PAST TENSE MEANINGS

1. The basic meaning of the past tense relates to an activity that took place in the past, it is prior to the context of the utterance, for example: وَقَفَ مَرَّةً بِبَابِ المَكْتَبَةِ – “Once he stood at the library door.”, Eg رَقَصَ الرَّاقِصُون – “The dancers were dancing.”
2. An event in the past that is related to the present, eg إِحْتَلَفَ المُؤَرِّخُونَ كَذٰلِكَ فِي الشَّهْرِ – “Historians also disagree about the month.”
3. In proverbs, sayings, aphorisms the past tense is used, for example أَنْجَزَ لحُرّ مَا وَعْدَ – “A noble man does what he has promised.”
4. The past tense can speak of events that happened even earlier – the word قد is then used, for example, وَجْدُوا أَنَّ الثَّوْرَةَ قَد قَامَت – “They found the revolution had broken out.”
5. The word قد or لقد emphasizes that the activity took place in the past, eg لَقَد وَضَعْتُ كُلَّ أَمَالِنَا فِيكَ – “I have placed all our hopes in you.”

DENIAL OF THE PAST TENSE

1. With the word مَا, which stands before a conjugated verb in the past tense, eg مَا فَتَحَ – “He didn’t open.”
2. By the word لَمْ followed by a truncated verb (apocopatus), eg لَمْ يَفْتَحَ – “He didn’t open.”

CONJUGATION

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