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Old 10-11-2005, 10:20 PM   #5 (permalink)
xpsal
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good question,
Almakan means the place, so the literal meaning of the sentence is: the place is not far, because as Nani mentioned in a different thread, the word "it's" isn't used that often in Arabic (but gramatically possible), instead you have to mention the whole subject, which is "the place" in our case. so in Arabic we tend to refer to the actual thing rather than use an "it's" instead.
You can also use the word "ennaho" which means "he is" to replace "the place" because place in arabic is masucline, but it doesn't sound as nice as if you mention the whole subject which is "the place" almakan.
I hope this is a little bit clear.
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