Lesson 42 – الدَّرْسُ الثَّاني والأرْبَعونَ
Questioning Words (2 of 3) – أدَوَات الاسْتِفْهام (٢ من ٣)
The interrogative noun: مَــتَى /matā/
- We are still in lesson forty two of our free Arabic language course. This Arabic course with images and audios will help you learn Arabic.
- Matā (when) is an important Arabic interrogative word which is used a lot in our speech. Matā is an indeclinable interrogative (questioning) noun with a sukūn case-ending (sukūn on last letter). It is used to ask about time – the time of the action (i.e. when?). This is why the answer should include time. See the following examples:
| Answer | Question | ||
| English | Arabic | English | Arabic |
| I am going to travel tomorrow, God willing. | سَأُسَافِرُ غَدًا إنْ شاءَ اللَّهُ. /sa-usāfiru ghadan In-Shā’-Allâh./ | When are you going to travel to Tunisia? | مَتَى سَتُسَافِرُ إلى تُونُسَ؟ /matā sa-tusāfiru ilā tūnusa?/ |
| At 5 o’clock in the morning. | السَّاعَةَ الخَامِسَةَ صَبَاحا. /as-sāξata al-khâmisata ŝabāħan./ | And when will the plane leave the airport? | وَمَتَى تُغَادِرُ الطَّائِرَةُ المَطَارَ؟ /wa-matā tughâdiru aŧ-ŧâ’iratu al-maŧâra?/ |
| I will arrive the day after tomorrow in the evening. | سَأَصِلُ بَعْدَ غَدٍ فِي المَسَاءِ. /sa’aŝilu baξda ghadin fī al-masā’-i./ | And when will you arrive in Tunisia? | وَمَتَى سَتَصِلُ إلَى تُونُسَ؟ /wa-matā sataŝilu ilā tūnus?/ |
| I will stay there till I finish my work. | سَأَبْقَى هُنَاكَ حَتَّى أَنْتَهِي مِنْ عَمَلِي. /sa-‘abqâ hunāka ħattā antahī min ξamalī./ | And till when will you stay there? | وَإلَى مِتَى سَتَبْقَى هُنَاكَ؟ /wa-ilā matā satabqâ hunāk-a?/ |
| I will return after a week God willing. | سَأَعُودُ بَعْدَ أُسْبُوعٍ إن شاء الله. /sa-aξūdu baξda usbūξin In-Shā’-Allâh./ | And when will you return here again? | وَمَتَى سَتَعُودُ إلى هُنا مَرَّةً أُخْرَى؟ /wa matā sa-taξūdu ilā hunā marratan ukhrâ?/ |
| We will meet after two weeks God willing. | سَنَتَقابَلُ بَعْدَ أُسْبُوعَيْنِ إن شاء الله. /sa-nataqâbalu baξda usbūξayni In-Shā’-Allâh./ | And when will I meet you? | /wa matā sa-‘uqâbiluka?/ |
- Please read the examples above well. You will notice that “matā” does not affect the verbs following it – i.e. the verbs coming after “matā” have not changed in any way.
- You also notice that all the answers to the questions with “matā” include a time as we said before in the lesson.
- You also notice that it is possible that the interrogative (questioning) noun can be preceded by a preposition without changing the noun, such as “ilā matā” as in the fourth example above, because the interrogative nouns are indeclinable.