الخطة تعتمد على الفريق.

Because الخطة (the plan) is a feminine singular noun, and the verb agrees with it.

• الخطة ends in ـة, which is a very common sign of a feminine noun.
• So in the present tense, Arabic uses the feminine singular form: تعتمد = it depends / she depends.

In other words:

• الخطة تعتمد = the plan depends
• If the subject were a masculine noun, you would normally expect يعتمد

تعتمد على means depends on or relies on.

This is a verb + preposition combination:

• اعتمد على = to depend on / rely on

So in this sentence:

• تعتمد على الفريق = depends on the team

A learner should remember this as a chunk, because the preposition على is part of the normal pattern for this meaning.

Because the verb اعتمد usually takes على when it means depend on or rely on.

So Arabic says, literally:

• depend on the team
• تعتمد على الفريق

You generally cannot replace على with just any preposition here. It is the standard one used with this verb in this meaning.

Because both nouns are definite:

• الخطة = the plan
• الفريق = the team

The prefix الـ is the Arabic definite article, equivalent to the in English.

If you removed it, the meaning would become more like:

• خطة = a plan
• فريق = a team

So the sentence with الـ sounds like it is talking about a specific plan and a specific team.

In fully vocalized Arabic, the sentence would be:

الخُطَّةُ تَعْتَمِدُ عَلَى الفَرِيقِ

The important endings are:

• الخطةُ — nominative, because it is the main subject
• تعتمدُ — present tense verb ending
• الفريقِ — genitive, because it comes after the preposition على

In normal everyday Arabic writing, these short vowels are usually omitted, so you just see:

الخطة تعتمد على الفريق

Since it begins with a noun, الخطة, it is commonly analyzed as a nominal sentence in Arabic grammar.

A simple way to see it is:

• الخطة = the topic / subject
• تعتمد على الفريق = the predicate, which happens to be a verbal clause

So even though there is a verb in it, the whole sentence starts as a noun-based structure.

Yes. تعتمد الخطة على الفريق is also correct.

Both mean the same thing:

• الخطة تعتمد على الفريق
• تعتمد الخطة على الفريق

The difference is mostly one of style and emphasis:

• starting with الخطة puts a little more focus on the plan
• starting with تعتمد feels a bit more verbal and action-focused

Both are natural in Modern Standard Arabic.

The dictionary form is usually the past tense, 3rd person masculine singular:

• اعتمد = he depended / he relied

Its present-tense form is:

• يعتمد = he depends
• تعتمد = she depends or it depends (for a feminine noun like الخطة)

The root is:

• ع م د

When looking the verb up, it is useful to remember the full expression:

• اعتمد على = depend on / rely on

No. الفريق can mean team more generally.

Depending on context, it can refer to:

• a work team
• a project team
• a sports team
• a group on one side of something

So in this sentence, الفريق does not have to mean a sports team. It can simply mean the team in a broad sense.

Yes. By itself, تعتمد can mean she depends or it depends with a feminine subject.

Arabic verbs often already contain information about:

• person
• gender
• number

So تعتمد on its own already tells you the subject is 3rd person feminine singular.

In this sentence, the explicit subject الخطة tells you exactly what is doing the depending:

• الخطة تعتمد = the plan depends