صديقتي تفهم العربية جيدا، وأنا أفهمها قليلا.

My (female) friend understands Arabic well, and I understand it a little.

Breakdown of صديقتي تفهم العربية جيدا، وأنا أفهمها قليلا.

• انا: I
• ي: my
• و: and
• صديقة: friend
• العربية: Arabic
• قليل: a little
• يفهم: to understand
• جيدا: well
• ها: it/her

Questions & Answers about صديقتي تفهم العربية جيدا، وأنا أفهمها قليلا.

Why does صديقتي mean my (female) friend? What is the ـي at the end?

صديقتي is صديقة (female friend) + the attached possessive suffix ـي meaning my.

• صديقة ends in ة (tāʾ marbūṭa), which often marks feminine nouns.
• When you add ـي, it becomes صديقتي (ṣadīqatī) = my female friend.

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How would it change if the friend were male?

You’d use صديقي (ṣadīqī) = my male friend.
So the sentence would start:

• صديقي يفهم العربية جيدًا...

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Why is there no word for she before تفهم? How do we know who understands?

In Arabic, the verb form often already contains the subject information.

• تفهم is 3rd person feminine singular in the present tense → she understands.
  So you don’t need هي (she) unless you want emphasis or contrast.

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What does تفهم literally mean, and what is its root?

تفهم means she understands. It comes from the root ف-ه-م (f-h-m), related to understanding.

• Base idea: فَهِمَ = he understood
• Present: يفهم (he understands), تفهم (she understands / you (m.) understand—context tells which)

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Why is العربية feminine, and does that affect anything?

العربية (the Arabic language) is grammatically feminine, which affects pronouns referring to it.
That’s why later you see أفهمها with ـها (her/it) referring back to العربية (not ـه).

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What exactly does أفهمها mean? Is ها a separate word?

أفهمها is one word: أفهم (I understand) + ها (it/her) attached as a direct object pronoun.
So أفهمها = I understand it (it = Arabic).
In writing, object pronouns are commonly attached to verbs like this.

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Why does the sentence include وأنا? Could it just be وأفهمها قليلا?

Yes, you can say وأفهمها قليلًا and it still means and I understand it a little because أفهم already shows I.
وأنا adds emphasis/contrast, like: …whereas I… / as for me…

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What’s the role of جيدًا and قليلًا? Are they adjectives or adverbs?

Here they function as adverbs describing how well someone understands.

• جيدًا = well
• قليلًا = a little
  They look like accusative forms (often used for adverbial meaning), commonly written with ـًا (tanwīn fatḥ).

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How would this look with full vowel marks (harakāt)?

A common fully-vowelled version is: صَديقَتي تَفهَمُ العَرَبِيَّةَ جَيِّدًا، وَأَنا أَفهَمُها قَليلًا.
In most everyday MSA writing, many of these vowels are omitted.

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Why is there a comma ، and what is the function of و here?

، is the Arabic comma.
و is the conjunction and, linking the two clauses: 1) My friend understands Arabic well
2) and I understand it a little

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If I wanted to negate both parts, how would I say My friend doesn’t understand Arabic well, and I don’t understand it much either?

A straightforward MSA negation is with لا in the present:

• صديقتي لا تفهم العربية جيدًا، وأنا لا أفهمها كثيرًا.
  You can also negate the second part with a phrase like ولا أفهمها كثيرًا (nor do I understand it much).