أنتظر بضع دقائق.

Because Arabic usually does not need a separate subject pronoun when the verb already shows who is doing the action.

أنتظر is the I form, so أنا is optional.

• أنتظر بضع دقائق. = I wait / I am waiting for a few minutes.
• أنا أنتظر بضع دقائق. = I am waiting for a few minutes. (more emphatic)

أنتظر is the 1st person singular imperfect form of the verb انتظر.

In MSA, the imperfect can mean different things depending on context, such as:

• I wait
• I am waiting
• sometimes I will wait

So the exact English tense depends on the situation, not just the verb form by itself.

That small spelling difference matters.

• أنتظر = I wait / I am waiting
• انتظر = usually Wait! (command to one male), when fully vocalized as اِنتَظِرْ

So the hamza in أنتظر helps show that this is the I form, not the imperative.

بضع means a few.

It often suggests a small number, traditionally around three to nine, though in normal translation it is usually just rendered as a few.

So بضع دقائق means a few minutes.

Because دقيقة is a feminine noun in Arabic, and بضع behaves like the numbers 3–10, which usually show gender polarity.

That means the number-like word takes the opposite gender form from the noun it counts.

• دقيقة is feminine
• so the form used is بضع

Compare:

• بضع دقائق = a few minutes
• بضعة أيام = a few days

Here أيام is based on يوم, which is masculine, so بضعة is used.

The singular is دقيقة, meaning minute.

After بضع, Arabic normally uses the plural noun:

• دقيقة = minute
• دقائق = minutes

So بضع دقائق is the normal pattern for a few minutes.

Because Arabic often expresses duration of time without a separate preposition.

So Arabic can say:

• أنتظر بضع دقائق

where English usually says:

• I wait for a few minutes
• I am waiting for a few minutes

This is a very common difference between Arabic and English.

A careful full pronunciation is:

ʾantaẓiru biḍʿa daqāʾiqa

A few pronunciation notes:

• أنتظر = ʾan-ta-ẓi-ru
• بضع = biḍ-ʿa
• دقائق = da-qā-ʾi-q

The word بضع can feel awkward at first because of the consonant cluster.

Fully vocalized, it is:

أنتظرُ بضعَ دقائقَ

Briefly:

• أنتظرُ: imperfect indicative
• بضعَ: accusative here, because it expresses duration
• دقائقَ: the second part of an iḍāfa construction after بضع

A more advanced point: دقائق is a type of plural that is often treated as diptote, so in the indefinite genitive it appears with fatḥa instead of kasra. Learners do not need to master that immediately, but that is why the ending looks the way it does.