train), the whole phrase is definite.

That is why تأخر القطار means the train’s delay, not just a train’s delay.

A careful full pronunciation would be:

yatawaqqaʿu ṣadīqī taʾakhkhura al-qiṭāri

More fully with case endings:

• يتوقعُ = yatawaqqaʿu
• صديقي = ṣadīqī
• تأخرَ = taʾakhkhura
• القطارِ = al-qiṭāri

In normal unvowelled writing, those endings are usually not shown.

Because يتوقع means expects, and it needs something that is expected.

In this sentence, the thing being expected is:

• تأخر القطار = the train’s delay

So the structure is:

• يتوقع = expects
• صديقي = my friend
• تأخر القطار = the delay of the train

In other words:

• My friend expects [the train’s delay].

Yes. In fully inflected MSA, the sentence would have case endings, but they are normally omitted in everyday writing.

The full grammatical form is:

يتوقعُ صديقي تأخرَ القطارِ

Here:

• يتوقعُ ends in ـُ because it is a present-tense verb in normal indicative form
• صديقي is the subject
• تأخرَ is in the accusative because it is the object of يتوقع
• القطارِ is in the genitive because it is the second part of the iḍāfa

So even if you do not see the endings, they are still part of the grammar.

Yes, absolutely.

That version means:

• My friend expects that the train will be late

It uses:

• أن = that / to
• يتأخر = be late

So you have two common ways to express the idea:

1. يتوقع صديقي تأخر القطار

   • more nominal, compact, formal
   • literally: My friend expects the train’s delay

2. يتوقع صديقي أن يتأخر القطار

   • more clause-based
   • literally: My friend expects that the train will be late

Both are correct.

Both relate to delay, but they are not used in exactly the same way.

• تأخر often means being late or lateness
• تأخير often means causing delay, postponement, or a delaying

In this sentence, تأخر القطار fits well because the idea is that the train itself will be late.

So:

• تأخر القطار = the train’s being late
• تأخير القطار could suggest the delaying of the train, depending on context

That is why تأخر is a natural choice here.

It mainly means to expect, but depending on context it can also feel like:

• to anticipate
• to predict
• to suppose / think likely

So in different sentences, يتوقع can range from a personal expectation to a more neutral prediction.

In this sentence, the most natural translation is simply:

• My friend expects the train to be delayed.

You know from both meaning and sentence structure.

After the verb يتوقع (expects), the noun صديقي makes sense as the one doing the expecting:

• my friend expects ...

Then what follows, تأخر القطار, is the thing expected.

If you added full case endings, the grammar would be even clearer:

• صديقي = subject
• تأخرَ = object

So the meaning and grammar both point to صديقي as the subject.

Yes, it sounds like standard written or formal spoken Arabic.

Two reasons:

• It uses يتوقع, a common MSA verb
• It uses the verbal noun structure تأخر القطار, which is especially common in formal Arabic

In everyday speech, many speakers might use a more conversational wording, often closer to:

• My friend thinks the train will be late

But for MSA, this sentence is perfectly natural and good to learn.