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Plural Katabtum
-tum Katabtuna
-tuna Singular
3
rd
Kataba -a
Katabat: -at:
Dual Kataba:
-a: Katabata:
-ata: Plural
Katabu -u
Katabna -na
3.4 Forming the Past Tenses
For the discussion of tenses, we need to understand the time concept, tenses is not same with the time, although the tenses matter is time matter. Time is
a concept in the speaker, reader and listener thing . Human’s lived in the three
dimension of time namely the past, present and future. For example:
A
The Past Time: Sofia hugged the baby.
The Present Time: Sofia hugs the baby.
The Future Time: Sofia will huge the baby.
B
The Past Time: You spoke English.
The Present Time: You speak English.
The Future Time: You will speak English.
In the past time is point out at th - ed suffix, it is an concrete characteristic, but the internal change in the form of past spoke because spoke is an irregular
verb while huge is a regular verb. Past tense signals a completed act or series of acts. It often occurs with adverbials of time:
He went to the store.
He went yesterday.
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He went just now
The forms of the past tense are: 1
-d, -t, -id on weak verbs, e.g. play-played 2
Ablaut or vocalic change, e.g. bind-bound, bleed-bled 3
Mixed verbs with alveolar suffix, e.g. say-said, sell-sold 4
Devoicing verbs, e.g. build-built, lend-lent 5
Invariable verbs, e.g. eat, cut, put
According to the time, Arabic verb can be divided into three kinds; Fiil Madhi past tense, Fiil Mudhari present tense and Fiil Amr imperative verb.
The verb in Arabic always change and show suitable with the time of event by the subject of it performer. Verb is a word that indicates the stand alone of
ea i g that is parti ipated the ti e Al fi lu: Kali atu dallat alaa a aa fii nafsihaa waqturinat bi zamaanin
adh a . E a ple:
No. Arabic sentences English sentences
Kinds of
tenses 1.
Al-Ustaadzu yadzhabu
ilal madrosati kulla yaumin
The teacher goes to school every day
Present tense
2. Dzahaba Muhammadun ilal
adrosati a dal aa a Muhammad
went to school yesterday
Past tense
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Arabic past tense or called Fiil Madhi is a word that indicates an event action that has been passed or completed. Fiil Madhi has four conditions in
terms of sense of time: •It ea s has, it sho i pro u iation, meaning, and work that has been
passed. Example:
َاْأَ ْْضََ لسضََاََات ض
ََُّخ ل َق
Allah has created the heavens and the earth
• It ea s ei g, just i ea i g, ut the ord is past. E a ple:
لخَُْخَِ
You are entering
• It means future, just in word. This usually occur when the form sentence promise or prayer, example:
اانلآ َعْطَيْنََٓ ََ ٱ َكَوْثَرْ
indeed, we will give you Kautsar
• The ea i g is appropriate the future a d the past.
In Arabic, the past tense is produced with a system of suffixes. We use the same suffixes regardless of which of the ten verb forms were using. Heres a
table showing the past tense of typical Form I verb so we can spot the suffixes in a pinch.
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Both the languages show similarity in indicating the anteriority of the event in relation to the moment of utterance. This can be symbolized in the two languages
as “E before S”. Principally, it is used to draw attention to the time in the past at which an action occurred and especially as answers to questions asked by when.
Arabic English
Mataa raaytahu amsi marrah? When did you see him last?
Table of equality past tense in Arabic and English: No
Time English
Arabic 1.
Present perfect I have eaten the rice
Akaltu Arruzza 2.
Simple past I ate the rice 10 minute ago
Akaltu arruzza asyru dakoit kobl
3. Past perfect
I had eaten the rice before I went to school
Akaltu arruzza kobla an zahabtu
ilal madrosah
In addition to this main sense of the past form, both the languages illustrate secondary uses for this form as follows:
1 Both the languages use the past to display an action begun at some time in the past, for example:
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Tanawalnaa ţa’aamal-gadaai fissaa’ati asstaaniyah.
We had our lunch at 2 oclock.
2 Both the languages use it to denote successive events in the past, for example:
Adkholatis syayaarotal mir ’aabi wa kharajat minhaa, tsumma aqfalatin
nawaafidzaa wa awşadatil abwaabi tsumma saarat fii ţariiqihaa ilaa maktab.
She drove to the garage, got out of the car, closed all the windows, locked
all the doors, and walked towards the office. 3 Both the languages employ the past with habitual meaning, for instance:
Indamaa kuntu fiil Hindi kuntu uhatifu ahlii maratayiin fil usbu
’.
While I was in India, I phoned my family twice a week.
4 The two languages use the past form to express the Attitudinal past, which denotes the speakers attitude, rather than the past. It is pragmatically regarded
more polite than present form, for example:
Hal aradta an taraanii?
Did you want me?
5 Hypothetical past, for example:
Law kunta tuhibbunii maa qulta dzaalika .
If you loved me, you would not say that.
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Furthermore, there are some aspects of the use of the past form, which are considered as language specific features. Arabic uses the past to express some
other functions as follows the past form in Arabic is employed to denote the present or the future when it indicates: a wish, a prayer, or a curse, for example:
Sa
’ada Allahu abaaka
La ’anahu Allah
This use is rendered in English by the present subjunctive or ‘may+ infinitive’, for instance:
May Allah God helps your father
May Allah curse him
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4. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 4.1 Conclusion