Chapter 4 - Madinah Arabic Book 2

Key points:

• suffixes are added as pronouns to the basic form of past tense verbs

• ما makes verbs in the past tense negative

• بلى is a response to a negative question

• لِأَنَّ = because

Verbs in the madi

Verbs in the madi are in the past tense

In ذهب (he went) and ذَهَبَتْ (she went), the subject is dhamir mustatir (لضَّمَائِرُ الْمُسْتَتِرَةُ) - a hidden pronoun.

Note: the ت in ذَهَبَتْ is the sign it is feminine and not a pronoun

Suffixes are added to the basic form to show other prounouns

This process is called isnaad

ذَهَبُوا : they went, the و is the subject (the ا is not pronounced)

ذَهَبْنَ: they went (feminine), the ن is the subject

ذَهَبْتَ: you went (masc.), the ت is the subject

ذَهَبْتُ: I went, the تُ is the subject

Making a verb in the madi negative

For verbs in the madi, ما is used to make it negative:

دخل حسن ولاكنّه ما جلس: Hasan entered but he did not sit

ما ذهبتُ إلى المكتبة: I did not go to the library

The difference between نعم and بلى

نعم means ‘yes’, whereas بلى is a response to a negative question and means something closer to ‘of course’

Example:

أما ذهبتَ إلى المدرسة اليوم؟ : Did you not go to school today?

بلى.ذهبتُ : Of course, I went.

The word لِأَنَّ

لِأَنَّ = because

Example:

ما خرجتُ لأنّ الجوَّ بارد: I did not leave because the weather is cold

لِأَنَّ is a sister of إِنَّ, so the noun following is mansub

Vocabulary

شاي : tea

لَا بَاْسَ : may no harm come to you