2
The past: we, they, you (pl.)
Arabic A2 · Unit 3
GoalAdd نَحْنُ، أَنْتُم، هُمْ and هُنَّ to the past tense.
New words
دَخَلْنَا (dakhalnā) · we enteredدَخَلْتُم (dakhaltum) · you (pl.) enteredدَخَلُوا (dakhalū) · they (m.) enteredدَخَلْنَ (dakhalna) · they (f.) enteredذَهَبْنَا (dhahabnā) · we wentشَرِبُوا (sharibū) · they (m.) drankكَتَبْتُم (katabtum) · you (pl.) wrote
Explanation
Four more endings complete the past. “We” takes ـْنَا: دَخَلْنَا. “You” (plural) takes ـْتُم: دَخَلْتُم. “They” (men or a mixed group) takes ـُوا: دَخَلُوا, and the alif at the end is written but not pronounced. “They” (women only) takes ـْنَ: دَخَلْنَ. Be careful: دَخَلْنَا (we) ends in an alif and دَخَلْنَ (they, f.) does not. A mixed group always takes the masculine ending.
| Who | Ending | Verb دَخَلَ |
|---|---|---|
| نَحْنُ | ـْنَا | دَخَلْنَا |
| أَنْتُم | ـْتُم | دَخَلْتُم |
| هُمْ | ـُوا | دَخَلُوا |
| هُنَّ | ـْنَ | دَخَلْنَ |
Worked examples
Sentences with we and they.
Salma
هَل كَتَبْتُمُ الدَّرْس؟
Omar
نَعَم، كَتَبْنَا الدَّرْس.
Salma
وَأَيْن الْبَنَات؟
Omar
هُنَّ ذَهَبْنَ إِلَى الْمَكْتَبَة.
Two endings that sound almost the same.
Class activity
Group stories. Write four sentences about what a group did yesterday: your family, your class, two friends. Use ـْنَا for “we”, ـُوا for a group of men or mixed, and ـْنَ for a group of women. Underline the ending in each verb and read the sentences aloud.
Practice
1
Press Listen. Is it “we”, “they (m.)” or “they (f.)”?
…
“We”: خَرَجْنَا (kharajnā), “we went out”. It ends in نَا with an alif.
2
Write in Arabic: “they (m.) wrote”.
كَتَبُوا.
3
The picture shows a boy and a girl. Say: “they played”.
لَعِبُوا. A mixed group takes the masculine ending ـُوا.
4
The picture shows two women. Say: “they (f.) sat”.
جَلَسْنَ.
5
Which two forms differ only by the final alif? What do they mean?
دَخَلْنَا, “we entered”, and دَخَلْنَ, “they (f.) entered”.