Breakdown of مطفأة الحريق منتهية الصلاحية.
مطفأة حريقmitfa'atu hariiq
a fire extinguisher
منتهي الصلاحيةmuntahi as-salâhiyya
expired
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Questions & Answers about مطفأة الحريق منتهية الصلاحية.
Why is there no separate word for is in this sentence?
Because Arabic usually leaves out the present-tense verb to be. So مطفأة الحريق منتهية الصلاحية is a normal present-tense nominal sentence.
A very literal breakdown is:
- مطفأة الحريق = the fire extinguisher
- منتهية الصلاحية = expired / past its valid period
So the full meaning is simply The fire extinguisher is expired or more naturally The fire extinguisher has expired.
What is مطفأة الحريق grammatically?
It is an iḍāfa construction, often called a construct phrase.
That means two nouns are put together:
- مطفأة = extinguisher
- الحريق = the fire
Literally, it is extinguisher of the fire, but in natural English we say fire extinguisher.
This noun+noun structure is very common in Arabic.
Why doesn’t مطفأة have الـ?