Lesson 59 – الدَّرْسُ التَّاسِعُ وَالْخَمْسُونَ

/kāna/ and its sisters - كـانَ وَأَخَوَاتُـهـا

The characteristics of (kāna) and its sistersخَصَائِص كَانَ وَأَخَواتِها

  • We are still in lesson fifty nine of our free Arabic language course. This Arabic course with images and audios will help you learn Arabic.
  • (kāna) and its sisters are Arabic annuller verbs which precede a nominal sentence and make three changes in it as follows:
    1-They change the meaning of the sentence as we studied in part (2) and part (4) of this lesson. I.e. they add to the sentence a new meaning as continuity, negating, or becoming etc.
    2-They change the name of the subject to be called “the noun of (kāna)” or one of its sisters, and the predicated is changed to be “the predicate of (kāna)” or one of its sisters.
    3-They change the declension of the predicate from nominative into accusative case.
  • The following example clarifies these changes:

مُحَمَّدٌ مُجْتَهِدٌ

/muħammadun muĵtahidun/

Before annuller verb

 

كَانَ مُحَمَّدٌ مُجْتَهِدًا

/kāna muħammadun muĵtahidan/

After annuller verb

  • The following table shows the changes happening in the above mentioned example:

مُجْتَهِدٌ

مُحَمَّدٌ

 

Before annuller

Declension

Declension

Sign

Case

Name

Sign

Case

Name

Đammah

Nominative

Predicate

Đammah

Nominative

Subject

مُجْتَهِدًا

مُحَمَّدٌ

كَانَ

After annuller

Declension

Declension

 

Sign

Case

Name

Sign

Case

Name

Annuller verb (indeclinable on fatħah)

Fatħah

Accusative

Predicate of kāna

Đammah

Nominative

Noun of kāna

  • All annuller verbs (كان وأخواتها) can be present, past or imperative except (لَيْسَ /laysa/) and (مادام /mā dāma). They are only used in the past.
  • In the following table we can see some examples of nominal sentences before and after adding annuller verbs in the past and in the present tense:

After annuller verb

Before annuller verb

Present

Past

English

Arabic

English

Arabic

English

Arabic

The man is being ill

يَكُونُ الرَّجُلُ مَرِيضًا

/yakūnu ar raĵulu marīđan/

The man was ill

كَانَ الرَّجُلُ مَرِيضًا

/kāna ar raĵulu marīđan/

The man is ill

الرَّجُلُ مَرِيضٌ

/ar raĵulu marīđun/

The grape will become red

سَيُصْبِحُ العِنَبُ أَحْمَر

/sayuŝbiħu al ξinabu aħmara/

The grape became red

أَصْبَحَ العِنَبُ أَحْمَرَ

/aŝbaħa al ξinabu aħmara/

The grape is red

العِنَبُ أَحْمَرُ

/al ξinabu aħmaru/

The manager becomes angry in the evening

يُمْسِي المُدِيرُ غَضْبَانَ

 

/yumsī al mudīru ghađbāna/

The manager became (in the evening) angry

أَمْسَى المُدِيرُ غَضْبَانَ

/amsa al mudīru ghađbāna

 

The manager is angry

المُدِيرُ غَضْبَانُ

/al mudīru ghađbānu/

The will be shining

سَتُضْحِي الشَّمْسُ ساطِعَةً

/satuđħī ash shamsu sāŧiξatan/

The sun became shining

أَضْحَتِ الشَّمْسُ ساطِعَةً

/ađħat ash shamsu sāŧξatan/

The sun is shining

الشَّمْسُ ساطِعَةٌ

/ash shamsu sāŧiξatun/

The worker is still skillful

لا يَزَالُ العَامِلُ مُتْقِنًا عَمَلَهُ

/lā yazālu al ξāmilu mutqinan ξamalahu/

The worker is still skilful

مَا زَالَ العَامِلُ مُتْقِنًا عَمَلَهُ

/mā zāla al ξāmilu mutqinan ξamalahu/

The worker is skilful

العَامِلُ مُتْقِنٌ عَمَلَهُ

/al ξāmilu mutqinun ξamalahu/

Muhammad is still student in the university

لا يَنْفَكُّ مُحَمَّدٌ طَالِبًا فِي الجَامِعَةِ

/lā yanfakku muħammadun ŧâliban fī al ĵāmiξati/

Muhammad is still student in the university

ما اِنْفَكَّ مُحَمَّدٌ طَالِبًا فِي الجَامِعَةِ

/mā infakka muħammadun ŧâliban fī al ĵāmiξati/

Muhammad is a student in the university

مُحَمَّدٌ طَالِبٌ فِي الجَامِعَةِ

/muħammadun ŧâlibun fī al ĵāmiξati/

Khalid still fulfills his promise

لا يَبْرَحُ خَالِدٌ وَافِيًا بالعَهْدِ

/lā yabraħu khalidun wāfiyan bil ξahdi/

Khalid still fulfills his promise

ما بَرِحَ خَالِدٌ وَافِيًا بالعَهْدِ

/mā bariħa khalidun wāfiyan bil ξahdi/

Khalid fulfills his promise

خَالِدٌ وَافٍ بالعَهْدِ

/khâlidun wāfin bil ξahdi/