Questions & Answers about صديقتي في الجامعة الآن، وأنا أنتظرها في المكتبة.
What does صديقتي mean, and why does it end with -تي?
صديقتي means my female friend.
It is made of:
- صديقة = a female friend
- ـي = my
When ـي is added to صديقة, the ة is pronounced as t, so:
- صديقة → صديقتي
This is very common in Arabic. Compare:
- صديقي = my male friend
- صديقتي = my female friend
Why is there no word for is in صديقتي في الجامعة الآن?
In Arabic, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense.
So:
- صديقتي في الجامعة الآن literally looks like:
- My friend in the university now
But it means:
- My friend is at the university now
This kind of sentence is called a nominal sentence in Arabic. In the present tense, Arabic often just puts the subject and the description together without a separate word for is.
If you wanted past tense, you would usually need a verb such as كانت:
- كانت صديقتي في الجامعة = My friend was at the university
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