☰ Units · Arabic A2

The past tense in full

Unit 3 · Part A · Arabic A2 (Elementary)
1

The past: I, you, he, she

Arabic A2 · Unit 3
GoalMake the past tense for أَنَا، أَنْتَ، أَنْتِ، هُوَ and هِيَ.
New words
دَخَلَ (dakhala) · he enteredخَرَجَ (kharaja) · he went outجَلَسَ (jalasa) · he satفَتَحَ (fataḥa) · he openedلَعِبَ (laʿiba) · he playedسَمِعَ (samiʿa) · he heardفَهِمَ (fahima) · he understood
Explanation

The base form of the past verb is “he”: دَخَلَ means “he entered”. For the other persons, we add an ending to the stem and put a sukun on the last stem letter. For “I” the ending is ـْتُ, for “you” (to a man) ـْتَ and for “you” (to a woman) ـْتِ. For “she” the ending is ـَتْ. So we get دَخَلْتُ، دَخَلْتَ، دَخَلْتِ، دَخَلَ، دَخَلَتْ. The past tense has no prefix, only endings. Listen to the last vowel of تُ، تَ، تِ.

WhoEndingVerb دَخَلَ
أَنَاـْتُدَخَلْتُ
أَنْتَـْتَدَخَلْتَ
أَنْتِـْتِدَخَلْتِ
هُوَـَدَخَلَ
هِيَـَتْدَخَلَتْ
Worked examples
Four sentences in the past.
Layla

أَيْن جَلَسْتَ؟

Karim

جَلَسْتُ بِجَانِب الْبَاب.

Layla

هَل فَتَحْتَ النَّافِذَة؟

Karim

نَعَم، فَتَحْتُ النَّافِذَة.

Layla asks Karim about the room.
فَهِمْstem+تُ / تَ / تِI / you (m.) / you (f.)
Same verb, three endings: the last vowel tells who.
Class activity

Yesterday. Write five true sentences about yesterday with five different verbs from the list, using ـْتُ for “I”. Then write two questions, one for a man and one for a woman, for example هَل دَخَلْتَ؟ and هَل دَخَلْتِ؟. Read all of them aloud.

Practice
1
Press Listen. Did he or she drink?

…

2
Write in Arabic: “I opened”.
3
The picture shows a girl. Say: “she sat”.
4
The picture shows a woman. Ask her: “did you enter?”.
5
Which endings show “I”, “you” (m.) and “you” (f.)?