Learn Hardcore Arabic (Modern Standard): لا أعرف اسم هذه الجارة، لكنها تسكن فوق شقتي منذ شهر. - I do not know this neighbor’s name, but she has lived above my apartment for a month.

لا أعرف اسم هذه الجارة، لكنها تسكن فوق شقتي منذ شهر.lâ a'rifu sma hâdhihi l-jârati, lâkinnahâ taskunu fawqa shuqqatî mundhu shahr

I do not know this neighbor’s name, but she has lived above my apartment for a month.

Breakdown of لا أعرف اسم هذه الجارة، لكنها تسكن فوق شقتي منذ شهر.

Questions & Answers about لا أعرف اسم هذه الجارة، لكنها تسكن فوق شقتي منذ شهر.

Why is الجارة feminine?

Because الجارة means the female neighbor. The masculine form is الجار. Since the sentence is talking about a woman, Arabic uses the feminine noun.

Why do we say هذه and not هذا?

هذه is the demonstrative for a feminine singular noun: this.
هذا is used with masculine singular nouns.

So:

هذه الجارة = this female neighbor
هذا الجار = this male neighbor

The demonstrative has to match the gender of the noun.

Why is it هذه الجارة with الـ on الجارة? Why not just هذه جارة?

In standard Arabic, when a demonstrative like هذا / هذه is followed by a noun, that noun is usually definite, so it normally takes الـ.

So Arabic prefers:

هذه الجارة = this neighbor

rather than:

هذه جارة

That second version is not the normal MSA pattern for this neighbor.

Why is there no word for of in ?