يقف المشارك قرب الشجرة.

A careful, fully vowelled reading is:

يَقِفُ الْمُشَارِكُ قُرْبَ الشَّجَرَةِ

A common transliteration is:

yaqifu al-mushāriku qurba ash-shajarati

A few pronunciation notes:

• ق in يقف is q, a deeper sound than English k
• ش is sh
• الشجرة is written with ال but pronounced ash-shajara... because of sound assimilation

In less formal pronunciation, final case vowels are often not pronounced clearly.

Here يقف means stands or is standing.

Arabic present tense often covers both:

• he stands
• he is standing

The exact English translation depends on context. In this sentence, both are possible.

Also, Arabic does not need a separate word like English is here. The single verb يقف already carries the meaning.

The يـ at the beginning marks the third-person masculine singular in the present/imperfect tense.

So:

• يقف = he stands / he is standing

This matches المشارك, which is masculine singular.

For comparison:

• تقف = she stands
• أقف = I stand
• نقف = we stand

Because this is a very common Arabic sentence pattern: verb + subject + other information.

So:

• يقف المشارك قرب الشجرة = a normal verbal sentence

Arabic can also say:

• المشارك يقف قرب الشجرة

That version is also correct, but it puts more focus on the participant. Starting with the verb is very natural in Modern Standard Arabic.

المشارك means the participant.

It comes from the verb شارك = to participate / share in.

So مشارك is an active participle, literally something like:

• one who participates

With الـ, it becomes definite:

• المشارك = the participant

It is masculine singular. The feminine form would be:

• المشاركة = the female participant

Because both nouns are definite:

• المشارك = the participant
• الشجرة = the tree

Without الـ:

• مشارك = a participant
• شجرة = a tree

Arabic uses الـ much like English the.

قرب means near or close to.

In grammar, it is often treated as an adverbial noun of place rather than a basic preposition like في.

So:

• قرب الشجرة = near the tree

You can think of it literally as something like:

• in the vicinity of the tree

It is a very common and natural way to express location.

Because ش is a sun letter.

When الـ comes before a sun letter, the l sound is not pronounced. Instead, the following consonant is doubled in pronunciation.

So:

• written: الشجرة
• pronounced: ash-shajara(h)

This change happens in pronunciation, not spelling.

The fully vowelled sentence is:

يَقِفُ الْمُشَارِكُ قُرْبَ الشَّجَرَةِ

Here is the grammar:

• يَقِفُ: present tense verb, indicative, ending in -u
• الْمُشَارِكُ: the subject, so it is nominative
• قُرْبَ: an adverbial expression of place, so it is accusative
• الشَّجَرَةِ: after قرب, it is genitive

In normal Arabic writing, these short vowels are usually left out, which is why learners often see:

يقف المشارك قرب الشجرة