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Questions & Answers about هل أنت طالب أيضا؟
Why does the sentence start with هل?
هل is a yes/no question particle in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). Putting هل at the beginning signals that what follows is a question that can usually be answered with نعم (yes) or لا (no).
So هل أنت طالب أيضا؟ is structurally like “Are you also a student?”
What is أنت doing here? Is it required?
أنت means you (masculine singular). In nominal (non-verb) sentences like this, Arabic often explicitly includes the subject pronoun.
It can be omitted in some contexts, but هل أنت…؟ is very common and clear, especially for learners.
Is طالب a verb or a noun? Why isn’t there a verb meaning “to be”?
طالب is a noun meaning student.
Arabic frequently forms present-tense “to be” sentences without a verb (a “nominal sentence”). So:
- أنت طالب literally “you (are) a student”
- No present-tense to be verb is used in MSA in this structure.
(If you needed past/future “to be,” Arabic uses forms of كان.)
How do I make it feminine (“Are you also a female student?”)?
You change both the pronoun and the noun: