Scribd
Upload
466 views2 pages

Sarf Variations of The Past Tense

The document discusses variations of the past tense in Arabic. It explains that adding قد in front of a past tense verb makes it present perfect, denoting recently completed actions. Adding كان in front of a past tense verb makes it past perfect, denoting actions completed in the distant past. It provides examples of how verbs are conjugated when used with قد and كان by changing the form of كان to agree with the subject. Negating these forms is done by adding ما in front.

Uploaded by

api-3709915
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
466 views2 pages

Sarf Variations of The Past Tense

The document discusses variations of the past tense in Arabic. It explains that adding قد in front of a past tense verb makes it present perfect, denoting recently completed actions. Adding كان in front of a past tense verb makes it past perfect, denoting actions completed in the distant past. It provides examples of how verbs are conjugated when used with قد and كان by changing the form of كان to agree with the subject. Negating these forms is done by adding ما in front.

Uploaded by

api-3709915
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

 Sarf ­ Variations of the Past    Tense 

Until now we have seen how to conjugate verbs using the simple past tense e.g. he ate, he helped, he  
did etc. Now we will see how we can couple some words to the past tense verb and make it either 
present perfect e.g. he has helped or past perfect e.g. he had helped.
Sticking the word ‫ قد‬in front of a past tense verb makes it present perfect. Thus, ‫ قد‬denotes actions 

which have just been completed e.g. he has helped, he has done, he has read etc. Note that ‫ قد‬is a ‫حرف‬

(i.e. a particle) so it does not change its form with the changing form of the verb. As an example, َ‫نَصَر‬

means he helped and َ‫ قد نَصَر‬means he has helped. The significance of this will become clear when we 

deal with the next section about making past perfect tense. One more thing to note is that you cannot 

attach a ‫ ما‬in front of ‫ قد‬to negate it: this construction is not allowed in Arabic.

If we add ‫ کان‬in front of a past tense verb the verb becomes past perfect. Thus, ‫ کان‬denotes actions 

which have been completed in distant past. However, ‫ کان‬is a verb, just like َ‫ َفعَل‬, so it will also change 

its form when coupled with the past tense verb. The following table shows how this is done:

َ‫كان نَصَر‬ He had helped

‫كانا َنصَرا‬ They (2 males) had helped

‫كانوا نَصَروا‬ They (many males) had helped

ْ‫كانَتْ نَصَرَت‬ She had helped

‫كانَتا نَصَرَتا‬ They (2 females) had helped

َ‫كُنّ نَصَرْن‬ They (many females) had helped

َ‫كُنتَ نَصَرْت‬ You (1 male)had helped


‫كُنتُما نَصَرْتُما‬ You (2 males) had helped

‫كُنتُم نَصَرْتُم‬ You (many males) had helped

ِ‫كُنتِ نَصَرْت‬ You (1 female) had helped

‫كُنتُما نَصَرْتُما‬ You (2 females) had helped

ّ‫كُنتُنّ نَصَرُْتن‬ You (many females) had helped

ُ‫كُنتُ نَصَرْت‬ I had helped

‫كُنّا نَصَرْنا‬ We had helped

The negation of this conjugation is constructed simply by adding a ‫ ما‬in front of it. Also, the passive 

voice for this conjugation is constructed the same way as before: dhamma on the first letter, kasra on 

the second last letter.

You might also like