Whether it’s where you grew up or what you had for dinner last night, when you’re having a conversation in Arabic, it’s a fact you’re going to have to talk about something using the past tense. And that’s what our post is about today - the past verb tense in Arabic. Sure, learning about verb tenses can be difficult in any language, but today we think you’ll find Kaleela makes learning the past tense easy. So, if you’re ready, let’s take a look at the past so we can get back to looking towards the future. In Arabic, the past tense (فِعل ماضي / fi‘l maadhee )is used to talk about something that has already happened and is finished. For example: أَنا كَتَبْتُ رِسالَة /ʼanaa katabtu risaalah/ I wrote a letter. In this case, the letter was written sometime in the past and I am no longer writing it. Perhaps the most important thing to learn about Arabic verb tenses is conjugation. In Arabic this means adding letters at the end of the verb to make it agree with other words in a sentence. For instance, when conjugating in the first person singular, after the (كَتَبَ), the past tense is made by adding the Arabic suffix (ــتُ) for the singular first person, (ــنا) for the plural first person’ to the end of the verb. For instance: أنا فَعَلْتُ /ʼanaa fa‘altu/ I did نَحْنُ فَعَلْنا /naHnu Fa‘alnaa/ We did أَنا ذَهَبْتُ /ʼanaa THahabtu/ I went نَحْنُ ذَهَبْنا /naHnu THahabnaa/ We went When it comes to the masculine third person singular (فَعَلَ) should be followed by the verb. In this case, no suffix need be added as here we’re using the root of the verb in the masculine case. For example: هُوَ فَعَلَ /huwa fa ‘ala/ He did. However, the feminine is (insert Arabic letters here) should be followed by the verb with the suffix (ت): هيَ فَعَلَت /hiya fa ‘alat/ She did. Other examples include: هُوَ كَتَبَ /huwa kataba/ He wrote. هِيَ كَتَبَت /hiya katabat/ she wrote هُوَ قَرَأ /huwa qara’a/ He read هِيَ قَرَأَت /hiya qara’at/ She read. You see, learning the past tense verbs in Arabic isn’t really difficult at all, is it? Now you no longer have to dwell on the past and can start living for today starting with our next blog on the present tense in Arabic. In fact, Kaleela makes learning all Arabic the right way just as easy. Why not find out for yourself by downloading the Kaleela Arabic language learning app and start speaking Arabic by tomorrow. Kaleela – Learn Arabic the Right Way!Going Back in Time
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Watch the full video about the Past Tense in Arabic here
