ساعديني في المطبخ، ثم ضعي الزيت والملح قرب القدر.

Help me in the kitchen, then put the oil and the salt near the pot.

Breakdown of ساعديني في المطبخ، ثم ضعي الزيت والملح قرب القدر.

• في: in
• و: and
• يضع: to put
• ثم: then

Questions & Answers about ساعديني في المطبخ، ثم ضعي الزيت والملح قرب القدر.

How can I tell that this sentence is being said to one woman?

Because both command forms are feminine singular:

• ساعديني
• ضعي

In Arabic, the imperative changes depending on who you are speaking to. Here, the forms show the speaker is addressing one female.

Compare:

• to a man: ساعدني / ضع
• to a woman: ساعديني / ضعي

So the verb itself tells you the gender and number of the person being addressed.

Why does ساعديني end with -يني?

That ending is made of two parts:

• ساعدي = help! when speaking to one woman
• ني = me

So:

• ساعدي + ني = ساعديني

In other words, ساعديني literally breaks down as help + me, with the feminine singular command ending built in.

Why is the second command ضعي and not وضعي, if the verb is وضع?

This is because وضع is a verb whose initial و drops in certain forms, including the present tense and the imperative.

You get:

• past: وضع
• present: