أنا آسف، القميص ما زال مبللا.

In present-tense Arabic, a sentence like this usually does not use an explicit verb meaning to be.

So:

• أنا آسف = I am sorry
• القميص ... مبلل = the shirt is wet

This is very normal in Arabic. In the present, Arabic often says what looks literally like I sorry or the shirt wet, but the meaning is I am sorry and the shirt is wet.

Yes. آسف agrees with the speaker’s gender.

• If a man is speaking: أنا آسف
• If a woman is speaking: أنا آسفة

So the sentence as written suggests a male speaker. A female speaker would say:

أنا آسفة، القميص ما زال مبللًا.

ما زال means still or continues to be.

So:

• القميص ما زال مبللًا = The shirt is still wet

It is a very common expression in Modern Standard Arabic for something that has not changed yet.

This is a very common learner question. On its own, ما often does negate things, but ما زال is a fixed expression.

Historically, زال has the idea of ceasing or going away, so ما زال literally comes from something like has not ceased. From that, the expression came to mean:

• still
• continues to

So in normal modern use, you should learn ما زال as a set phrase meaning still rather than trying to translate each word separately every time.

Yes. لا يزال is also correct in MSA and is very common.

So both of these work:

• القميص ما زال مبللًا
• القميص لا يزال مبللًا

Both mean The shirt is still wet.

A learner can think of them as near-equivalents in most situations. لا يزال may sound a bit more formal or textbook-like in some contexts, but both are standard.

That final ا is there because the fully vowelled form is مبللًا.

The ending ـًـا represents tanwīn fatḥ on many indefinite accusative words. In careful grammar terms, the word is pronounced muballalan.

So:

• written with full vowels: مبللًا
• written without vowels: مبللا

Important: that final ا here does not mean a long ā sound by itself. It is part of the spelling of the -an ending.

Because it is the predicate after ما زال, and ما زال behaves like one of the kāna-type verbs in Arabic grammar.

These verbs typically make:

• the subject stay nominative
• the predicate become accusative

So in:

القميص ما زال مبللًا

• القميص is the subject
• مبللًا is the predicate, so it takes the accusative ending

That is why the fully vowelled form is مبللًا rather than مبللٌ.

It is basically an adjective meaning wet or soaked, and it comes from the root connected with wetting.

A useful detail is that the fully written form is:

مُبَلَّلًا

The shadda on ل shows that the l sound is doubled. In normal unvowelled writing, that shadda is usually omitted, so learners just see:

مبللا

In this sentence, it functions like an adjective describing the shirt: wet.

Yes. That order is also completely natural and is often the order learners first meet.

So both are possible:

• القميص ما زال مبللًا
• ما زال القميص مبللًا

The difference is mostly about style and emphasis.

• القميص ما زال مبللًا puts the shirt first
• ما زال القميص مبللًا starts with the still/continues to be idea

Both are good MSA.

القميص means the shirt, while قميص means a shirt.

Using الـ makes the noun definite. In this sentence, the speaker is talking about a specific shirt already known from the situation, so القميص is the natural choice.

A careful full pronunciation is:

أَنا آسِفٌ، القَميصُ ما زالَ مُبَلَّلًا.

A helpful transliteration is:

anā āsifun, al-qamīṣu mā zāla muballalan

In normal pause pronunciation, many final short vowels are not pronounced strongly, so you will often hear something closer to:

anā āsif, al-qamīṣ mā zāl muballal

A few pronunciation notes:

• ق in القميص is q, not k
• ص in قميص is an emphatic s
• آسف begins with a long ā
• زال also has a long ā