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Learning Darijaالدارجة

Lesson 24 · A2

When I was little

“I used to play”, “we would go”, “my grandmother told us stories”. Darija marks past habits with two words, just like “used to”: kan, “was”, and the verb in the present.

  • Tell what your childhood was like and what you used to do.
  • Conjugate kan, “to be”, in the past.
  • Make the past habitual: kan + present with ka-.
  • Follow an older person's memories.
1

Twenty words

Childhood, mostly in the countryside, where many of today's Moroccan grandparents grew up.

People

  • صْغِيرْ sghir small; young

    mlli kont sghir, when I was little. For a woman: sghira.

  • الصّْغُرْ s-sghur childhood

    “Smallness”: f s-sghur, as a child.

  • الْجّْدّْ j-jedd grandfather

    jeddi, my grandfather.

  • الْجّْدَّة j-jedda grandmother

    jeddti, my grandmother. The t appears with the possessive, as in lesson 9.

  • وْلَادْ الْحُومَة wlad l-7uma the neighbourhood kids

    “The sons of the neighbourhood”. The gang.

What we did

  • لْعَبْ l3eb to play

    Regular. l3eb l-kura, play football: no preposition.

  • الْكُورَة l-kura ball; football

    One word for both.

  • الْمْسِيدْ l-msid Quranic school

    Where children learnt to read and memorised the Quran before regular school.

  • الْفْقِيهْ l-fqih the msid teacher

    Also a religious scholar more generally.

  • حْفَظْ 7fed to learn by heart

    7fed l-qur'an, memorised the Quran.

  • عَاشْ 3ash to live (a life)

    Hollow: 3esht, I lived. “Live somewhere” is sken.

The countryside

  • الْبْلَادْ l-blad home town; home country

    l-blad is where you are from: village, region or the whole of Morocco.

  • الدُّوَّارْ d-duwwar hamlet

    The smallest rural settlement, a few houses.

  • الْبِيرْ l-bir well (water)
  • الْغْنَمْ l-ghnem sheep

    Collective, like English “sheep” itself.

  • الضَّوْ d-daw electricity

    The daw, light, of lesson 19.

When

  • زْمَانْ zman in the old days

    Opens many a story: “once”.

  • فْدَاكْ الْوَقْتْ f dak l-weqt at that time
  • مْلِّي mlli when

    For the past: mlli kont sghir. The question “when?” is imta, a different word.

  • دَابَا daba now
2

Was, used to

Three sentences about past habits and one about yesterday. Look at what comes before the present-tense verb.

  1. مْلِّي كُنْتْ صْغِيرْ، كُنْتْ كَنْلْعَبْ الْكُورَةmlli kont sghir, kont kanl3eb l-kura
  2. جَدّْتِي كَانَتْ كَتْطْيَّبْ الْخُبْزْ فْالدَّارْjeddti kanet kattiyyeb l-khobz f d-dar
  3. كُنَّا كَنْمْشِيوْ لْلْمْسِيدْ بْكْرِيkonna kanmshiw l l-msid bekri
  4. الْبَارَحْ كُنْتْ فْالدَّارْl-bare7 kont f d-dar

Which word keeps appearing before kanl3eb, kattiyyeb, kanmshiw? And what about the last sentence, which has no other verb?

The rule

kan is “to be” in the past. In the present it doesn't exist (lesson 1), but in the past it does, and it is hollow like qal: kont, konti, kan, kanet, konna, kontu, kanu.

On its own it means “was/were”: kont f d-dar, I was at home.

Before a present verb with ka-, it makes the past habitual: kont kanl3eb, I used to play. Both words carry the person: konna kanmshiw, we used to go.

Negative: ma...sh wraps round kan. ma kontsh kanl3eb, I didn't use to play.

kan in the past

PersonSay itMeans
أَنَا كُنْتْana kontI was
نْتَ / نْتِ كُنْتِيnta / nti kontiyou were
هُوَ كَانْhuwa kanhe was
هِيَ كَانَتْhiya kanetshe was
حْنَا كُنَّا7na konnawe were
نْتُومَا كُنْتُوntuma kontuyou were (plural)
هُومَا كَانُوhuma kanuthey were
كُنْتْ كَنْلْعَبْkont kanl3ebI used to play

Lesson 23's hollow pattern: short o in the -t persons, long a in the rest.

What English gives you, and what it costs

Free: the shape. “Used to play” is two pieces; so is kont kanl3eb. Map one onto the other.

Costly: the obligation. English lets you say “as a child I played football” with a plain past. Darija does not: a habit needs kan. l3ebt is one match.

Costly: both words agree. “Used to” never changes; kont kanl3eb, kanet katl3eb, konna kanl3bu all do.

Your mistake, not someone else's

English is happy with “When I was little, I played football”. So you put kont in the “when” clause and go straight to the verb. Without its own kan, the second verb drops into the present.

×مْلِّي كُنْتْ صْغِيرْ، كَنْلْعَبْ الْكُورَة“When I was little, I play football”.

✓مْلِّي كُنْتْ صْغِيرْ، كُنْتْ كَنْلْعَبْ الْكُورَة“When I was little, I used to play football”. kont twice.

And the plain past for a habit: mlli kont sghir, l3ebt l-kura means you played one single game as a child.

3

Si Ahmed remembers

A seventy-eight-year-old man remembers his childhood in a hamlet. Written for this lesson; Si Ahmed is invented, but his childhood is a very common one.

Did you follow?

  1. Where did he live as a boy?

    Show answers

    In a hamlet: f d-duwwar.

  2. Where did the water come from?

    Show answers

    The well: mn l-bir. There was no electricity.

  3. What was the msid teacher like?

    Show answers

    Strict: qase7.

  4. What did he do in the afternoons?

    Show answers

    Took the sheep out to graze with his brother.

4

Check

Two here, three more in the A2 book.

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 kan

The form of kan each subject needs.

كُنْتْكَانَتْكُنَّاكَانُوكُنْتِي

  1. أَنَا ___ صْغِيرْ فْدَاكْ الْوَقْتْ
  2. مّي ___ كَتْخْدَمْ فْالْمَدْرَسَة
  3. حْنَا ___ كَنْلْعْبُو فْالزَّنْقَة
  4. الدّْرَارِي ___ كَيْمْشِيوْ لْلْمْسِيدْ
  5. وَاشْ نْتِ ___ سَاكْنَة فْفَاسْ؟

2Make it a habit

Add the right form of kan: from “I play” to “I used to play”.

  1. كَنْلْعَبْ الْكُورَة
  2. هِيَ كَتْقْرَا بْزَّافْ
  3. حْنَا كَنْمْشِيوْ لْلْبْلَادْ
  4. هُومَا كَيْسْكْنُو فْالدُّوَّارْ

3True or false?

According to Si Ahmed.

  1. He grew up in the countryside.

The rest is in the A2 book

4 more items, with the answers.

The A2 book

4Match

Join the two halves of each sentence.

1الْبَارَحْ كُنْتْaالضَّوْ فْالدُّوَّارْ

The rest is in the A2 book

3 more items, with the answers.

The A2 book

5Write

In five sentences, tell what your childhood was like. At least three verbs with kont kan-.

مْلِّي كُنْتْ صْغِيرْكُنْتْ كَنْ...زْمَانْدَابَا

The rest is in the A2 book

The A2 book
Show answers
1. Fill in kanكُنْتْ · كَانَتْ · كُنَّا · كَانُو · كُنْتِي
2. Make it a habitكُنْتْ كَنْلْعَبْ الْكُورَة · كَانَتْ كَتْقْرَا بْزَّافْ · كُنَّا كَنْمْشِيوْ لْلْبْلَادْ · كَانُو كَيْسْكْنُو فْالدُّوَّارْ

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 used to do as a child.
  • Conjugate kan in the past.
  • Build the past habitual with two conjugated verbs.
  • Tell l3ebt, I played (once), from kont kanl3eb, I used to play.