يعمل صديقي طيلة النهار.

يعمل is the present-tense form of the verb عَمِلَ (to work).

In Modern Standard Arabic, this form can mean both:

• he works
• he is working

So the exact English translation depends on context. Arabic present tense often covers both the habitual meaning and the ongoing meaning.

In this sentence, يعمل صديقي طيلة النهار, it most naturally means something like:

• My friend works all day
• My friend is working throughout the day

depending on the situation.

The يـ at the beginning marks the verb as third person masculine singular in the present tense.

So:

• يعمل = he works / he is working

This is a very common present-tense pattern in Arabic. The beginning of the verb changes depending on the person:

• أعمل = I work
• تعمل = you work / she works
• يعمل = he works
• نعمل = we work

Because صديقي (my friend) is masculine singular, يعمل is the correct form.

Because Arabic verbs already contain subject information.

In يعمل, the verb itself already tells you the subject is he. Then Arabic adds the actual noun صديقي (my friend) after it.

So Arabic does not need a separate pronoun here.

Compare:

• يعمل = he works
• يعمل صديقي = my friend works

The noun صديقي makes it clear who that he is.

Arabic often uses verb-first word order, especially in formal written Arabic.

So:

• يعمل صديقي literally follows works my-friend
• natural English: my friend works

This verb-subject order is very common in Modern Standard Arabic.

You can also sometimes see a subject-first order in Arabic:

• صديقي يعمل

That also means my friend works, but يعمل صديقي is a very normal and standard structure.

صديقي means my friend.

It is made of:

• صديق = friend
• ـي = my

So:

• صديق = friend
• صديقي = my friend

The ending ـي is a possessive suffix attached directly to the noun.

This is how Arabic often says possession:

• كتابي = my book
• بيتي = my house
• صديقي = my friend

Because Arabic usually expresses my by adding the suffix ـي directly to the noun.

So instead of saying something like my + friend as two separate words, Arabic says:

• صديقي = friend-my = my friend

This is very common in Arabic.

Other examples:

• أخي = my brother
• اسمي = my name
• معلمي = my teacher

طيلة النهار means throughout the day or all day long.

Breaking it down:

• طيلة = throughout / for the whole duration of
• النهار = the day / daytime

So together:

• طيلة النهار = throughout the day

It expresses duration of time.

Not exactly in the simplest grammatical sense.

It behaves like a noun used adverbially, and in sentences like this it gives a meaning similar to:

• throughout
• for the whole of

So even though in English we may translate it like a preposition, in Arabic grammar it is not usually treated as a basic preposition like في (in) or على (on).

For a learner, the most useful thing is to remember the phrase:

• طيلة النهار = throughout the day
• طيلة الأسبوع = throughout the week
• طيلة العام = throughout the year

النهار means the day or daytime.

The prefix الـ is the Arabic definite article, meaning the.

So:

• نهار = day / daytime
• النهار = the day / the daytime

In expressions like طيلة النهار, Arabic normally uses the definite form, and the whole phrase is best understood as throughout the day.

Both نهار and يوم relate to day, but they are not always identical.

• يوم often means a day as a full unit of time, or day in a calendar sense.
• نهار often refers more specifically to daytime, the part opposite night.

In many contexts, طيلة النهار gives the sense of throughout the daytime / all day long.

So this sentence emphasizes that the friend works for the whole daytime period.

Because طيلة is followed by the thing whose duration it describes.

So the pattern is:

• طيلة + time expression

Examples:

• طيلة النهار = throughout the day
• طيلة الليل = throughout the night
• طيلة الأسبوع = throughout the week

This is just the normal structure of the expression.

صديقي is the subject of the verb, so it is in the nominative case.

In full grammatical analysis:

• يعمل = verb
• صديقي = subject (فاعل)

However, with a noun ending in the ـي possessive suffix, the case ending is not obvious in the simple written form. So even though it is nominative, you do not clearly see a different ending here the way you might with some other nouns.

For a beginner, the key point is simply:

• صديقي is the one doing the action, so it is the subject.

In the phrase طيلة النهار, النهار is connected to طيلة in an iḍāfa-like relationship.

That means النهار is understood as genitive in grammar.

So if you study case endings more deeply, this phrase is analyzed roughly as:

• طيلةَ = accusative/adverbial expression of duration
• النهارِ = genitive after it

In normal unvocalized writing, you do not see those short vowels, but that is the underlying grammar.

Yes. That is also correct.

Compare:

• يعمل صديقي طيلة النهار
• صديقي يعمل طيلة النهار

Both mean My friend works throughout the day.

The first version is more clearly verb-first, which is very common in formal Arabic. The second begins with the subject, which can feel a bit more like English word order.

Both are natural, though the exact emphasis can be slightly different depending on context.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

yaʿmalu ṣadīqī ṭīlata an-nahār

A more learner-friendly approximation:

YAʿ-ma-lu sa-DEE-qee TEE-la-ta an-na-HAAR

A few notes:

• ع in يعمل is a special Arabic sound with no exact English equivalent.
• ص is a heavier, emphatic s sound.
• ط is a heavier, emphatic t sound.
• In connected pronunciation, النهار is pronounced an-nahār, because ن is a sun letter, so the l of الـ is not pronounced.

Because ن is one of the sun letters.

When الـ comes before a sun letter, the ل sound is assimilated into the next consonant.

So:

• written: النهار
• pronounced: an-nahār

You still write الـ, but you do not pronounce the l.

Other examples:

• الشمس → ash-shams
• الناس → an-nās
• الليل → al-layl because ل is also a sun letter, so it becomes al-layl with doubled l

Often yes, but not only that.

عمل can refer to:

• working in general
• doing work
• functioning or operating, depending on context

So يعمل could mean:

• he works
• he is working
• it works / it functions in some contexts

In this sentence, because the subject is صديقي (my friend), the meaning is clearly about a person working.

Usually it suggests actual work, often job-related, but context matters.

Without extra context, يعمل صديقي طيلة النهار most naturally sounds like:

• My friend works all day
• My friend is working throughout the day

Depending on the situation, it could mean:

• he has a long workday
• he spends the whole day working
• he is occupied with work all day

Arabic leaves that slightly open unless more detail is added.

Yes, Arabic has some flexibility.

For example:

• يعمل صديقي طيلة النهار
• صديقي يعمل طيلة النهار
• طيلة النهار يعمل صديقي

All can work, though they may differ in emphasis.

The original sentence is a neutral, natural way to say it.

It is a verbal sentence because it begins with a verb:

• يعمل = verb

In Arabic, a sentence that begins with a verb is called a verbal sentence. A sentence that begins with a noun is called a nominal sentence.

So:

• يعمل صديقي طيلة النهار = verbal sentence
• صديقي يعمل طيلة النهار = nominal sentence in form, even though it still contains a verb

This distinction is important in Arabic grammar.

A simple breakdown is:

• يعمل = verb, he works / is working
• صديقي = subject, my friend
• طيلة النهار = expression of time duration, throughout the day

So the structure is:

• Verb + subject + time expression

Very literally:

• works my-friend throughout the-day

Natural English:

• My friend works throughout the day