I often see Arabs use the construction:
اذا كان تريد
Why is there a kaana between the verb and particle? What is its purpose? What meaning does it convey?
- SunChaserOctober 2023
GIVE ANSWERS
Mona00MostafaOctober 2023 First the correct formation for the sentence is إذا كان يريد this means if he wanted... or in case HE wanted. Or إذا كانت تريد here we mean if or in case SHE wanted... كان expresses the past tense. When there is kan in the sentence, it leads to the subject being nominative and the predicate being accusative, and this gives the sentence new characteristics from the usual. |
Mona00MostafaOctober 2023 Let me rephrase it
If we use إذا كان + فعل مضارع this is similar to إذا + فعل ماض
If we use إذا +فعل مضارع then it indicates to a future. For example: إذا يريد النجاح لابد أن يذاكر If he wants to succeed he must study.
And keep in mind إذا is a conditional tool regardless the tense that follows it we use it to express condition like IF in English.
SunChaserOctober 2023 Shukran I understand morphology, but I’ve never seen اذا يريد I’ve always only seen idhaa with a past tense verb or with كان + فعل مضار
Mona00MostafaOctober 2023 The past tense we usually remove the letter ي for male.
For Female we remove the letter ت then add it at the end of the word.
For Example:
He played لعب She played لعبت
He Wrote كتب She Wrote كتبت
He worked عمل She worked عملت
Mona00MostafaOctober 2023 The literally meaning for If He wants is إذا يريد If She wants إذا تريد
In most cases the present tense in Arabic starts with the letter ي for male, and ت for female.
For example He works we can say هو يعمل or simply يعمل. She works هي تعمل or simply we say تعمل
He plays يلعب She plays تلعب
He writes يكتب She writes تكتب
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SunChaserOctober 2023 Are you sure I can use: إذا أرادت?
I learned that idhaa + فعل ماضي = present tense meaning
”If he wants ...”
Mona00MostafaOctober 2023 Regarding إذا it expresses the condition. For example, إذا كان يريد أن ينجح لابد يذاكر this literally means if he wanted to succeed, he has to study.
Note that, Kana and Isa express about plan started in the past (his wish to succeed) and action in the present ( he have to study).
Mona00MostafaOctober 2023 It’s a linguistic rule, only Language specialists care about it. However in general you can say إذا أراد If he wanted or إذا أرادت If she wanted. This is almost the same meaning in general speaking.