Complex tenses in Arabic
In order to express variations of tense and aspect, Arabic uses certain auxiliary verbs and particles alongside the main verb.
The most common are the particle قَدْ (qad) and the verb كَانَ (kana).
If we want to express ideas like “used to” or “was …ing”, Arabic uses كَانَ conjugated in the past tense, followed by the main verb in the present tense.
Both parts inflect for gender, person, and number, and the main verb always follows كَانَ.
Unlike English, this construction also applies to verbs of knowing, feeling, or understanding, as these are seen as actions extending over a period of time in the past.
Let’s look at some examples:
When an action began in the past and continues into the present, and there is a specific reference to the duration of time it has continued, the present tense is used in Arabic.
For the present perfect simple, as we’ve seen in a previous post, the past tense in Arabic can also express this meaning.
To express a concept similar to the past perfect and past perfect continuous in English, that is, an action completed or an action that continued over a period of time before another past event, Arabic uses the past tense of كَانَ (kana) followed by either the past tense or the present tense of the main verb:
كَانَ + past verb → expresses a completed action (past perfect simple)
كَانَ + present verb → expresses an ongoing or repeated action (past perfect continuous)
To express a concept similar to the future perfect and future perfect continuous in English, that is, an action that will be completed or an action that will have continued for a period of time before another future event, Arabic uses the future (or present) tense of كَانَ (yakun / sayakun) followed by either the past tense or the present tense of the main verb:
سَيَكُونُ + past verb → expresses a completed action (future perfect simple)
سَيَكُونُ + present verb → expresses an ongoing or continuous action (future perfect continuous)
When to use قَدْ (qad)
The particle قَدْ (qad) is used with verbs and has no exact equivalent in English.
It serves to emphasize or confirm the completion or degree of an action.
When used with a past tense verb, قَدْ emphasizes that the action has indeed occurred.
It can often be translated as “indeed”, “already”, or “really”, depending on the context, and sometimes it has no direct translation at all.
When قَدْ (qad) is used with a present tense verb, it emphasises the possibility or potentiality of the action rather than its actual occurrence.
In this case, it can be translated as “may”, “might”, or “perhaps”.
