في الحديقة تجلس أمي على كرسي وتقرأ كتابا.

Arabic often allows more flexible word order than English.

Starting with في الحديقة puts the location first: In the garden, my mother is sitting on a chair and reading a book.

This is very natural in Arabic. The speaker may want to set the scene first, then say who is there and what they are doing.

So this sentence is not unusual at all:

• في الحديقة = in the garden
• then the rest of the sentence tells what is happening there

A more neutral order is also possible, such as:

• تجلس أمي في الحديقة...
• or even أمي تجلس في الحديقة...

But the given sentence emphasizes the place first.

Both are possible in Arabic, but they are slightly different in style.

تجلس أمي is a verb-first sentence, which is very common in Modern Standard Arabic.

• تجلس = sits / is sitting
• أمي = my mother

So literally it is something like sits my mother.

Arabic often uses:

• verb + subject rather than
• subject + verb

If you say أمي تجلس, that is also correct, but it gives the subject a bit more emphasis: My mother is sitting.

So:

• تجلس أمي = very normal verbal sentence
• أمي تجلس = also correct, with more focus on my mother

In Arabic, when the verb comes before the subject, the verb is usually kept in the singular.

Here:

• تجلس = feminine singular
• أمي = my mother, a singular feminine subject

So this matches perfectly.

This rule becomes especially noticeable with plural subjects. For example, when the verb comes first, Arabic often uses a singular verb even with a plural subject. But here the subject is singular anyway, so the form is straightforward.

The important point is:

• أمي is feminine singular
• so the verb is تجلس, not يجلس

Because أمي means my mother, and that is a feminine noun.

In the present tense, Arabic verbs show gender:

• يجلس = he sits / is sitting
• تجلس = she sits / is sitting

So:

• تجلس أمي = my mother sits / is sitting

The second verb is also feminine:

• وتقرأ = and she reads / is reading

That is because it still refers to أمي.

Arabic often leaves the subject unstated when it is already clear from the verb form and context.

So:

• وتقرأ literally means and reads but the verb form already tells you it is she:
• and she reads

Because أمي has already been mentioned, Arabic does not need to repeat هي.

English usually requires the subject again:

• My mother sits on a chair and reads a book

Arabic can do this more compactly:

• تجلس أمي على كرسي وتقرأ كتابا

أمي means my mother.

It is made from:

• أم = mother
• ـي = my

So:

• أم + ي = أمي

This is a noun with a possessive suffix attached.

A learner may notice there is no ال on أمي. That is normal, because the possessive suffix already makes it definite:

• أم = a mother / mother
• الأم = the mother
• أمي = my mother

So أمي is already definite and does not need ال.

في الحديقة means in the garden.

• في = in
• الحديقة = the garden

Using الـ makes it definite. So the sentence refers to a specific garden, not just any garden.

Compare:

• في الحديقة = in the garden
• في حديقة = in a garden

Also, after the preposition في, the noun is in the genitive case. So in fully vocalized Arabic it would be:

• في الحديقةِ

Because here the meaning is on a chair, not on the chair.

So:

• على = on
• كرسي = a chair

This noun is indefinite, which matches the English meaning a chair.

Compare:

• على كرسي = on a chair
• على الكرسي = on the chair

Again, after the preposition على, the noun is in the genitive case. In fully vocalized Arabic, it would be pronounced على كرسيٍّ.

Because كتابا is the direct object of the verb تقرأ.

• تقرأ = she reads / is reading
• كتابا = a book

In Standard Arabic, direct objects normally take the accusative case.

So:

• كتابٌ = a book (subject form, nominative)
• كتابٍ = of a book / in a book, etc. (genitive in some contexts)
• كتابًا = a book (object form, accusative)

That is why the sentence has كتابا.

In ordinary unvocalized Arabic writing, case endings are often omitted, but in learning materials they may be shown to help learners understand grammar.

That extra ا is connected with the spelling of tanwīn fatḥ in many nouns.

The accusative indefinite ending -an is often written with:

• a final alif
• plus the tanwīn fatḥ sign above it in fully vocalized text

So:

• كتابًا = kitāban

In plain text without vowel marks, it often appears as:

• كتابا

This is a normal spelling pattern for many indefinite accusative nouns.

It can mean either, depending on context.

The Arabic present tense can express:

• a general present: she sits
• an ongoing action: she is sitting
• sometimes even future, with other clues

In this sentence, because it describes a scene, English will often translate it as:

• My mother is sitting on a chair and reading a book

But grammatically, the Arabic form itself is simply the present tense.

The same applies to تقرأ:

• she reads
• or she is reading

Because the sentence describes two actions done by the same person:

• تجلس = she sits / is sitting
• وتقرأ = and she reads / is reading

The conjunction و simply means and.

So the structure is:

• في الحديقة = in the garden
• تجلس أمي على كرسي = my mother is sitting on a chair
• وتقرأ كتابا = and reading a book

This is a very common Arabic way to connect actions.

على is a preposition meaning on.

So:

• على كرسي = on a chair

Like other prepositions in Arabic, على makes the following noun genitive.

That means in full case-marked Arabic:

• على كرسيٍّ

A learner does not always see the case ending in normal text, but grammatically it is still there.

A careful full reading would be:

فِي الحَدِيقَةِ تَجْلِسُ أُمِّي عَلَى كُرْسِيٍّ وَتَقْرَأُ كِتَابًا

A rough breakdown:

• فِي = fī
• الحَدِيقَةِ = al-ḥadīqati
• تَجْلِسُ = tajlisu
• أُمِّي = ummī
• عَلَى = ʿalā
• كُرْسِيٍّ = kursiyyin
• وَتَقْرَأُ = wa-taqraʾu
• كِتَابًا = kitāban

In pause or in less formal reading, some of these endings may not be pronounced clearly, but this is the full grammatical form.

It is mainly a verbal sentence.

That is because the core clause begins with a verb:

• تجلس أمي

Even though the sentence starts with في الحديقة, that is just a prepositional phrase setting the scene. The main clause is still verbal.

So the structure is:

• fronted prepositional phrase: في الحديقة
• verbal clause: تجلس أمي على كرسي وتقرأ كتابا

This kind of structure is very common in Arabic.