Word
صديقي يتعلم العربية في الجامعة، وأنا أتعلمها في البيت.
Meaning
My friend is learning Arabic at the university, and I am learning it at home.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Lesson
Questions & Answers about صديقي يتعلم العربية في الجامعة، وأنا أتعلمها في البيت.
Why does صديقي mean my friend? Where is the word for my?
In Arabic, my is often expressed by attaching a pronoun suffix directly to the noun.
- صديق = friend
- صديقي = my friend
The ـي at the end is the my suffix.
Also notice that the base word is صديق and then ـي is added:
- صديق + ي = صديقي
This is much more common in Arabic than using a separate word for my.
Why is it يتعلم for my friend learns, but أتعلم for I learn?
These are two different present-tense verb forms.
The verb is تعلّم / يتعلّم = to learn.
In the present tense, Arabic changes the beginning of the verb depending on the subject:
- أنا أتعلم = I learn / I am learning
- هو يتعلم = he learns / he is learning
So:
- صديقي يتعلم العربية = My friend learns Arabic
- وأنا أتعلمها = And I learn it
The subject changes, so the verb form changes too.
Why is there no separate word for he before يتعلم?
Because Arabic verbs usually already include the subject information.