يقرأ صديقي كتاب الوصفات ويخبز العجين.

Because Arabic very often uses verb–subject–object order, especially in straightforward narrative sentences.

So:

• يقرأ = reads / is reading
• صديقي = my friend

This gives:

• يقرأ صديقي... = My friend reads...

You could also say:

• صديقي يقرأ...

That order is also correct, but it is slightly different in style and emphasis. The version in your sentence is a very normal MSA pattern.

يقرأ is a 3rd person masculine singular imperfect verb from قرأ (to read).

It can mean:

• he reads
• he is reading
• sometimes he does read, depending on context

In MSA, the imperfect tense can cover both simple present and present progressive meanings, so the context decides whether English should be reads or is reading.

The verb comes from the root ق ر أ, which includes a hamza as its final root consonant.

That is why you see:

• قرأ = he read
• يقرأ = he reads / is reading

The hamza is part of the word itself, not something added later.

In pronunciation, يقرأ is roughly yaqraʾu in full case-ending form. The hamza creates a little catch at the end before the vowel, though in pause you often just hear something like yaqraʾ.

The ending -ي here is the possessive suffix meaning my.

So:

• صديق = friend
• صديقي = my friend

Literally, it is friend-my.

This is the normal Arabic way to say possession with pronoun suffixes. Arabic usually does not use a separate word for my before the noun the way English does.

Because the most natural way to say my friend in Arabic is with a suffix attached directly to the noun:

• صديقي = my friend

The structure الصديق لي would literally be more like the friend is for me / belongs to me, and it is not the normal basic way to express my friend.

So for simple possession, Arabic strongly prefers the suffix form.

This is an iḍāfa construction, often called a genitive construction.

• كتاب = book
• الوصفات = the recipes

Together:

• كتاب الوصفات = the book of the recipes, or more naturally the recipe book / the cookbook

In an iḍāfa:

1. The first noun usually does not take ال
2. The second noun determines whether the whole phrase is definite

So because the second noun is definite:

• الوصفات = the recipes

the whole phrase كتاب الوصفات becomes definite: the recipe book / the cookbook

That is why الكتاب الوصفات is not correct here.

In كتاب الوصفات, the word الوصفات is the second term of an iḍāfa, so it is in the genitive case.

In fully vowelled Arabic, it would be:

• كِتابَ الوَصَفاتِ if it is the direct object in the sentence

Here is what is happening:

• the whole phrase كتاب الوصفات is the object of يقرأ, so كتاب is in the accusative
• الوصفات is linked to كتاب in iḍāfa, so it becomes genitive

In normal unvowelled writing, you do not see those case endings, but the grammar is still there.

و mainly means and, but in real Arabic it can connect actions in a very natural flowing way, just like English and.

So:

• ويخبز العجين = and he bakes the dough

Depending on context, English might interpret it as:

• and
• and then
• while also

Arabic و does not always specify the exact time relationship. It simply links the actions, and context does the rest.

Because its subject is still صديقي (my friend), which is:

• singular
• masculine

So the verb must match that subject.

• يقرأ = he reads
• يخبز = he bakes

Arabic often omits repeating the subject if it is understood. So after و, the sentence does not need to repeat صديقي again.

العجين is the direct object of يخبز.

So:

• يخبز = he bakes
• العجين = the dough

Together:

• يخبز العجين = he bakes the dough

Because it is a direct object, it would be accusative in fully vowelled Arabic, though that is usually not shown in everyday writing.

It can be either, depending on context.

The imperfect verbs يقرأ and يخبز can mean:

• My friend reads the cookbook and bakes the dough
  or
• My friend is reading the cookbook and baking the dough

Arabic does not force that distinction the way English often does. If you want to make the sense clearer, context or extra words are used.

A careful fully vowelled reading would be approximately:

يَقْرَأُ صَديقِي كِتابَ الوَصَفاتِ وَيَخْبِزُ العَجينَ

A rough pronunciation guide:

• yaqraʾu ṣadīqī kitāba al-waṣafāti wa-yakhbizu al-ʿajīna

In normal pause, many final short vowels are not pronounced, so it may sound closer to:

• yaqraʾ ṣadīqī kitāb al-waṣafāt wa-yakhbiz al-ʿajīn

The exact pronunciation can vary depending on how formal or careful the speaker is being.