Session 12 — The Past Tense Properly¶

Second 20-hour cycle: 2 / 10
Total training: 22 / 40 hours
Duration: ~2 hours

Today we turn the past tense from a collection of memorized forms into a usable system.

You already know:

re7et — I went
akalet — I ate
shrebet — I drank
nimet — I slept
shoft — I saw
3melt — I did

Today you'll learn:

I / you / he / she / we / they in the past
the most useful past-tense endings
how to ask past-tense questions
how to negate the past
how to tell a short story
how to distinguish I went / I was going / I didn't go
how to combine past + present + future naturally

0:00–0:15 — Warm-up¶

Say these without looking:

mbāre7 re7et 3ash-shoghel.

mbāre7 eshtaghlet.

mbāre7 akalet.

mbāre7 shrebet ahwe.

mbāre7 nimet bkkiir.

Now answer:

shu 3melt mbāre7?

Give yourself at least five actions.

0:15–0:30 — The basic past-tense idea¶

One of the useful things about the Arabic past tense is that person is often expressed through endings.

Compare:

re7et — I went

re7ti — you went, female

re7 — he went

The basic verb is:

re7

Then the ending tells us who performed the action.

This is much easier to see with a verb like re7.

0:30–0:50 — “Go” in the past¶

راح — re7¶

Let's build the whole family.

Person	Levantine	English
أنا	re7et	I went
إنتَ	re7et	you went M
إنتِ	re7ti	you went F
هو	re7	he went
هي	re7et	she went
نحنا	re7na	we went
إنتو	re7to	you went plural
هنّي	re7o	they went

This is an important table.

Read it aloud:

re7et
re7et
re7ti
re7
re7et
re7na
re7to
re7o

What should you notice?¶

I / you M / she¶

All can be:

re7et

So:

re7et

doesn't tell you the person by itself.

Context does.

You female¶

re7ti

The -i is a strong clue.

We¶

re7na

You plural¶

re7to

They¶

re7o

This is the core pattern to learn.

0:50–1:05 — The past endings¶

For many verbs, you will encounter this approximate pattern:

Person	Ending
I	-et
you M	-et
you F	-ti
he	no ending
she	-et
we	-na
you plural	-to
they	-o

So:

re7 + et → re7et

re7 + ti → re7ti

re7 + na → re7na

re7 + to → re7to

re7 + o → re7o

This is one of the most useful pieces of Arabic grammar you've learned so far.

Important warning¶

Do not assume:

“Take any Arabic verb and just add these endings.”

Arabic verbs have different patterns, and the stem can change.

For example:

shoft

I saw

doesn't behave like:

re7et

So we're learning verb families, not blindly applying a single formula.

1:05–1:20 — “Eat” in the past¶

أكل — akal¶

You've learned:

akalet — I ate

Now:

Person	Levantine
I	akalet
you M	akalet
you F	akalti
he	akal
she	akalet
we	akalna
you plural	akalto
they	akalo

Listen to the endings:

akalet

akalti

akal

akalna

akalto

akalo

The pattern is much clearer here.

Build sentences¶

I¶

akalet ghada.

I ate lunch.

You — female¶

akalti ghada?

Did you eat lunch?

He¶

akal ghada.

He ate lunch.

We¶

akalna ghada.

We ate lunch.

They¶

akalo ghada.

They ate lunch.

1:20–1:35 — “Drink” in the past¶

شرب — shereb¶

shrebet — I drank

The family:

Person	Levantine
I	shrebet
you M	shrebet
you F	shrebi
he	shreb
she	shrebet
we	shrebna
you plural	shrebto
they	shrebo

Again, notice that the stem may change:

shereb → shreb...

This is normal.

1:35–1:45 — “See”¶

شاف — shāf¶

You already know:

shoft — I saw.

Now:

Person	Levantine
I	shoft
you M	shoft
you F	shifti
he	shāf
she	shāfet
we	shifna
you plural	shiftu
they	shāfo

This is a very useful verb because it demonstrates something important:

the past-tense endings stay recognizable even when the verb stem changes.

1:45–1:55 — “Do”¶

عمل — 3emel¶

You know:

3melt — I did.

Now:

3melt — I did

3melt — you M did

3melti — you F did

3emel — he did

3melet — she did

3melna — we did

3melto — you plural did

3emlo — they did

Again, the exact vowels can vary in casual speech and across Levantine varieties. Your priority is recognizing the forms.

1:55–2:00 — Rapid drill¶

I'll give you the English.

Say the Arabic.

I went¶

re7et

We went¶

re7na

They went¶

re7o

You — female — went¶

re7ti

He went¶

re7

I ate¶

akalet

We ate¶

akalna

They ate¶

akalo

He ate¶

akal

You — female — ate¶

akalti

Part 2 — Past-tense questions¶

This is where the system becomes conversational.

You don't need an English-style auxiliary equivalent to did.

You simply use the past verb.

Where did you go?¶

To a man¶

wein re7et?

To a woman¶

wein re7ti?

What did you eat?¶

To a man:

shu akalet?

To a woman:

shu akalti?

What did you drink?¶

To a man:

shu shrebet?

To a woman:

shu shrebi?

What did you do?¶

To a man:

shu 3melt?

To a woman:

shu 3melti?

Part 3 — “When?”¶

إمتى — emta¶

when?

Examples:

emta re7et?

When did you go?

emta akalet?

When did you eat?

emta shrebet ahwe?

When did you drink coffee?

emta nimet?

When did you sleep?

This is a very useful question word.

Part 4 — “Who?”¶

مين — miin¶

Who?

Examples:

miin re7 ma3ak?

Who went with you?

miin shoft?

Who did you see?

miin akal ma3ak?

Who ate with you?

You don't need to master all of these today. The important thing is:

miin = who

Part 5 — “Why?”¶

ليش — leish¶

Why?

Examples:

leish re7et?

Why did you go?

leish ma akalet?

Why didn't you eat?

leish nimet bkkiir?

Why did you sleep early?

This is another high-frequency question word.

Your question toolkit¶

You now have:

Arabic	Meaning
shu?	what?
wein?	where?
emta?	when?
miin?	who?
leish?	why?
kif?	how?
2addeish?	how much?

These are more valuable than memorizing another 50 nouns.

Part 6 — Negative past¶

You've already used:

ma re7et.

I didn't go.

Now see the full system.

I didn't go¶

ma re7et.

You — female — didn't go¶

ma re7ti.

He didn't go¶

ma re7.

We didn't go¶

ma re7na.

They didn't go¶

ma re7o.

Notice:

ma + past form

The past-tense ending remains.

Negative examples¶

ma akalet.

I didn't eat.

ma shrebet.

I didn't drink.

ma shoft.

I didn't see.

ma 3melt.

I didn't do.

ma re7na.

We didn't go.

ma akalo.

They didn't eat.

Part 7 — A very important distinction¶

Compare:

ma barou7.

I don't go / I'm not going.

with:

ma re7et.

I didn't go.

This is fundamental.

Present negative¶

ma + present

ma barou7

I don't go / I'm not going.

Past negative¶

ma + past

ma re7et

I didn't go.

So:

ma bākol

I don't eat.

versus:

ma akalet

I didn't eat.

Part 8 — Past vs present vs future¶

Let's use go.

Habit¶

3āde barou7 3ash-shoghel.

I usually go to work.

Now¶

halla2 barou7 3ash-shoghel.

I'm going to work now.

Yesterday¶

mbāre7 re7et 3ash-shoghel.

Yesterday I went to work.

Tomorrow¶

bukra ra7 rou7 3ash-shoghel.

Tomorrow I'll go to work.

Now do the same with:

eat

and:

drink

This is one of your most important exercises.

Part 9 — Storytelling¶

Arabic becomes much more useful when you can connect actions.

The main connectors you need are:

Arabic	Transliteration	Meaning
و	w	and
بعدين	ba3den	then
بس	bas	but
لأنو	la2anno	because
بعد	ba3d	after/still
قبل	2abl	before

Today prioritize:

w

and:

ba3den

Example¶

mbāre7 re7et 3ash-shoghel w-eshtaghlet.

Yesterday I went to work and worked.

ba3den akalet ghada.

Then I ate lunch.

ba3den shrebet ahwe.

Then I drank coffee.

bil-leil re7et 3a-bēt.

At night I went home.

shoft sa7be.

I saw a friend.

ba3den nimet.

Then I slept.

That's already a coherent story.

Part 10 — Your turn¶

Tell me about yesterday.

You need:

mbāre7
w
ba3den
at least 5 past-tense verbs

Don't worry about making it sophisticated.

For example:

mbāre7 re7et...

w...

ba3den...

ba3den...

bil-leil...

Your story should describe what you actually did, not the example.

Part 11 — “Before” and “after”¶

These are useful for sequencing.

Before¶

2abl

Example:

2abl esh-shoghel shrebet ahwe.

Before work, I drank coffee.

After¶

ba3d

Example:

ba3d esh-shoghel re7et 3al-bēt.

After work, I went home.

You can now make:

2abl esh-shoghel...

ba3d esh-shoghel...

This will become important when we later talk about more complicated narratives.

Part 12 — “Yesterday morning”¶

You already know:

es-sub7

morning

Combine:

mbāre7 es-sub7

yesterday morning

Example:

mbāre7 es-sub7 re7et 3ash-shoghel.

Yesterday morning I went to work.

Yesterday evening¶

mbāre7 bil-leil

Yesterday evening/at night.

Example:

mbāre7 bil-leil shoft sa7be.

Yesterday evening I saw a friend.

Part 13 — “Last week”¶

الأسبوع الماضي¶

In Levantine speech:

es-simēne l-māḍye

last week

For your level, don't prioritize the full phrase yet.

Just recognize:

l-māḍye

past / last.

Your immediate target is still:

mbāre7

because it gives you the most useful conversational practice.

Part 14 — Reading¶

Read these without transliteration.

Basic forms¶

رحت

رحتِ

راح

رحنا

رحتو

راحو

Eat¶

أكلت

أكلتي

أكل

أكلنا

أكلتو

أكلو

Drink¶

شربت

شربي

شرب

شربنا

شربتو

شربو

Your objective isn't speed.

Your objective is to start visually recognizing:

-ت

-تي

-نا

-تو

-و

as recurring past-tense endings.

Part 15 — Pronunciation drill¶

Say:

re7et

Pay attention to:

7

This is ح, not ه.

Then:

re7ti

The final:

-ti

must be audible.

Compare:

re7et

re7ti

Don't swallow the final vowel.

Part 16 — Conversation drill¶

I'll ask you questions.

Answer aloud.

1¶

shu 3melt mbāre7?

2¶

wein re7et?

3¶

miin shoft?

4¶

shu akalet?

5¶

shu shrebet?

6¶

emta re7et 3al-bēt?

7¶

leish re7et?

8¶

re7et la7ālak wala ma3 7ada?

Did you go alone or with someone?

You can answer:

re7et la7āli.

I went alone.

or:

re7et ma3 sa7be.

I went with a friend.

Part 17 — New useful phrase: “with”¶

مع — ma3¶

with.

You've just seen:

ma3 sa7be

with a friend.

Examples:

re7et ma3 bentī.

I went with my daughter.

shrebet ahwe ma3 sa7be.

I drank coffee with a friend.

akalna ma3 ba3d.

We ate together.

ma3 is worth learning extremely well.

Part 18 — New useful phrase: “alone”¶

لحالي — la7āli¶

alone — male speaker

re7et la7āli.

I went alone.

You may hear different forms depending on the speaker's gender and dialect. For now, learn la7āli as your own usable form.

Part 19 — Active recall¶

Translate without looking.

1¶

I went home yesterday.

2¶

We went to work.

3¶

They ate lunch.

4¶

She drank coffee.

5¶

You — female — went to the airport.

6¶

He didn't go.

7¶

We didn't eat.

8¶

What did you do yesterday?

9¶

Where did you go?

10¶

Why did you go?

Part 20 — Final challenge¶

Story 1 — 30 seconds¶

Tell me:

What did you do yesterday morning?

Use:

mbāre7 es-sub7...

At least three verbs.

Story 2 — 30 seconds¶

Tell me:

What did you do yesterday evening?

Use:

mbāre7 bil-leil...

At least three verbs.

Story 3 — 60 seconds¶

Now tell the whole story:

morning → work → lunch → evening → home → sleep

Use:

mbāre7

ba3den

w

bil-leil

Try to speak continuously.

Homework — 30 minutes¶

Exercise 1 — Past conjugation¶

Take:

re7

Say all eight forms:

I
you M
you F
he
she
we
you plural
they

Then do the same with:

akal

Exercise 2 — Questions¶

Answer these about your real yesterday:

shu 3melt mbāre7?

wein re7et?

shu akalet?

shu shrebet?

miin shoft?

emta re7et 3al-bēt?

Exercise 3 — One-minute story¶

Speak for one minute using only the past tense.

Don't stop to look for perfect vocabulary.

If you don't know a word, simplify.

For example, instead of searching for:

“I drove to the supermarket”

you can say:

re7et 3as-supermarket bis-sayyāra.

I went to the supermarket by car.

Communication beats precision at this stage.

Session 12 checkpoint¶

You now have a real past-tense framework:

PAST

I          re7et
you M      re7et
you F      re7ti
he         re7
she        re7et
we         re7na
you pl.    re7to
they       re7o

And the same basic person endings recur across many verbs:

I          -et
you M      -et
you F      -ti
he         —
she        -et
we         -na
you pl.    -to
they       -o

You should not yet expect to generate every past-tense verb perfectly. The important development is that you can now recognize the system and use several high-frequency verbs productively.

Your four essential time anchors are now:¶

mbāre7 re7et...
Yesterday I went...

halla2 barou7...
I'm going now...

3āde barou7...
I usually go...

bukra ra7 rou7...
Tomorrow I'll go...

That is the foundation for telling stories and having actual conversations.

Next: Session 13 — Family, People & Possessives¶

We'll tackle one of the most important areas for natural conversation:

my / your / his / her
my daughter
your house
his car
her phone
our work
family vocabulary
مين هيدا؟ — Who is this?
مين هيدي؟ — Who is this? (feminine)
describing people
age, relationship and possession
a much deeper look at عندي / عندك / عنده / عندها.