هل صديقتك هنا معنا اليوم؟

here

Breakdown of هل صديقتك هنا معنا اليوم؟

• هل: (yes/no question marker)
• اليوم: today
• مع: with

Questions & Answers about هل صديقتك هنا معنا اليوم؟

What does هل do at the beginning of the sentence?

هل is a yes/no question particle in Modern Standard Arabic. Putting it at the start turns the statement into a question.

• Statement: صديقتك هنا معنا اليوم. (Your friend is here with us today.)
• Question: هل صديقتك هنا معنا اليوم؟ (Is your friend here with us today?)

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What is the basic word order here, and is it a “verbless” sentence?

Yes—this is a common Arabic nominal (verbless) sentence. In the present tense, Arabic often doesn’t use a verb to be.
Core structure (without هل):

• صديقتك = the subject/topic (your friend)
• هنا معنا اليوم = information about her location/time (here with us today)
  So it’s essentially: Your friend [is] here with us today.

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How do I pronounce this sentence (and is there a helpful transliteration)?

A common careful MSA reading is:

• hal ṣadīqatuka hunā maʿanā al-yawm?
  If addressing a female “you,” it becomes:
• hal ṣadīqatuki hunā maʿanā al-yawm?

Notes:

• ص is an emphatic s (heavier/darker than English s).
• ع in معنا (maʿanā) is a voiced pharyngeal sound; many learners approximate it at first.

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