سَنَةًyear in Arabic

Example sentences

• لَبِثْتُ سَنَةً وَأَنَا أُرِيدُ أَنْ أَسْأَلَ عُمَرَ

  I waited for a year, wanting to ask Umar.

  سَنَةً — a year. A noun in the object/adverb ending (the '-an' tail) used to measure how long the waiting lasted; it answers 'for how long?'. Arabic marks a stretch-of-time like this with that ending instead of a preposition.

  From: Umar and the Prophet's Wives →

• لَقَدْ إِبْتَدَأَ إِبْنُ الْجَوْزِيِّ فِي التَّصْنِيفِ وَلَهُ مِنَ الْعُمْرِ سَبْعَ عَشَرَ سَنَةً؛

  Ibn al-Jawzi began compiling works when he was seventeen years old.

  سَنَةً — year. The counted noun after a teen number, and the teens take their counted noun in the singular with an object-style ending — 'seventeen year', not 'years'. So the noun stays singular even though the meaning is plural, a number-grammar rule with no English parallel.

  From: A Life of Reading and Writing →