يخيط الخياط الملابس، في حين أن الزبون يجربها فقط.

Arabic often uses a verb-first word order, especially in Modern Standard Arabic. So:

• يخيط الخياط الملابس
• literally: Sews the tailor the clothes
• natural English meaning: The tailor sews the clothes

This is a normal verbal sentence in Arabic. You could also say:

• الخياط يخيط الملابس

That would be more like The tailor sews the clothes, with extra focus on the tailor as the topic.

الخياط means the tailor.

It comes from the root connected with sewing, and in this sentence it refers to a specific type of person: the tailor. The prefix الـ is the Arabic definite article, meaning the.

So:

• خياط = a tailor
• الخياط = the tailor

The verb يخيط means he sews.

It is:

• 3rd person
• masculine
• singular
• present/imperfect tense

It matches الخياط, which is grammatically singular and masculine.

In Arabic, when the verb comes before the subject, the verb is commonly kept in the singular form, even if the subject is plural. But here the subject is singular anyway, so يخيط is exactly what we expect.

الملابس means the clothes.

It is a plural noun. Its singular is usually مَلْبَس in form, but in actual everyday usage learners usually just encounter ملابس as the common word for clothes/clothing.

In this sentence, الملابس is the object of يخيط:

• يخيط الخياط الملابس
• The tailor sews the clothes

في حين أن means something like:

• while
• whereas
• while it is the case that

It introduces a contrast between the first part and the second part of the sentence.

So here:

• يخيط الخياط الملابس، في حين أن الزبون يجربها فقط
• The tailor sews the clothes, whereas the customer only tries them on

It is a formal connector, very common in Modern Standard Arabic.

In this expression, في حين أن functions as a fixed phrase meaning whereas / while.

You may also sometimes see just في حين in some contexts, but في حين أن is a very common and natural formal structure in MSA when introducing a full clause.

So it is best to learn في حين أن here as one unit.

الزبون usually means the customer.

Depending on context, it can also be translated as:

• client
• shopper
• buyer

In this sentence, customer is the most natural translation, because we are talking about a tailor and someone trying on clothes.

يجربها has two parts:

• يجرب = he tries / he tries on
• ها = it / her as an object pronoun

So:

• يجربها = he tries it
• but because the thing referred to is الملابس (the clothes), English naturally translates it as tries them on

The pronoun ها is singular feminine in form, which often surprises learners here.

This is a very common Arabic pattern.

الملابس is a non-human plural. In Arabic, non-human plurals are often treated grammatically like singular feminine nouns.

So even though الملابس means clothes in English, Arabic can refer back to it with:

• ها = it (grammatically singular feminine)

That is why we get:

• الملابس ... يجربها
• literally: the clothes ... he tries it
• naturally in English: the clothes ... he tries them on

This is one of the most important grammar points for English speakers learning Arabic.

فقط means only.

Placing it at the end is very natural in Arabic and gives the meaning:

• يجربها فقط
• he only tries it/them on

It limits the action of the customer: the customer does not sew the clothes; he only tries them on.

Arabic often places words like فقط after the part they modify, although usage can vary depending on style and emphasis.

In this context, it means tries on.

The basic verb جرّب means to try, to test, or to experiment with. But with clothing, the meaning becomes:

• يجرب الملابس
• he tries on the clothes

So in this sentence, because the object is الملابس, the natural translation is tries them on.

A careful pronunciation would be roughly:

• yakhītu al-khayyāṭu al-malābisa, fī ḥīni anna az-zabūna yujarribuhā faqaṭ

A few notes:

• خ in يخيط and الخياط is a throaty sound, like the ch in Scottish loch
• ح in حين is a strong breathy h
• الزبون is pronounced az-zabūn, because ز is a sun letter, so the l of الـ is not pronounced separately
• يجربها has the attached pronoun -hā

Because ز is one of the sun letters.

When الـ comes before a sun letter, the l sound assimilates into the next consonant. So:

• الزبون
• written with ال
• pronounced az-zabūn

The spelling does not change, but the pronunciation does.

Yes. Here are a few possible variations:

• الخياط يخيط الملابس، والزبون يجربها فقط.
  The tailor sews the clothes, and the customer only tries them on.

• يخيط الخياط الملابس، أما الزبون فيجربها فقط.
  The tailor sews the clothes, while the customer only tries them on.

• الخياط هو الذي يخيط الملابس، أما الزبون فيجربها فقط.
  It is the tailor who sews the clothes, while the customer only tries them on.

These versions shift style and emphasis slightly, but the basic meaning stays the same.