Goolge translator says:
We have enough time = لدينا ما يكفي من الوقت
What is the function of the word ما in the sentence above?
Would the following sentence without ما also be correct?
لدينا يكفي من الوقت
PS: Take a look at these free Standard Arabic educational resources: Lesson: Compound nouns in Arabic — Arabic consonants — Kuwait Timeline — Vehicles
- juppAugust 2020
GIVE ANSWERS
Zaid01August 2020 I think it's (ما المصدرية), both ما and يكفي are used as an adverb. No you can't say that, but I think you can say لدينا الكفاية من الوقت However, the sentence with ما is better. |
juppAugust 2020 Thank you very much @Zaid01!
:-)
Zaid01August 2020 Yes، but you should use ما يكفي.
It's not okay because يكفي is a verb, while ما يكفي is an adverb (or a noun) in this sentence.
No, ما has multiple types and its meaning depends on the context. In this sentence ما alone doesn't mean enough, but because it is "combined" with يكفي the meaning of ما يكفي can be the same as الكفاية.
ما can be used to form a question, connect two sentences, make a negative sentence, "combined" with a verb and the combination of them will be an adverb (or a noun)، imply a conditional situation, make an exclamatory phrase, and other uses.
juppAugust 2020 I meant do ما يكفي and الكفاية mean the same?
Google says ما يكفي means enough and يكفي means enough too.
So why it's not okay to write يكفي only?
juppAugust 2020 So do ما and يكفي mean the same?
All translations for ما I found don't make much sense it that sentence.
alaminfaridAugust 2020 لا، لأن "من" هنا البيانية و "ما" اسم الموصول يبين ب"من" فاذا حذفنا المبين "ما" و جئنا بالبيان (من و ما بعدها) فلا يصح المعنى |