أَأَنْتَ ضَرَبْتَ زَيْدًا
Were you the one who struck Zayd?
Analyse an interrogative in order: (1) identify the interrogative expression; (2) parse verb, subject, object, or nominal predicates; (3) decide whether the whole predication or one constituent is unsettled; (4) test the likely answer; (5) use context to determine any rhetorical extension.
This method distinguishes the focus of “A-qāma Zaydun?”, “A-ʿAmran ʿarafta?”, and “A-anta ḍarabta Zaydan?” without conflating grammatical position and communicative purpose.