The first verbs: said, was, made, came and knew
Five of the commonest verbs of the Qur’ān, and how a verb in its past form tells you who did the action.
Written and checked by AI
These lessons were written and checked by AI, and no teacher of Arabic has read them yet. The verses, their meanings and the analysis of every word are taken from their sources, which are named where they are shown.
- Words of the Qur’ān known whole
- 34.1%
- Parts of the Qur’ān’s words taught so far
- 59.1%
Counted from the Quranic Arabic Corpus: a word is known whole when every part of it has been taught. The counts say which words you have met, not how much you understand.
The first five lessons taught the small words that hold a sentence together. This one teaches five verbs, among the commonest words of the Qur’ān: "said", "was", "made", "came" and "knew".
The new words
- قَالَAs the Qur’ān writes it: قَالَ · قَالُ · قُلْ
say (qāla: he said)
Root: ق و لTimes in the Qur’ān: 1618
- كَانَAs the Qur’ān writes it: كَانَ · كَانُ · كُن
be (kāna: he was)
Root: ك و نTimes in the Qur’ān: 1358
- جَعَلَAs the Qur’ān writes it: جَعَلْ · جَعَلَ · يَجْعَلُ
make, place, set (jaʿala: he made)
Root: ج ع لTimes in the Qur’ān: 340
- جَآءَAs the Qur’ān writes it: جَآءَ · جَآءَتْ · جِئْ
come (jāʾa: he came)
Root: ج ي اTimes in the Qur’ān: 278
- عَلِمَAs the Qur’ān writes it: يَعْلَمُ · تَعْلَمُ · ٱعْلَمُ
know (ʿalima: he knew)
Root: ع ل مTimes in the Qur’ān: 382
A verb is named by its simplest form: the past, with "he" as the one who did it. So qāla is "he said", and stands in the table for every form of the verb, "says" and "say!" among them. Each lemma's root is three letters, and the next stage of the course is about what a root does.
The past form
A verb in the past form tells you who did the action by its ending. With no ending, the doer is "he".
- قَالُsay (qāla: he said)
- وا۟they (as the doer of a verb); them, their
Qālū is qāla with ū, the pronoun "they" from the second lesson, as the doer: "they said". The corpus marks the verb as perfect, its name for the past form.
- وَand
- جَعَلْmake, place, set (jaʿala: he made)
- نَاwe (as the doer of a verb); us, our
Wa-jaʿalnā is wa, "and", then jaʿal, "made", then nā, "we": "and we made". The pronoun that is the doer of a past verb is written as part of it.
She
- فَso, then, and so
- كَانَتْbe (kāna: he was)
Fa-kānat is fa, "so", and kānat, "she was" or "it was". The -at ending says that the doer is feminine: "she", for a woman or for a thing the language calls feminine. The corpus does not divide it off as a pronoun, as it does ū and nā: it keeps it as part of the verb, and marks the verb third person, feminine, singular.
A verb with an object
- جَآءَcome (jāʾa: he came)
- هُhim, his; it, its
Jāʾahu is jāʾa, "came", and hu, "him": "came to him". Here the pronoun is not the doer but the one the action reaches.
In a sentence
The boy came.
This sentence was written for practice. Jāʾa l-waladu, "the boy came": in Arabic the verb usually comes first, and the doer after it.
The house was big.
Kāna, "was", has its own way: the word after its subject takes the accusative ending, kabīran.
Reading
The words you know whole after this lesson are marked.
And [the pagans] used to say[1],
English Translation - Rowwad Translation Center · QuranEnc.com · version 1.0.20Indeed, these [Makkans] say,
English Translation - Rowwad Translation Center · QuranEnc.com · version 1.0.20Say, “To whom belong the earth and all those who are on it, if you really know?”
English Translation - Rowwad Translation Center · QuranEnc.com · version 1.0.20Recall
- What is the doer of qālū?
- How is "we made" written?
- What does the ending -at on kānat say?
Answers: "they", the pronoun ū; jaʿalnā; that the doer is feminine: "she", or a thing the language calls feminine.
Next
The next lesson teaches the present form of the verb, and the letter that makes it future.
Word analysis: Quranic Arabic Corpus 0.4 (Kais Dukes)