يحجز موعدا؛ تقيس الممرضة ضغط الدم، ثم تقيس درجة الحرارة.

A fully vocalized version is:

يَحْجُزُ مَوْعِدًا؛ تَقِيسُ الْمُمَرِّضَةُ ضَغْطَ الدَّمِ، ثُمَّ تَقِيسُ دَرَجَةَ الْحَرَارَةِ.

In normal Arabic writing, these short vowels and case endings are usually omitted, so you often see it written exactly as:

يحجز موعدا؛ تقيس الممرضة ضغط الدم، ثم تقيس درجة الحرارة.

يحجز is a 3rd-person singular masculine imperfect verb, so by itself it most literally means he books / he is booking.

Arabic often leaves the subject implied inside the verb. So the sentence does not explicitly say he, but the verb form tells you that the subject is masculine singular.

In context, this could refer to:

• a man / male patient
• someone in a general example
• a person already known from earlier context

If the subject were a woman, you would expect تحجز instead.

Because موعدًا is the direct object of يحجز.

• يحجز = books
• موعدًا = an appointment

In MSA, direct objects are normally in the accusative case, and an indefinite singular noun in the accusative usually takes tanwīn fatḥ:

• موعدٌ = an appointment (nominative)
• موعدًا = an appointment (accusative)
• موعدٍ = an appointment (genitive)

You often see the final ا in writing with tanwīn fatḥ: موعدًا.

That final ا is the usual written support for tanwīn fatḥ on many nouns.

So:

• pronounced: مَوْعِدًا
• written: موعدًا

This extra ا is a spelling convention. It does not mean there is a long ā sound at the end. The pronunciation is still -an, not -aa.

Because الممرضة means the nurse, and nurse here is grammatically feminine.

So the verb must be feminine too:

• تقيس = she measures
• الممرضة = the nurse

Even though the subject comes after the verb, Arabic still marks gender on the verb. So تقيس الممرضة means the nurse measures.

Because verb-subject-object order is very common in MSA.

So:

• تقيس الممرضة ضغط الدم = literally measures the nurse blood pressure
• natural English order: the nurse measures blood pressure

Arabic could also say:

الممرضة تقيس ضغط الدم

That is also correct, but it gives a slightly different feel, often a bit more topic-focused or emphatic on the nurse.

These are both examples of the iḍāfa construction, often called the construct phrase.

1. ضغط الدم

   • ضغط = pressure
   • الدم = the blood
   • together: blood pressure

2. درجة الحرارة

   • درجة = degree / level
   • الحرارة = the heat / temperature
   • together: temperature

In an iḍāfa:

• the first noun does not take ال
• the second noun often makes the whole phrase definite if it is definite

So:

• ضغط الدم = the blood pressure
• درجة الحرارة = the temperature

Because in an iḍāfa construction, the first noun normally does not take ال.

So Arabic says:

• ضغط الدم not
• الضغط الدم

and

• درجة الحرارة not
• الدرجة الحرارة

The definiteness comes from the second noun:

• الدم is definite
• الحرارة is definite

That makes the whole phrase definite.

ثم means then, so it shows sequence: one action happens, and after that another happens.

• و = and
• ثم = then / after that

So:

تقيس الممرضة ضغط الدم، ثم تقيس درجة الحرارة means The nurse measures blood pressure, then measures the temperature.

Using ثم makes the order clearer than و would.

Here, repeating تقيس is the normal and clear way to express the two actions:

• تقيس الممرضة ضغط الدم
• ثم تقيس درجة الحرارة

Arabic often repeats the verb when listing sequential actions like this. It keeps the structure explicit and natural.

If you removed the second تقيس, the sentence would sound incomplete in standard prose. So in this example, the repetition is expected.

Both are in the accusative case because each whole phrase is the direct object of تقيس.

So in full vocalization, you would have:

• تَقِيسُ ... ضَغْطَ الدَّمِ
• تَقِيسُ ... دَرَجَةَ الْحَرَارَةِ

Notice:

• ضغطَ is accusative because it is the head of the direct-object phrase
• الدمِ is genitive because it is the second noun in the iḍāfa
• درجةَ is accusative for the same reason
• الحرارةِ is genitive inside the iḍāfa

The verbs يحجز and تقيس are in the imperfect form, which often corresponds to the present tense in English, but it can be flexible depending on context.

It can mean things like:

• he books
• he is booking
• the nurse measures
• the nurse is measuring

In textbook or procedural contexts, the imperfect often describes:

• habitual actions
• steps in a process
• actions in a narrative sequence

So here it sounds like a description of a routine or procedure.

؛ is the Arabic semicolon.

It is used somewhat like the English semicolon: to separate related clauses. In this sentence, it separates:

• يحجز موعدًا from
• تقيس الممرضة ضغط الدم، ثم تقيس درجة الحرارة

It signals a pause stronger than a comma, but not as final as a period.

Also notice that Arabic punctuation marks are visually adapted to Arabic script, so the semicolon looks different from the English one.

Arabic often leaves information implicit when the context makes it clear.

So:

• يحجز موعدًا simply says he books an appointment
• تقيس الممرضة ضغط الدم says the nurse measures blood pressure

Arabic does not always need to specify:

• his appointment
• the patient’s blood pressure
• the patient’s temperature

If the speaker wanted to be more explicit, Arabic could add that information, but it is not necessary here.