هل توجد صيدلية قرب الجامعة في هذا الحي؟

هل is a question particle. It turns the sentence into a yes/no question.

So without هل, the sentence is a statement: توجد صيدلية قرب الجامعة في هذا الحي = There is a pharmacy near the university in this neighborhood.

With هل, it becomes: هل توجد...؟ = Is there...?

Unlike English, Arabic does not need do/does here. هل does the job of marking the sentence as a question.

توجد comes from the verb وجد / يوجد, which can mean to exist, to be found, or to be located in this kind of sentence.

In this sentence, توجد is the feminine singular form, because صيدلية is a feminine singular noun.

So the structure is basically: هل توجد صيدلية...؟ = Does a pharmacy exist / Is there a pharmacy...?

This is a very natural MSA way to ask whether something is present in a place.

Because the noun صيدلية is feminine. Many place words ending in ـة are feminine, and صيدلية is one of them.

So Arabic uses:

• يوجد with a masculine singular noun
• توجد with a feminine singular noun

For example:

• هل يوجد مطعم هنا؟ = Is there a restaurant here?
• هل توجد صيدلية هنا؟ = Is there a pharmacy here?

Because the sentence is asking whether any pharmacy exists nearby, not referring to one specific pharmacy already known to the speaker and listener.

So:

• صيدلية = a pharmacy / any pharmacy
• الصيدلية = the pharmacy

Using the indefinite form is the normal choice in an existential sentence like this one.

Yes. هل هناك صيدلية قرب الجامعة...؟ is also very natural and common.

Both patterns are used:

• هل توجد صيدلية...؟
• هل هناك صيدلية...؟

A rough difference:

• هل توجد...؟ sounds a bit more formal or written
• هل هناك...؟ is extremely common and straightforward

In Modern Standard Arabic, both are correct.

قرب here means near. In this sentence, it functions as a word of location, often treated as an adverbial noun or ظرف-like expression.

It is followed by the thing that serves as the reference point:

• قرب الجامعة = near the university

So the pattern is:

• قرب + noun
• قرب البيت = near the house
• قرب المسجد = near the mosque

You can think of it as behaving a lot like a preposition in English, even though its grammar in Arabic is a bit different.

الجامعة is definite because it means the university, a specific known place.

After قرب, the following noun is normally in an idafa-like relationship or genitive relationship, so in fully vocalized Arabic you would expect: قربَ الجامعةِ

Even if case endings are not written in normal text, that relationship is still there grammatically.

This phrase adds a more specific location:

• في = in
• هذا الحي = this neighborhood

So the sentence first asks about a pharmacy near the university, and then narrows the setting with in this neighborhood.

Arabic often places location expressions after the main noun phrase in a natural sequence like this.

In MSA, when a demonstrative like هذا modifies a noun, the noun is usually definite as well.

So:

• هذا الحي = this neighborhood

This is the normal pattern:

• هذا الكتاب = this book
• هذه المدينة = this city
• هذا الحي = this neighborhood

For English speakers, it can feel unusual because English does not say this the neighborhood, but Arabic does use both the demonstrative and the definite noun together.

A careful pronunciation is approximately:

ṣay-da-liy-ya

More specifically:

• ص = an emphatic s
• ي after ص gives ṣay
• د = d
• لي = liy
• ة at the end is pronounced -ah in pause, so ṣaydaliyyah

So the whole word is: ṣaydaliyyah

The doubled y sound is important in careful pronunciation.

In fully vocalized MSA, the sentence would typically be:

هَلْ تُوجَدُ صَيْدَلِيَّةٌ قُرْبَ الْجَامِعَةِ فِي هَذَا الْحَيِّ؟

A simple breakdown:

• هَلْ = question particle
• تُوجَدُ = verb, ending in -u
• صَيْدَلِيَّةٌ = indefinite nominative, ending in -un
• قُرْبَ = accusative adverbial form
• الْجَامِعَةِ = genitive after قرب
• فِي = preposition
• هَذَا = this
• الْحَيِّ = genitive after في

In normal everyday writing, these endings are usually omitted.

Yes. The order is very natural in MSA.

The sentence is structured roughly as:

• هل = question marker
• توجد = verb
• صيدلية = subject
• قرب الجامعة = location phrase
• في هذا الحي = another location phrase

Starting with the verb is very common in Arabic. English speakers often expect something more like صيدلية توجد..., but توجد صيدلية is the more natural pattern here.

Yes, you could, depending on emphasis.

For example: هل توجد في هذا الحي صيدلية قرب الجامعة؟

This is still understandable and grammatical. Moving the phrase earlier can put more focus on this neighborhood.

However, the original sentence هل توجد صيدلية قرب الجامعة في هذا الحي؟ is smooth and natural, especially in written MSA.