B1Unit 8 · Work, studies and stories · Lesson 73 of 100
I used to: kan + verb
kunt adakhkhen · kunna nuʾʿod · lamma kunt zghīr
Goal: Say what you and other people used to do in the past, and set the time with "when I was little" or "when I was a student".
Dialogue
Rana finds an old photo of her father as a student, and Abu Khalil starts to remember. You will learn to say "I used to…" with kān and a verb: kunt adakhkhen "I used to smoke", kunna nuʾʿod "we used to sit".
After dinner in the Khalil house. Rana holds an old photo.
- Ranayāba, mīn hāda fiṣ-ṣūra?Dad, who is this in the photo?
- Abu Khalilhāda ana, lamma kunt ṭāleb!That's me, when I was a student!
- Linaʿan jadd? ya ʿammo, kān shaʿrak ṭawīl!Really? Uncle, your hair was long!
- Abu Khalilā, jīlna kullo kān hēk.Yes, our whole generation was like that.
- Ranaw shu kuntu tiʿmalu baʿd il-muḥāḍarāt?And what did you use to do after lectures?
- Abu Khalilkunna nuʾʿod fil-ʾahwe w nismaʿ aghāni ḥubb ʿar-rādyo.We used to sit in the café and listen to love songs on the radio.
- Linaw mīn hāda z-zalame jambak?And who's this guy next to you?
- Abu Khalilhāda Abu Samīr! kān jārna. kunna nilʿab shadde sawa kull lēle.That's Abu Samir! He was our neighbor. We used to play cards together every night.
- Linaw kunt tdakhkhen, ya ʿammo?And did you use to smoke, Uncle?
- Abu Khalilā, kunt adakhkhen ktīr, lāken hallaʾ ma badakhkhensh, il-ḥamdilla.Yes, I used to smoke a lot, but now I don't smoke, thank God.
- Ranaw il-imtiḥānāt, yāba? kunt tudros?And the exams, Dad? Did you use to study?
- Abu Khalilkunt aḥfaẓ kull ishi bil-lēl. kunt aḍall sahrān laṣ-ṣubḥ!I used to learn everything by heart at night. I used to stay up until morning!
- Linaw shu hāda fi īdak? ʿūd?And what's this in your hand? An oud?
- Abu Khalilā! kull ṣēf kunt aduʾʾ ʿūd fis-sahrāt. w baʿd ma tkharrajt, fataḥt iṣ-ṣaydaliyye w nsīt il-ʿūd.Yes! Every summer I used to play the oud at evening parties. And after I graduated, I opened the pharmacy and forgot the oud.
- Ranaḥarām! kammel, yāba! shu kamān?What a shame! Go on, Dad! What else?
- Abu Khalilkhalaṣ, bikaffi ʾuṣaṣ! hallaʾ, kil-ʿāde, biddi ʾahwe w il-akhbār.That's it, enough stories! Now, as usual, I want my coffee and the news.
New words
| Palestinian Arabic | English |
|---|---|
| ʿāde | habit; customplural ʿādāt; kil-ʿāde = as usual |
| dakhkhan | to smokedakhkhan / ydakhkhen; b-present badakhkhen |
| tkharraj | to graduatetkharraj / yitkharraj; b-present batkharraj; tkharrajt = I graduated |
| tilmīz | pupil (at school)feminine tilmīze, plural talāmīz |
| shadde | playing cards; a card gamewaraʾit shadde = a playing card; liʿib shadde = to play cards |
| ḥubb | loveaghāni ḥubb = love songs |
| kammal | to continue, go on; to completekammal / ykammel; b-present bakammel; kammel! = go on! (to a man) |
| zalame | man, guyplural zlām |
| sahrān | awake, staying up latefeminine sahrāne, plural sahrānīn |
| rādyo | radioplural rādyōhāt; ʿar-rādyo = on the radio |
| jīl | generation; age groupplural ajyāl; jīlna = our generation |
| ʿūd | oud (lute); stick, branchplural (oud) aʿwād, (stick) ʿīdān |
| lāken | but, however |
| kasēt | cassette |
| yāba | dad (when speaking to one's father)to one's mother: yamma |
Grammar
1. "I used to…": kān + present without b-
For something you did regularly in the past, put kān in the past (lesson 47) before a verb in the present without b- (lesson 25). Both words change for the person.
| Person | used to sit | used to smoke |
|---|---|---|
| ana | kunt aʾʿod | kunt adakhkhen |
| inte | kunt tuʾʿod | kunt tdakhkhen |
| inti | kunti tuʾʿodi | kunti tdakhkhni |
| huwwe | kān yuʾʿod | kān ydakhkhen |
| hiyye | kānat tuʾʿod | kānat tdakhkhen |
| iḥna | kunna nuʾʿod | kunna ndakhkhen |
| intu | kuntu tuʾʿodu | kuntu tdakhkhnu |
| humme | kānu yuʾʿodu | kānu ydakhkhnu |
2. "When I was little"
lamma "when" + kān sets the time of the story: lamma kunt zghīr (a man), lamma kunt zghīre (a woman), lamma kunt ṭāleb, lamma kānat tilmīze.
3. Once, or again and again?
The perfect tells one event. kān + verb tells a habit. To say "didn't use to", make kān negative: ma kuntish adakhkhen.
You will also hear kunt baʾʿod, with b-. It means the same; in this course we say kunt aʾʿod.
Practice
1Complete the sentence
lamma kunt zghīr, ___ arūḥ ʿal-madrase bil-bāṣ. = When I was little, I used to go to school by bus.
kunna ___ shadde kull lēle. = We used to play cards every night.
With kunna "we", the verb also says "we": nilʿab.
Abu Khalīl kān ___ ktīr. = Abu Khalil used to smoke a lot.
Līna ___ tismaʿ mūsīqa bil-lēl. = Lina used to listen to music at night.
Abu Khalīl ___ w fataḥ ṣaydaliyye. = Abu Khalil graduated and opened a pharmacy.
2Choose the right answer
"I used to smoke, but now I don't."
Rana speaks to her father. She calls him:
Which sentence tells a habit in the past?
ʾaʿadna "we sat" tells one event; raḥ nuʾʿod is the future.
You want Abu Khalil to go on with his story. You say:
kammli is said to a woman; kammalt means "I continued".
3Match the Arabic and the English
shadde
ʿūd
jīl
tilmīz
sahrān
lāken
4Put the words in order
When I was a student, I used to study at night.
We used to listen to love songs.
5Say it in Palestinian Arabic, then check
Every summer we used to go to Grandma's.
kull ṣēf kunna nrūḥ ʿind sitti.
Did you use to smoke? (to a man)
kunt tdakhkhen?
6True or false?
Abu Khalil had long hair when he was a student.
Abu Khalil still smokes.
He says hallaʾ ma badakhkhensh.
Abu Samir was Abu Khalil's neighbor.
Summary
- You can say what you used to do: kunt aʾʿod, kunna nilʿab, kān ydakhkhen.
- You can set the time: lamma kunt zghīr, lamma kunt ṭāleb.
- You can tell a habit (kunna nuʾʿod) from one event (ʾaʿadna).
- You can say "didn't use to": ma kuntish adakhkhen.