Levantine Arabic Past Tense: Endings, Tables and Examples

Endings, not prefixes

In the present and future, the person is shown at the front of the verb. The past tense flips this around. You start with the basic past form of the verb, which is also the 'he' form, and add an ending to show who did the action. أكَل means 'he ate', and أكَلنا means 'we ate'.

This basic form is also how verbs are listed in Levantine dictionaries and word lists, so learning the past tense helps you look words up.

The good news is that the endings are the same for almost every verb. What changes from verb to verb is mostly the stem, and the patterns below show the main types you will meet as a beginner.

The regular pattern

The workbook introduces the past tense with أكَل (to eat). Learn these eight forms and you have the model for most regular verbs.

Two things are worth noticing. First, 'I' and 'you' (to a man) are the same word, أكَلِت, so you rely on context or add أنا or إنتَ. Second, for 'she' and 'they' the vowel in the middle of the stem drops out: akal becomes aklat and aklu. You will see the same thing in كَتْبَت (she wrote), شِرْبَت (she drank) and دَرْسوا (they studied).

Tip: Compare the 'I' ending ـِت (-it) with the 'she' ending ـَت (-at). They are easy to confuse in writing because the short vowels are often left out, but in speech the difference is clear: akalit (I ate) and aklat (she ate).

Hollow verbs: راح, زار and نام

Verbs with a long aa in the middle, such as راح (go), زار (visit) and نام (sleep), are called hollow verbs. For 'he', 'she' and 'they' they keep the long vowel: راح, راحَت, راحوا. For 'I', 'you' and 'we' the vowel becomes short and changes, usually to u or i: رُحِت (I went), نِمِت (I slept).

A useful rule of thumb: if the ending starts with a consonant (ـِت, ـتي, ـنا, ـتوا), the long vowel shrinks. If there is no ending, or the ending starts with a vowel (ـَت, ـوا), the long vowel stays. That one idea explains every form in the table above.

Verbs ending in a vowel, and doubled verbs

Verbs whose 'he' form ends in a vowel, like حَكى (speak), take an ee sound before the endings for 'I', 'you' and 'we': حَكيت (I spoke), حَكيتي (you spoke, to a woman), حَكينا (we spoke). For 'she' and 'they' the ending attaches more directly: حَكَت and حَكوا.

Doubled verbs such as حَبّ (to like, to love) follow the same ee pattern: حَبّيت (I liked), حَبّينا (we liked), but حَبَّت (she liked) and حَبّوا (they liked). The verb صِحي (to wake up) is similar: صِحيت (I woke up), صِحيَت (she woke up), صِحيوا (they woke up).

These verbs are among the most frequent in everyday chat, so it is worth saying their forms aloud until they feel automatic.

Everyday examples

Past-tense sentences often start with a time word: مبارح (mbaari7, yesterday), اليوم (il-yoom, today), الأسبوع الماضي (il-usboo3 il-maaDi, last week) or الصيف الماضي (iS-Seef il-maaDi, last summer).

• مبارح أكَلِت كنافة بنابلس.mbaari7 akalit knaafe b-naablusYesterday I ate knafeh in Nablus.
• يا ريم، وين رُحتي مبارح؟ya reem, ween ru7ti mbaari7?Reem, where did you go yesterday?
• أخوي زار تركيا الصيف الماضي.akhooy zaar turkya iS-Seef il-maaDiMy brother visited Turkey last summer.
• ستّي حَبَّت الورد مبارح.sitti 7abbat il-ward mbaari7My grandma loved the flowers yesterday.
• حَكينا ساعة بالتلفون.7akeena saa3a bit-talafoonWe talked on the phone for an hour.
• شو عِمِلتوا بالعطلة؟shu 3imiltu bil-3uTle?What did you all do on the holiday?
• مبارح أكْلوا كل الكعك.mbaari7 aklu kul il-ka3akYesterday they ate all the ka'ak.

Questions in the past work just like statements. Keep the same verb and raise your voice at the end: أكَلتوا؟ (did you all eat?). Add a question word at the front for more detail, as in وين رُحتي مبارح؟ (where did you go yesterday?).

Saying 'didn't'

As in the present, you make the past negative by putting ما (maa) in front of the verb: ما أكَلِت (I didn't eat), ما راح (he didn't go), ما نِمنا (we didn't sleep). The verb stays exactly as it is.

If you know Modern Standard Arabic, you will notice the endings are close but simpler. MSA separates 'I ate' (أكلتُ) from 'you ate' (أكلتَ) with a final short vowel, and has extra forms for two people and for groups of women. Spoken Levantine merges these, so you have just eight forms to learn for each verb.

Tip: Hearing someone say رُحِت can mean 'I went' or 'you went'. If someone asks you رُحِت عالعرس مبارح؟ (did you go to the wedding yesterday?), you can answer with the very same word: آه، رُحِت (yes, I went).

Practice

Say each answer aloud before checking. Think about which pattern the verb belongs to first: regular, hollow, or ee-type.