يقصر الخياط الكم، في حين أنه يطيل الحاشية.

The tailor shortens the sleeve, whereas he lengthens the hem.

Breakdown of يقصر الخياط الكم، في حين أنه يطيل الحاشية.

• في حين أن ...: whereas; while
• خياط: a tailor
• حاشية: a hem

Questions & Answers about يقصر الخياط الكم، في حين أنه يطيل الحاشية.

Why does the sentence begin with يقصر instead of starting with الخياط?

This is a very common Arabic sentence pattern: verb + subject + object.

So:

• يقصر = shortens
• الخياط = the tailor
• الكم = the sleeve

Together: يقصر الخياط الكم = The tailor shortens the sleeve.

Arabic can also say:

• الخياط يقصر الكم

That is also correct, but it feels more like The tailor shortens the sleeve with a little more focus on the tailor as the topic. The version in your sentence is a very normal verbal sentence in MSA.

How should يقصر be understood here? Does it mean is short or shortens?

Here it means shortens.

Without vowel marks, يقصر can be ambiguous. It could represent different pronunciations and meanings. In this sentence, because it takes a direct object (الكم), it is understood as:

• يُقَصِّرُ = he shortens

This is from Form II, which often gives a causative or intensive sense.

By contrast, يَقْصُرُ can mean is short or falls short, which would not fit this sentence well.

So the fully vowelled reading here is:

• يُقَصِّرُ الخَيَّاطُ الكُمَّ