ينقش صديقي نقشا على البلاطة الخزفية.

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

So:

• ينقش صديقي نقشًا... = a normal verbal sentence
• صديقي ينقش نقشًا... = also correct, but it puts more focus on my friend

For an English speaker, it may feel unusual because English usually begins with the subject, but Arabic often begins with the verb.

ينقش is the imperfect (non-past) form of the verb نقش.

It means something like:

• he engraves
• he is engraving
• he carves / etches

Its root is ن-ق-ش. The prefix يـ tells you it is 3rd person masculine singular: he.

It can mean either, depending on context.

So ينقش may mean:

• he is engraving right now
• he engraves in general
• he usually engraves

Arabic imperfect verbs are broader than a simple English present tense. Context decides the best translation.

Because صديقي is:

• صديق = friend
• ـي = my

So:

• صديقي = my friend

This ـي is a attached possessive pronoun.

Normally, a singular subject in MSA is in the nominative case. But with صديقي, the possessive ending ـي hides the usual case ending.

So grammatically it is still the subject and still nominative, but the case vowel is not clearly visible in the same way it would be on a fully regular noun.

Because it is indefinite accusative singular.

That ending is called tanwīn fatḥ:

• نقشًا

It usually marks a noun that is:

• singular
• indefinite
• in the accusative case

The extra ا is mostly a spelling feature that often accompanies tanwīn fatḥ. You pronounce the ending as -an, not as a separate long ā.

Yes. Here نقشًا is the thing being made/engraved: an engraving, a design, or a pattern.

So it functions as the direct object, which is why it is in the accusative case.

Learners often notice that ينقش and نقشًا come from the same root. That is normal in Arabic. It can sound repetitive in English, but in Arabic it is perfectly natural.

Because على is a preposition, and prepositions in Arabic make the following noun genitive.

So:

• على = on / upon
• البلاطةِ = in the genitive because it comes after على
• الخزفيةِ = also genitive, because it describes البلاطة

In a fully vocalized version, you would read:

• على البلاطةِ الخزفيةِ

Because Arabic adjectives must match the noun in definiteness.

Here:

• البلاطة = the tile
• الخزفية = the ceramic

Together they mean the ceramic tile.

If the noun is definite, the adjective must also be definite.

Because it describes البلاطة, and بلاطة is a feminine singular noun.

Arabic adjectives agree with the noun they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case
• definiteness

So since البلاطة is feminine singular definite genitive, الخزفية must also be feminine singular definite genitive.

No. In الخزفية, the ل is pronounced.

That is because خ is a moon letter, not a sun letter.

So you pronounce it roughly as:

• al-khazafiyya

not:

• akh-khazafiyya

This is a common point of confusion for learners.

Yes, absolutely.

Both are grammatical:

• ينقش صديقي نقشًا على البلاطة الخزفية
• صديقي ينقش نقشًا على البلاطة الخزفية

The first is the more neutral verbal sentence style. The second gives more prominence to my friend.

It would be:

يَنْقُشُ صَدِيقِي نَقْشًا عَلَى الْبِلَاطَةِ الْخَزَفِيَّةِ

A careful transliteration would be:

yanqushu ṣadīqī naqshan ʿalā al-bilāṭati al-khazafiyyati

In everyday printed Arabic, many of these short vowels are usually omitted, but the grammar is still understood from context.