Questions & Answers about إذا لم تفهمي السؤال، اسألي الأستاذة بعد الدرس.
Why do تفهمي and اسألي both end in -ي?
That -ي shows the sentence is addressed to one female: you (feminine singular).
- تفهمي = you understand / you understand not here after لم
- اسألي = ask! said to one woman or girl
If you were speaking to a man, you would say:
- إذا لم تفهم السؤال، اسأل الأستاذ بعد الدرس.
So the sentence is specifically talking to a female student.
Why is it لم تفهمي instead of لا تفهمي?
Because لم is the normal particle used to negate a verb in the jussive form, and it often appears in conditions like this.
So:
- لم تفهمي = you did not understand / you do not understand in this conditional sense
- لا تفهمي would usually sound like do not understand!, which is a negative command, not what is meant here
In this sentence, إذا لم تفهمي السؤال means if you do not understand the question.
Why is تفهمي missing the ن that I expect in تفهمين?
Great question. The full present-tense form for you (feminine singular) understand is: