Darija lesson 22: the past, at the end

1

Twenty words

When it happened and what happened. The verbs in the second family are newspaper verbs: steal, fall, break, run away.

When

الْبَارَحْ l-bare7 yesterday
No preposition: l-bare7 khrejt, yesterday I went out.
وَلْبَارَحْ welbare7 the day before yesterday
One word in Darija, five in English.
السِّيمَانَة لِّي فَاتَتْ s-simana lli fatet last week
“The week that passed”. lli is the relative of lesson 36; here it is a set phrase.
الْعَامْ لِّي فَاتْ l-3am lli fat last year
Same pattern, masculine: fat.
هَادِي شِي شْهَرْ hadi shi shher a month ago
hadi + time: ago. But it goes in front: “this, some month”.
عَادْ 3ad to have just
3ad khrej, he has just left. In front of a past verb.

What happened

وْقَعْ wqe3 to happen; to fall
ash wqe3?, what happened?
سْرَقْ sreq to steal
كْسَرْ kser to break
kser rejlu, he broke his leg.
طَاحْ ta7 to fall down
Hollow: ta7, he fell. Its full past is in lesson 23.
هْرَبْ hreb to run away; to escape
حْبَسْ 7bes to stop; to hold
Stop a car, hold a thief.
لْقَى lqa to find
Defective: lqa, he found.

Who

الْبُولِيسْ l-bulis the police
French police, and feminine: weslat l-bulis, the police (she) arrived.
الشّْفَّارْ sh-sheffar the thief
Street word, not courtroom word.
الْكْسِيدَة l-ksida the accident
French accident, reshaped.
الْجِّيرَانْ j-jiran the neighbours
الشَّاهْدْ sh-shahed the witness

To tell it

مَنْ بَعْدْ men be3d afterwards; then
To chain events. Lesson 38 has the full set.
فْجْأَة fej'a suddenly

2

The regular past

Four sentences in the past, with I, she, we and they. Look at the end of each verb.

الْبَارَحْ خْرَجْتْ بْكْرِيl-bare7 khrejt bekri
هِيَ رَجْعَاتْ لْلدَّارْ فْاللِّيلْhiya rej3at l d-dar f l-lil
حْنَا شْرَبْنَا أَتَايْ مْعَ الْجِّيرَانْ7na shrebna atay m3a j-jiran
هُومَا دَخْلُو وْ سَدُّو الْبَابْhuma dekhlu w seddu l-bab

Where is the person marked now: front or back? What ending does “I” take?

The rule

The past takes no ka- and no person prefix. The person goes at the end.

He is the bare dictionary form: kteb, he wrote.

The rest add: -t I, -ti you (man or woman), -at she, -na we, -tu you all, -u they.

When the ending starts with a vowel (-at, -u), the inner vowel shifts, as in the present: kteb, ketbat, ketbu.

Negation is lesson 11 again, wrapped round the verb: ma ktebtsh, I didn't write.

kteb in the past

Person	Say it	Means
أَنَا كْتَبْتْ	ana ktebt	I wrote
نْتَ / نْتِ كْتَبْتِي	nta / nti ktebti	you wrote
هُوَ كْتَبْ	huwa kteb	he wrote
هِيَ كَتْبَاتْ	hiya ketbat	she wrote
حْنَا كْتَبْنَا	7na ktebna	we wrote
نْتُومَا كْتَبْتُو	ntuma ktebtu	you wrote (plural)
هُومَا كَتْبُو	huma ketbu	they wrote
مَا كْتَبْتْشْ	ma ktebtsh	I didn't write

One past only. ktebt is “I wrote” and “I have written”. The past habit (“I used to write”) has its own form, in lesson 24.

What English gives you, and what it costs

Free: the tense choice. English makes you pick between “I wrote” and “I have written”. Darija has one past for both. Stop choosing.

Costly: the endings. English “wrote” covers every person. Here each person has its own, and they are short: a single t is the whole difference between “I” and “he”.

Costly: final consonant clusters. ktebt ends in -bt, khrejt in -jt. English allows “wept” and “slept”; hold on to those and do not add a vowel at the end.

Your mistake, not someone else's

English has no person endings in the past, so you memorise them as a list, and -t and -at sit next to each other. Under pressure, the longer one comes out with “I”: ana khrjat, “I she-went-out”.

×أَنَا خْرْجَاتْ الْبَارَحْThe “she” ending with the pronoun “I”.

✓أَنَا خْرَجْتْ الْبَارَحْ“Yesterday I went out”. Just -t, no vowel before it.

And the half negative: ma khrejt without -sh. You will hear it in the north, but elsewhere the -sh is required: ma khrejtsh.

3

Local incidents

A short crime report written for this lesson, in the past from start to finish. The neighbourhood and the people are invented.

حَوَادْتْ الْحُومَة

الْبَارَحْ فْالْعْشِيَّة، شَفَّارْ سْرَقْ بِشْكْلِيطْ قُدَّامْ الْمَسْجِدْ.

مُولْ الْبِشْكْلِيطْ خْرَجْ وْ تْبَعْ الشّْفَّارْ.

الشّْفَّارْ وْقَعْ فْالزَّنْقَة وْ كْسَرْ رْجْلُو.

الْجِّيرَانْ حَبْسُوهْ، وْ مَنْ بَعْدْ وَصْلَاتْ الْبُولِيسْ.

الْبِشْكْلِيطْ رْجَعْ لْمُولَاهْ.

Local incidents

Did you follow?

What did the thief steal, and where?
Show answers
A bicycle, in front of the mosque.
What did the owner do?
Show answers
Went out and followed the thief: tbe3 sh-sheffar.
What happened to the thief?
Show answers
He fell in the street and broke his leg.
Who arrived at the end?
Show answers
The police: weslat l-bulis, feminine.

4

Check

Two here, three more in the A2 book. Read each sentence aloud: the ending has to be heard.

Exercises 1 and 2 are here, with answers. Exercises 3 to 5 are in the A2 book, the PDF this site lives on: you can see the first item of each below.

1Fill in

Use each verb in the box once. The subject tells you which.

خْرَجْتْرَجْعَاتْشْرَبْنَادَخْلُوكْتَبْتِي

أَنَا ___ مْنْ الدَّارْ مْعَ التّْمَنْيَة
خْتِي ___ مْنْ الْخْدْمَة عْيَّانَة
حْنَا ___ أَتَايْ فْالْقَهْوَة
الدّْرَارِي ___ لْلْمَدْرَسَة بْكْرِي
وَاشْ ___ الْمِيسَاجْ لْصَاحْبَكْ؟

2Into the past

Same subject, same verb: from today to yesterday.

كَنْخْرْجْ بْكْرِي
هِيَ كَتْكْتَبْ الْمِيسَاجْ
حْنَا كَنْشْرْبُو أَتَايْ
هُومَا كَيْدْخْلُو لْلدَّارْ

3True or false?

According to the crime report.

The thief stole a car.

The rest is in the A2 book

3 more items, with the answers.

The A2 book

4Pick the right one

Only one of the three is correct.

1. هِيَ خْرَجْ
2. هِيَ خَرْجَاتْ
3. هِيَ خْرَجْتْ

The rest is in the A2 book

3 more items, with the answers.

The A2 book

5Write

Tell your day yesterday in at least five sentences. Include one negative.

الْبَارَحْخْرَجْتْرْجَعْتْمَنْ بَعْدْمَا ... شْ

The rest is in the A2 book

The A2 book

Show answers

1. Fill in	خْرَجْتْ · رَجْعَاتْ · شْرَبْنَا · دَخْلُو · كْتَبْتِي
2. Into the past	خْرَجْتْ بْكْرِي · هِيَ كَتْبَاتْ الْمِيسَاجْ · حْنَا شْرَبْنَا أَتَايْ · هُومَا دَخْلُو لْلدَّارْ

The A2 book: In preparation

Write and I will tell you the day it is out. One email, no list.

Tell me when it is out

I can now

Tell what I did yesterday, step by step.
Put a regular verb into the past.
Tell -t (I) from -at (she).
Make the past negative with ma...sh.