In Palestinian-Jordanian Levantine Arabic, progressive and perfect tenses are not very common but are used in certain situations when it is required to be more specific. The verb كَـــان (kān) ‘he/it was’ is often used as an auxiliary verb to convey meanings similar to the past progressive and most perfect tenses in English. The present progressive and the present perfect progressive tenses are expressed differently.
Table of Contents
- Past Progressive Tense
- Present Perfect Progressive Tense
- Past Progressive Tense
- Past Perfect Tense
- Future Perfect Tense
- Hypotheticals
- Level VI – Advanced II (C2)
Past Progressive Tense
The present tense is often sufficient to express the present progressive tense in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic. For example:
| .إِحْــنَــا بِــالْــبِــيــت مْــنِــتْــفَـــرَّج عَ الــتِّــلْــفِــزْيُـــون ’iḥna bi-l-beyt mnitfarraj ‘a -t-tilfizyown We are at home watching television. |
| .أَنَـــا هَـــلَّأ بَـــقْـــرَا الْــجَـــرِيْـــدِة وبَــشْــرَب قَــهْــوِة ’ana halla’ baqra -l-jarīdeh w-bashrab qahweh I’m now reading the newspaper and drinking coffee. |
To emphasize that an action is taking place in the present progressive tense, we use either the progressive particle عَـــم (‘am) or the active participle قَـــاعِــد (qa‘id), literally meaning ‘sitting,’ followed by a present verb in the indicative or subjunctive mood.
Note that the active participle قَـــاعِــد (qa‘id) varies with the gender and number of the subject, whereas عَـــم (‘am) is invariable.
| .أَنَـــا عَـــم/قَـــاعِـــد بَــتْــفَـــرَّج/أتْــفَـــرَّج عَ الــتِّــلْــفِــزْيُـــون ’ana ‘am/qā‘id batfarraj/’atfarraj ‘a -t-tilfizyown I am watching television. |
| شُـــوْ عَـــم/قَـــاعِـــد بْــتِــعْــمَــل/تِــعْــمَــل؟ shū ‘am/qā‘id (i)bti‘mal/ti‘mal What are you (sing. m.) doing? |
| .إِمِّـــيْ عَـــم/قَـــاعْـــدِة بْــتُــطْــبُــخ/تُــطْــبُــخ ’immi ‘am/qā‘deh btuṭbukh/tuṭbukh My mother is cooking. |
| .صْــحَــابِـــيْ عَـــم/قَـــاعْـــدِيْـــن بِــلْــعَــبُــوْ/يِــلْــعَــبُــوْ كُـــرَة ṣḥābi ‘am/qā‘idīn bil‘abu/yil‘abu kurah My friends are playing football. |
| .اِلْــبَــنَـــات عَـــم/قَـــاعْـــدَات بِــحْــكُــوْ/يِــحْــكُــوْ عَـــن الْـــمَــوْضُـــوْع il-banāt ‘am/qā‘dāt biḥku/yiḥku ‘anil-mawḍū‘ The girls are talking about the topic. |
In general, عَـــم (‘am) is more popular in urban areas, whereas قَـــاعِــد (qa‘id) is often used in rural areas of Palestine.
Present Perfect Progressive Tense
To express the present perfect progressive tense, we use the present indicative in one of the following three constructions:
| (ṣār) ’iluh + time + w-huwwe + present indicative |
| min + time + w-huwwe + present indicative |
| present indicative verb + ’iluh / min+ time |
Here are the different ways of saying ‘I have been watching television for two hours’:
| .ـ (صَــار) إِلِـــيْ سَــاعْــتِــيــن (وأَنَـــا) بَــتْــفَــرَّج عَــلَــى اِلــتِّــلْــفِــزْيُـــون (ṣār) ’ili sā‘teyn (w-ana) batfarraj ‘ala -t-tilfizyown |
| .مِــــن سَــاعْــتِــيــن (وأَنَـــا) بَــتْــفَــرَّج عَــلَــى اِلــتِّــلْــفِــزْيُـــون min sā‘teyn (w-ana) batfarraj ‘ala -t-tilfizyown |
| .بَــتْــفَــرَّج عَــلَــى اِلــتِّــلْــفِــزْيُـــون إِلِـــيْ / مِــــن سَــاعْــتِــيــن batfarraj ‘ala -t-tilfizyown ’ili / min sā‘teyn |
Note that the words in parentheses in the examples above are optional and can be dropped.
Here are more examples expressing the present perfect progressive tense in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic:
| .عَـــدْنَـــان صَـــار إِلُـــه يُـــومِـــيـــن وهُـــوِّ مِــش مْـــبَـــيِّـــن ‘adnān ṣār ’iluh yowmeyn u-huwwe mish (i) mbayyin Adnan has been missing for two days. |
| .وِيـــنَـــك؟ إِلِـــيْ نُــص سَـــاعَـــة بَـــدَوِّر عَــلِــيــك weynak ’ili nuṣṣ sā‘ah badawwir ‘aleyk Where are you? I have been looking for you for half an hour. |
| قَـــدِّيــش صَـــار إِلْــكُــم بْــتِــسْــتَــنُّـــوْ هُــــون؟ qaddeysh ṣār ilkum btistannu hown How long have you (all) been waiting here? |
| .إِحْــنَـــا مْــسَــافْـــرِيْـــن إِلْـــنَـــا شَــهْـــر ’iḥna msāfrīn’ilna shah(a)r We have been traveling for one month. |
| .مِـــن أُسْـــبُـــوْع وأَنَـــا بَــحَـــاوِل أَتْـــوَاصَـــل مَـــعُـــه min ’usbū‘ w-ana baḥāwil ’atwāṣal ma‘uh I have been trying to contact him for a week. |
Past Progressive Tense
To describe continuous actions in the past, we use the verb كَـــان (kān) in the past tense, followed by the action verb in the present indicative or subjunctive tense. Both verbs are conjugated according to the gender and number of the subject.
Here are some examples:
| .كَـــان بِــحْــكِــيْ مَـــع حَـــالُــه لَـــمَّـــا شُـــفْـــتُـــه kān biḥki ma‘ ḥāluh lammā shuftuh He was talking with himself when I saw him. |
| .كَــانُـــوْ بِـــشْـــرَبُـــوْ شَــــاي فِـــيْ الْــبِـــيـــت kānu bishrabu shāy fi -l-beyt They were drinking tea at home. |
| .كُــنَّـــا نِـــلْــعَـــب بَـــرَّا قَـــبْـــل مَـــا تْـــمَـــطِّـــر kunna nil‘ab barrah qab(i)l mā tmaṭṭir We were playing outside before it rained. |
This formula in Arabic is not exactly equivalent to the past progressive tense in English. In Arabic, this formula expresses not only past continuous actions, but also past knowledge and feelings. For example:
| .مَـــا كَــان يِــعْـــرِف اِلــلِّــيْ صَـــار mākān yi‘rif illi ṣār He didn’t know what happened. |
| .كُــنْــت حَـــاسّ إِنُّــــه فِــــيْ إِشِــــيْ غَـــلَـــط kunt ḥāss ’innuh fī ’ishi ghalaṭ I felt that there was something wrong. |
Past Perfect Tense
We can describe a past action that happened before another past action by using the verb كَـــان (kān) in the past tense, followed by the action verb in the past tense as well. Both verbs are conjugated according to the gender and number of the subject.
Here are some examples:
| .كَــانَــت خَـــلَّــصَــت أَكْـــل قَـــبْـــل مَـــا نُـــوْصَـــل kānat khallaṣat ’ak(i)l qab(i)l mā nūṣal She had finished eating before we arrived. |
| .كَـــانُــوْ جَــهَّــزُوْ الْأَغْــــرَاض قَـــبْـــل مَـــا نِــبْـــدَا kānu jahhazu -l-’aghrāḍ qab(i)l mā nibda They had prepared the items before we started. |
| .إِنــتَ كُــنْــت سَـــأَلْــت عَـــن الْـــمَــوْضُـــوْع قَــبْــل اِلْأَحْـــدَاث اِلْأَخِــيْــرِة ’inta kunt sa’alt ‘an il-mawḍū‘ qabl il-’aḥdāth il-’akhīreh You had asked about the subject before the latest events. |
Future Perfect Tense
To describe an action that will be completed before a specific time or event in the future, we use the future tense of the verb كَـــان (kān), followed by the action verb in the past tense. Both verbs are conjugated according to the gender and number of the subject.
Here are some examples:
| .رَح أَكُــــوْن كَــتَــبْــت الــرِّسَـــالِـــة مِــن هُــــون لَآخِـــر اِلْأُسْـــبُـــوْع raḥ akūn katabt ir-risāaleh min hown la-’ākhir il-’usbū‘ I will have written the letter from now until the end of the week. |
| .رَح يْـــكُــــوْنُـــوْ رَتَّـــبُـــوْ الْــبِــيــت قَــبْــل مَـــا تُـــوْصَـــل raḥ (i) ykūnu rattabu -l-beyt qab(i)l mā tūṣal They will have tidied up the house before you arrive. |
| .حَـــنْــكُــوْن غَــيَّــرْنَــا مَــكَــان سَــكَــنْــنَــا لَــمَّــا تِــرْجَـــع تْــزُوْرْنَــا ḥa–nkūn ghayyarna makān sakanna lamma tirja‘ tzūrna We will have changed our residence when you come back to visit us. |
Hypotheticals
To describe a hypothetical event that would have happened in the past, we use the verb كَـــان (kān) in the past tense followed by the action verb in the future tense. Both verbs are conjugated according to the gender and number of the subject. For example:
| .كَـــان رَح يْــنَـــام لَـــوْ أَنَـــا مَــا اتَّــصَــلْــت عَــلِــيــه kān raḥ (i)ynām law ’ana mā -ttaṣalt ‘aleyh He would have slept if I hadn’t called him. |
| .كَــانَــت حَـــتْــزُوْر صَــاحِــبْــتْــهَــا بَـــس طِــلْــعَــت مْــسَـــافْـــرِة kānat ḥa-tzūr ṣāḥibt ha bas ṭil‘at msāfreh She would have visited her friend but it turned out she was traveling. |
| .كُـــنَّــا حَـــنْــسَـــافِـــر لَـــوْ الــرِّحْـــلِـــة مَـــا الْــتَـــغَـــت kunna ḥa-nsāfir law ir-riḥleh mā -ltaghat We would have traveled if the flight hadn’t been canceled. |
Other lessons in Level VI: