Beginner - Used to...

The use of “kuntu” (ﻜﻨﺖ) with a verb of action like “amshii” (ﺃﻤﺸﻲ) is unproblematic. But what happens if we replace “amshii” (ﺃﻤﺸﻲ) by the verb “to be” (ﻜﺎﻦ), which cannot be used in the present tense? Let’s suppose we want to say “I used to be an engineer” or “My wife used to be a teacher”. Do we have to use an adverbial meaning “formerly” (e.g. fii (ﻓﻲ) al-'ayyaame (ﺍﻸﻴﺎﻢ) al-khaalyya (ﺍﻠﺨﺎﻠﻴﺔ))?

Is it also the case that كان plus a present tense verb can be translated to "was doing"? For example,انا كنت امشي الى بيتك امس
could mean "I was walking to your house yesterday..." right?

I'm glad you mentioned that, Hexagonmoon. There's an example of "kuntu" with a present tense verb in the podcast entitled "Mathematics" (sentence 3). In this instance the normal British English equivalent would be "I've been going through the index of the maths book" (present perfect progressive). In some of the other podcasts the same construction could be rendered by the past progressive ("I was looking at", etc.). It would be interesting to go through all the podcasts and draw up a complete list.

thanks for the lesson. Anaa kunt daa2eman salat ala Esau min Maryum. Lakin al an anaa muslim jadeed thalatha sanewatin.

hope that makes sense. i often have some many mistakes in grammar.

nothing linguistic but i just wanted to mention that INDIAN FOOD ROCKS!!!!..Everyone must try it out.I can survive in any part of the world,but food without spices would be a real problem..

I agree Indian food is delicious, but I must say that the curries I had in England tasted much better than the curries I had elsewhere. They’re almost on a league of their own

Five standard Arabic words for “food” have been recorded in the Lessan dictionaries. ﺃﻜﻝ is employed in “Used to”, ﺰﺍﺪ in “Time Bridge”, and ﻄﻌﺎﻢ in several other podcasts. Are these lexical items interchangeable?

Indian food does indeed rock

i think the lesson transcript should be available in a word document. not just pdf

after all this is a good start in learning arabic

Hi everyone, I have a question: why Anis is saying ana kuntu sakinan instead of ana kuntu askunu (fi London)??? In any case, viva Palestina

I used to weight 230 pounds. Now, I weigh 160. How did that come about? I used to eat great quantites of food. How did that come about? Well, I used to have a beautiful wife and an equally beautiful daughter...and a tolorable sister-in-law. Now I have three mother all of whom are determined to keep me away from the food tray. Old age (ain't) bad,but sure (ain't) fair. Used too is much better!

Regards

MC

أنا كنت أمشي كثير احن الاّن اُنا يؤضا ضر-رجي

I hope this says:"."I used to walk a lot but now, I prefer my bicycle".

However, if I mis-spelled anything, you can blame LOIS! This very day she challenged me to spell imagination.
"Why? Is it because I have been gifted with it and you haven't?"

Having stated my case, I spelled it perfectly and, with an imperious smile, reclaimed my imperial throne whenI heard: WRONG!

"AND HOW DO THEY SPELL IT ON YOUR PLANET!?" I demanded,leaping to my feet...well, getting to my feet anyway.

"We spell it correctly...pay attention! Hallucinating. You know, those goolies and ghosties that go bump in the night?"

"Very funny," I chided. "No doubt next door neighbors on your planet."

"Oh, they come to visit from-time-to-time. I do believe they were here a couple of hours ago while you busy typing. I think a couple of them were actually peering over your shoulder. Now if you will excuse me, I'll prepare dinner."

There you have it! If the spelling was full of errors...We can't 'place the blame on mame'but on those things that not only go bump in the night, but delight in toying with one's arabic script.

MC

لقد استمعت وعلمت،



My respects to all.

MC

عذرا عن ذلك ، ولكن سأعود!

MC

استسلم الأول للوحة المفاتيح. دع الطرف تبدأ!

I wrote this from what little memory I have left with some help from my english/dictionary of course: "I have surrendered to the keyboard. Let the party begin!"

Should my hard work be repudiated by a connotation preferred by the keyboard, I will not require the services of a dictionary or Thesaurus to express my displeasure. I have a wealth of descriptive adjectives suitable for the occasion. Although I never put them inprint or utter them aloud...they all come quite naturally to me!

MC

I've just noticed two interesting things about the verb "mashaa". First, the Egyptians don't say "yamshii". They say "yimshii" ("im" like "im" in Engl. "him", not "am" like "am" in Ger. "Ampel"). Second, "mashaa" can mean "go" as well as "walk", and "huwa yimshii" can mean "he goes" in the sense of "he leaves office". Mubarak's opponents say: "He goes. We stay."