وعلى يمين الفندق مطعم صغير قريب من النهر.

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Breakdown of وعلى يمين الفندق مطعم صغير قريب من النهر.

• و: and
• من: from
• مطعم: restaurant

Questions & Answers about وعلى يمين الفندق مطعم صغير قريب من النهر.

Why does the sentence begin with وعلى يمين الفندق instead of starting with مطعم?

Arabic often puts a location phrase first when it is setting the scene.

So وعلى يمين الفندق مطعم صغير قريب من النهر literally has the structure:

And on the right of the hotel, a small restaurant near the river.

In natural English, we usually add is or there is: And to the right of the hotel, there is a small restaurant near the river.

So the Arabic word order is normal. The place comes first, and the thing being located comes after it.

Is there a missing verb in this sentence?

Yes, from an English point of view, it feels like a verb is missing.

In the present tense, Arabic often has no written or spoken verb equivalent to is / are in simple sentences like this. This is called a nominal sentence.

So:

مطعم صغير
literally: a small restaurant

But in context it means: there is a small restaurant or it is a small restaurant, depending on the sentence.

Here, because the sentence is about location, English naturally translates it with there is: To the right of the hotel, there is a small restaurant near the river.

What does و at the beginning do?

و usually means and.

So وعلى is really two parts:

• و = and