أمي تقول إن الخضار في هذا السوق جيدة، لكن اللحم اليوم أغلى.

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Breakdown of أمي تقول إن الخضار في هذا السوق جيدة، لكن اللحم اليوم أغلى.

• في: in
• ي: my
• لكن: but

Questions & Answers about أمي تقول إن الخضار في هذا السوق جيدة، لكن اللحم اليوم أغلى.

Why is there no word for is/are in الخضار في هذا السوق جيدة and اللحم اليوم أغلى?

In Arabic, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense.

So instead of saying:

• The vegetables are good
• The meat is more expensive today

Arabic simply says:

• الخضار في هذا السوق جيدة
• اللحم اليوم أغلى

This is very normal in both Modern Standard Arabic and spoken Arabic. If you wanted the past or future, then a form of كان would appear.

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Why does the sentence use إن after تقول?

إن means that and introduces a subordinate clause after verbs like say, know, think, and similar verbs.

So:

• أمي تقول = My mother says
• إن الخضار في هذا السوق جيدة = that the vegetables in this market are good

A key grammar point: إن affects the case of the noun immediately after it in fully vowelled Arabic, making it accusative. In everyday unvowelled writing, you usually do not see this change clearly, but the grammar is still there.

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Why is أمي written this way? What does the ـي mean?

The ـي at the end is the possessive suffix meaning .