Learn Arabic › A1 › ماذا
ماذا
what /maːˈðaː/
otherA1#22 most common
Also: what (in questions), what is it that
Example sentences
ماذا تريد؟
What do you want?
ماذا تفعل الآن؟
What are you doing now?
ماذا أكلت في المطعم؟
What did you eat at the restaurant?
ماذا تعرف عن تاريخ هذه المدينة؟
What do you know about the history of this city?
ماذا سنفعل إذا تأخر القطار عن موعده؟
What will we do if the train is late?
ماذا عساه أن يفعل أمام هذا الموقف الصعب؟
What could he possibly do in the face of this difficult situation?
Word family
ماwhat (interrogative/relative)
لماذاwhy (for what reason)
بماذاwith what / by what
عمَّ (عن ماذا)about what
ذاthis, that (demonstrative)
Etymology
ماذا is a compound interrogative built from the question word ما (mā, "what") fused with the demonstrative ذا (ðā, "this/that"), originally meaning roughly "what (is) this?". Both elements belong to the inherited Semitic stock of interrogatives and deictics. Over time the two parts lexicalized into a single word used to ask "what" especially before verbs.
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