Word
قلت لها: تعالي في عطلة نهاية الأسبوع القادمة، وسوف نأكل على المائدة.
Meaning
I said to her: Come next weekend, and we will eat at the dining table.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Lesson
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Questions & Answers about قلت لها: تعالي في عطلة نهاية الأسبوع القادمة، وسوف نأكل على المائدة.
How do we know قلت means I said here, not you said?
In unvowelled Arabic, قلت is ambiguous by itself. It can stand for:
- قُلْتُ = I said
- قُلْتَ = you said to a male
- قُلْتِ = you said to a female
So the exact meaning comes from context or from vowel marks. In this sentence, the intended reading is قُلْتُ = I said.
What exactly does لها mean?
لها is made of two parts:
- لِـ = to / for
- ها = her
So قلت لها means I said to her.
This is very common in Arabic: prepositions often attach directly to pronoun suffixes.
Why is the command تعالي used for come? Why not an imperative from جاء?
Arabic often uses تعالَ / تعالي for come!, especially when inviting someone to come toward the speaker.
So:
- تعالَ = come! to one male
- تعالي = come! to one female
There is also an imperative from جاء, namely جِئْ, but for ordinary invitations is much more natural.