Word
متى سوف نبدأ هذا الدرس، قبل الغداء أم بعد الغداء؟
Meaning
When will we start this lesson, before lunch or after lunch?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Lesson
Questions & Answers about متى سوف نبدأ هذا الدرس، قبل الغداء أم بعد الغداء؟
How do I pronounce this sentence (roughly)?
A careful Modern Standard Arabic pronunciation would be: matā sawfa nabda’u hādhā ad-darsa, qabla al-ghadā’i am ba‘da al-ghadā’?
- متى matā = “when”
- سوف sawfa = “will” (future marker)
- نبدأ nabda’u = “we start”
- هذا الدرس hādhā ad-dars = “this lesson”
- قبل/بعد الغداء qabla/ba‘da al-ghadā’ = “before/after lunch”
- أم am = “or” (in an either/or question)
Why does the sentence start with متى?
Arabic commonly fronts question words. متى (“when?”) comes first to mark a time question. The rest of the sentence then states the action: سوف نبدأ هذا الدرس (“we will start this lesson…”).
What’s the difference between سوف نبدأ and just سنبدأ?
Both mean “we will start.”
- سنبدأ = سـ (a prefix attached to the verb) + نبدأ. It’s very common and a bit more compact.
- سوف نبدأ uses the separate particle سوف. It often sounds slightly more formal and can sometimes imply a more “distant” future, though in many contexts they’re interchangeable.