B1Unit 10 · Palestine and the diaspora · Lesson 96 of 100
Memories: I had to, I was going to
kān lāzim · kān biddi · kān ʿindi · kunt raḥ · kān mumkin
Goal: Talk about what you had, wanted, had to do, could have done and were going to do in the past.
Dialogue
The power goes off at Sitti Halime's house, and she lights an old kerosene lamp. That brings back memories of village life when she was a girl. You will learn to put kān in front of biddi, ʿindi, lāzim, mumkin and raḥ to talk about the past.
An October evening at Sitti Halime's house in the village, a few days after the olive harvest. Suddenly the power goes off.
- Khalilil-kahraba nʾaṭaʿat! ma bashūfsh ishi bil-ʿatme!The power has gone off! I can't see a thing in the dark!
- Sitti Halimema tkhāfūsh, ya wlād. hallaʾ bashaʿʿel lambit il-kāz.Don't be afraid, children. I'll light the kerosene lamp now.
- Linaʿan jadd? lissa ʿindik lambit kāz, ya sitti?Really? You still have a kerosene lamp, Grandma?
- Sitti Halimeṭabʿan! lamma kunt zghīre ma kānsh fī kahraba fil-balad. kān lāzim nshaʿʿel il-lamba kull lēle.Of course! When I was little, there was no electricity in the village. We had to light the lamp every night.
- Ranaw il-mayye? kānat ʿindkom mayye fil-bēt?And water? Did you have water in the house?
- Sitti Halimelaʾ. kān lāzim arūḥ ʿal-ʿēn kull yōm w ajīb il-mayye bil-jarra. w fil-bēt kunna nishrab min il-kūz.No. I had to go to the spring every day and bring the water back in a jar. And at home we drank from a little jug.
- Linaw kān ʿindkom ḥaywānāt?And did you have animals?
- Sitti Halimekān ʿinna ghanam w ʿanz, w kānat ʿinna baʾara waḥde w ḥmār. w fir-rabīʿ kān fī ḥumlān zghār.We had sheep and goats, and we had one cow and a donkey. And in spring there were little lambs.
- Ranaw il-madrase, ya sitti? kunti trūḥi?And school, Grandma? Did you go?
- Sitti Halimekān biddi arūḥ, bass il-madrase kānat bʿīde. w kunt raḥ atrikha baʿd sane, bass abūy ʾalli: lāzim titʿallami!I wanted to go, but the school was far away. And I was going to leave it after a year, but my father told me: "You must learn!"
- Ranaalla yirḥamo.God rest his soul.
- Sitti Halimetʿīshi, ya ḥabībti. kunna nimshi sāʿa kull yōm, w ḍallēt arūḥ sitt snīn. kān mumkin akammel, bass kān lāzim asāʿed immi fil-bēt.Thank you, my dear. We walked an hour every day, and I kept going for six years. I could have gone on, but I had to help my mother at home.
- Linaw kān ʿindkom rādyo?And did you have a radio?
- Sitti Halimelaʾ! awwal rādyo fil-balad kān ʿind jārna. kull il-jīrān kānu yīju yismaʿu l-akhbār ʿindo.No! The first radio in the village was at our neighbor's. All the neighbors used to come and listen to the news at his house.
- Khalilya sitti, iḥkīlna ḥikāye min zamān! w baʿdēn waḥde kamān, w waḥde kamān…Grandma, tell us a story from the old days! And then another one, and another one…
- Sitti Halimefataḥnālo, dakhal bi-ḥmāro!(laughing) Give him an inch and he takes a mile! (literally: we opened the door for him, and he came in with his donkey)
New words
| Palestinian Arabic | English |
|---|---|
| jarra | jar, earthenware jugplural jrār; bil-jarra = in a jar |
| kūz | small jugfor drinking water |
| ḥmār | donkeyplural ḥamīr |
| ʿanze | goatcollective ʿanz "goats" |
| ghanam | sheepcollective; one sheep: ghaname |
| ḥamal | lambplural ḥumlān |
| kāz | kerosenelambit kāz = a kerosene lamp |
| ʿatme | darknessbil-ʿatme = in the dark |
| baʾara | cowcollective baʾar "cows" |
| ḥikāye | story, taleplural ḥikāyāt |
| ya ḥajje | (respectful address to an elderly woman)to an elderly man: ya ḥajj |
| fataḥnālo, dakhal bi-ḥmāro | give him an inch and he takes a mileproverb; literally "we opened (the door) for him, he came in with his donkey" |
| shaʿʿal | to light (a fire, a lamp)shaʿʿal / yshaʿʿel; b-present bashaʿʿel |
| alla yirḥamo | God rest his soul (about someone who has died)about a woman: alla yirḥamha; reply: tʿīsh, to a woman: tʿīshi |
Grammar
1. kān + want, must, can
You know kān "was" (lesson 47). Put kān in front of biddi, lāzim, mumkin or fī, and the sentence moves to the past. The verb after them is still the present without b-, as always.
| Now | In the past | English |
|---|---|---|
| biddi arūḥ | kān biddi arūḥ | I wanted to go |
| lāzim nshaʿʿel il-lamba | kān lāzim nshaʿʿel il-lamba | we had to light the lamp |
| mumkin akammel | kān mumkin akammel | I could have gone on |
| fī kahraba | kān fī kahraba | there was electricity |
Here kān never changes: kān bidha trūḥ "she wanted to go", kān lāzim nimshi "we had to walk".
The negative is ma kānsh: ma kānsh biddi, ma kānsh fī kahraba "there was no electricity".
2. "I had": kān ʿindi, kānat ʿindi
With ʿind-, kān agrees with the thing you had (lesson 47): kān for a masculine word, kānat for a feminine word. For collectives like ghanam, use kān.
3. "I was going to": kunt raḥ
raḥ "will" (lesson 66) after kān means "was going to". This time kān takes the person: kunt raḥ, kān raḥ, kunna raḥ. It often tells a plan that did not happen, so bass "but" usually follows.
Practice
1Complete the sentence
___ biddi arūḥ ʿal-madrase, bass kānat bʿīde. = I wanted to go to school, but it was far.
With biddi, kān does not change.
kān ___ nshaʿʿel il-lamba kull lēle. = We had to light the lamp every night.
kān mumkin would be "we could have".
___ ʿinna baʾara waḥde. = We had one cow.
baʾara is feminine, so kānat.
kunt ___ atrik il-madrase, bass abūy ʾalli: lāzim titʿallami! = I was going to leave school, but my father told me: "You must learn!"
2Choose the right answer
kān mumkin akammel, bass kān lāzim asāʿed immi. means:
"I had to" is kān lāzim.
You want to say "There was no electricity."
ma fīsh is "there isn't", now.
Rana says alla yirḥamo about Sitti Halime's father. Sitti Halime answers:
The reply is tʿīsh, and tʿīshi to a woman.
You speak with respect to an elderly woman:
3Match the Arabic and the English
jarra
kūz
ḥmār
ghanam
ʿatme
ḥikāye
4Put the words in order
I wanted to go, but the school was far.
We had to light the lamp every night.
5Say it in Palestinian Arabic, then check
We had sheep and goats.
kān ʿinna ghanam w ʿanz.
I was going to travel, but I didn't travel.
kunt raḥ asāfer, bass ma sāfartish.
6True or false?
When Sitti Halime was little, there was electricity in her village.
She says ma kānsh fī kahraba fil-balad.
Sitti Halime's family had a cow.
The first radio in the village was at Sitti Halime's house.
It was at the neighbor's: kān ʿind jārna.
Summary
- You can say what you wanted, had to do and could have done: kān biddi, kān lāzim, kān mumkin.
- You can say what you had and what there was: kān ʿindi ḥmār, kānat ʿindi baʾara, kān fī, ma kānsh fī.
- You can tell a plan that did not happen: kunt raḥ …, bass ….
- You can talk about village life long ago and say alla yirḥamo and ya ḥajje.