"Arwa has a cat."
Translation:عِنْد أَرْوى قِطّة.
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It would be great if this kind of exercise could read the correct answer back so one can check if his pronunciation is okay
Nobody actually talks with the verb "have" first. They say "arwa 'aind qitta" not "'aind arwa qitta". I wish this course taught how people actually speak in person which is Subject- verb- object NOT Verb- subject- object which is only used in classical arabic and writing.
Actually, 3inda عند is not a verb but something that we call a "preposition" in English. "3inda" literally means "beside" or "at". So, "3inda 2arwaa qiTT(un)" literally means "beside Arwa a cat". For "Arwa has a cat", we cannot say "2arwaa 3inda qiTT(in)" which literally means "Arwa at a cat", but we should say "3inda 2arwaa qiTT(un)".
However, it is true that Arabic can have both the "Verb + Subject" or "Subject + Verb" structures as we already know that Arabic is more flexible than English. And, yes, it should be explained :))
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I've come to understand that to learn Arabic I have to try not to look at it as English Language. Everything is different here. I mean look at this Verb ~ Subject ~ Object
LisannevH,
3inda "عند" here means لدي. So, "Arwa has a cat" | أروى لديها قطّة.
If we use "ل", the closer meanings will be:
(1). "a cat/the cat is belong to Arwa" if " لِ" means ownership "المِلْك"
or
(2). "a cat/the cat is for Arwa" if "لِ" means 2ilaa "إِلى".
(My explanation refers to the "MukhtaSSar Mughni Al Labib" مختصر مغني اللبيب book - an advanced source a bit. Please correct me if I am wrong, am still learning both English and Arabic. I accept any feedback).
