9/10.1/10.2/10.3/10.4 - Incomplete Verbs/Kana wa akhawatuha/Kana-Yakoonu/Laisa Inflections
Section 10.1 –Incomplete Verbs أَفْعَالُ النَّاقِصَةِ af-aal-un naaqi-sa-ti
Incomplete Verbs الأَفْعَاْلُ النَّاْقِصَةُ al-af-aal-un naaqi-sa-tu or الأَفْعَاْلُ النَّاْسِخَةُ Al-af-aal-un naasi-qa-tu meaning canceling Verbs are Verbs which give incomplete meaning unless both Actor/Subject Noun فَاعِلٌ fa-i-lun and object Noun مَفْعُوْلٌ maf-oo-lun are specified. This is the reason these are called incomplete Verbs أَفْعَالُ النَّاقِصَةِ. For incomplete Verbs, the Actor/Subject is called Noun of Kana اِسْمُ الْكَانَ is-mul kaana and its object is called the predicate اَلْخَبَرُ al-kha-bar.
The most commonly used incomplete Verb is كَانَ kana which is past tense meaning “was”. It also means existed which if used makes it a complete كَانَ.
1) For example, if we were to say كَانَ الْولَدُ, with Noun (in Nominative رَفْعٌ raf-un state) only, this would mean “the boy was”. It does not complete the sentence. It requires a predicate اَلْخَبَرُ al-kha-bar. Therefore, this sentence would be complete if we added one in Accusative نَصْبٌ (nas-bun) state as in كَانَ الْولَدُ سَعِيدًا kaa-nal wala-du sayee-dan which means the boy was happy.
2) If in كَانَ الْولَدُ kaan-al wala-du, meaning of كَانَ is taken as “existed”, then the sentence means “the boy existed” which is now a complete sentence. Therefore, depending upon the context of the sentence and/or presence of an Accusative نَصْبٌ (nasb-un) Noun can mean كَانَ kaa-nais a complete Verb. Otherwise, it will be treated as an incomplete Verb.
Another example would be كَانَ زَيْدٌ قَائمًا kaa-na Zai-dun qai-man meaning “Zaid was standing”. Its Nominative رَفْعٌ raf-un is called a Noun of كَانَ kaa-na and its Accusative مَنْصُوْبٌ man-soo-bun is a Predicate اَلْخَبَرُ al-kha-ba-ru of كَانَ kaa-na.
Another way to look at it is that, these Verbs enter in a Nominative Sentence اِسْمِيَّةٌ جُمْلَةٌ jum-la-tul is-miyya-tun and give the Nominative رَفْعٌ raf-un status to مُسْنَدٌإِلَيْهِ mus-na-dun ilaihi that is اَلْمُبْتَدَاءُ al-mub-ta-dau and it is called a Noun of Incomplete Verb, and an Accusative نَصْبٌ nas-bun to اَلْمُسْنَدُ al-mus-na-du which is its Predicate اَلْخَبَرُ.
Please note that, as mentioned before, for all rules in Arabic, there are always exceptions. This is because the language evolved first and then rules were deduced from it later.
Therefore, sometimes Verbs in this category are complete depending upon the meaning of Predicate اَلْخَبَرُ with its Noun of Kana اِسْمُ الْكَانَ ism-ul kaa-na. For example, كَانَ مَطْرٌ kaa-na mat-run means “there was rain”. And when this happens, كَانَ isfor the meaning of “happened”. It is called complete كَانَ. This is an exception.
Note that, the Noun of Kana اِسْمُ الْكَانَ is always in nominative رَفْعٌ raf-'un state and is called the subject Noun. Predicate اَلْخَبَرُ is always in accusative state نَصْبٌ. This is true for all incomplete Verbs and their sisters which are described below.
Section 10.2 - Kana and its sisters كَانَ وَأَخْوَاتُهَا
There are incomplete Verbs other than كَانَ, and they are called its sisters. There are seventeen types of Incomplete Verbs أَفْعَالُ النَّاقِصَةِ as shown below
Table 64 – Incomplete Verbs أَفْعَالُ النَّا قِصَةِ af-aal-un naaqi-sa-ti
| 1 | كَانَ Kaa-na | He was |
| 2 | صَارَ Saa-ra | To become |
| 3 | ظَلَّ Zal-la | To be or to become in the day time |
| 4 | بَاتَ Baa-ta | To be or to become in the night time |
| 5 | أَصْبَحَ As-ba-ha | To be or to become in the morning time |
| 6 | أَضْحَىٰ Ad-haa | To be or to become at mid morning |
| 7 | أَمْسَىٰ Am-saa | To be or to become in the evening |
| 8 | عَادَ Aa-da | Return |
| 9 | آضَ Aa-da | Happened |
| 10 | غَدَا Gha-daa | To be or Tomorrow |
| 11 | رَاحَ Raa-ha | To go or to go in the evening |
| 12 | مَا زَالَ Maa zaa-la | To keep on, not to cease, to continue |
| 13 | مَا انْفَكَّ Maa an-fak-ka | To keep on or to not discontinue |
| 14 | مَا بَرِحَ Maa bari-ha | To continue |
| 15 | مَا فَتِئَ Maa fa-ti-ya | Always, continuously |
| 16 | مَادَامَ Ma-daa-ma | To continue, as long as |
| 17 | لَيْسَ Lai-sa | No, not |
Out of all the above imperfect Verbs, كَان kana and لَيْسَ laisa are most commonly used and we will be covering them in a bit more detail.
Note that same inflections and rules apply for other incomplete Verbs as for normal Verbs. Some of them will have inflections and some do not. This is a more advanced topic and you will learn by reading higher level books and by studying al-Qur’an in-sha-Allah.
In Arabic, there are incomplete Verbs that can be managed to make them complete. There are two Verbs in Arabic that are strictly incomplete. They always need a predicate الْخبَرُ al-kha-ba-ru along with its Noun اِسْمٌ is-mun to complete a sentence.
There are several Verbs in Arabic that can be both complete and incomplete Verbs. There are also others that can only be incomplete but not complete.
An example of a Verb that can be only an incomplete Verb is مَاْ زَاْلَ (maa-za-la) meaning not left or be/remain. For example:
مَاْ زَاْلَ الْوَلَدُ سَعِيْدًا
(Sayeed) (the boy) (remained)
This translates into “the boy remained happy” or “the boy is still happy”.
The past tense Verb Zaala زَالَ (imperfect ya-zaa-lu يَزَاْلُ) is never used except combined with a negative Particle; usually it is مَاmaa so it will become مَا زَالَ maa-zaa-la. This Verb means "be still" or "remain". It is an incomplete Verb that is never used without a predicate. In the above example, مَاْ زَاْلَ الْوَلَدُ maa zaa-lalwala-du means “the boy is” which is incomplete.
There are two Verbs in Arabic that are strictly incomplete (they always needan Adverb):
| مَاْ زَاْلَ | Maa-za-la | (He) is still |
| لَيْسَ | Lai-sa | (He) is not |
Examples of predicates for Imperfect Verbs:
Example 1
| أَصْبَحَ | الثَّلْجُ | مَاْءً |
| asbaha | ath-thalju | maa-an |
| entered the morning | the ice | water |
This means ice became water/ice has become water.
Example 2
| سَيُصْبِحُ | الثَّلْجُ | مَاْءً |
| sa-yus-bi-hu | ath-thal-ju | maa-an |
| Will enter the morning | became ice | the water |
This means ice will become water.
Example 3
| أَمْسَىْ | خَطِيْرًا | الْوَضْعُ |
| amsaa | kha-tee-ran | al-wad-u |
| became in the evening | dangerous | the situation |
This means the situation became dangerous or has become dangerous.
Example 4
| هُنَاْكَ
| مَاْ دَاْمَ | أَذْهَبَ لَنْ |
| hu-naa-ka | maa-daa-ma | lan az-ha-ba |
| he is there | as long as | I will not go |
This means I will not go as long as he is there.
Example 5
| بِحَاْجَتِيْ | مَاْ دُمْتَ | سَأُسَاْعُدُكَ |
| bi-haa-jati | maa dumta | sa-usaa-udu-ka |
| you need me | as long as | I will help you |
This means I will help you as long as you need me.
Section 10.3 - كَانَ/يَكُوْنُ Kana/Yakoo-nu Inflections
Like other Verbs, kana also has its own inflections which are used to match its gender, speaker/present/absent and single/dual/plural state of its Noun.
Following is the table of inflection of كَان kana which is the past tense:
Table 65 - كَان Kana inflections
|
|
| single | dual |
plural
|
|
Absent 3rd person |
Male | كَانَ
Kaa-na
(He) Was
|
كَانَا
Kaa-naa
Those (Two males) were |
كَانُوْا
Kaa-noo
They (All males) were |
|
Female |
كَانتْ
Kaa-nat
(She) was |
كَانتَا
Kaa-nata
Those (Two females) were |
كُنَّ
Kun-na
They (All females) were | |
|
Present 2nd person |
Male | كُنَتَ
Kun-ta
you (male) were |
كُنَتُمَا
Kun-tu-maa
You (Two males) were |
كُنْتُمْ
Kun-tum
You (All males) were |
|
female | كُنْتِ
Kun-ti
You (female) were | كُنْتُمَا
Kun-tu-maa
You (Two females) were |
كُنْتُنّ
Kun-tun-na
You (All females) were | |
|
Speaker 1st person |
Male/female | كُنْتُ
Kun-tu
I was
| كُنَّا Kun-naa
We (male/female/dual/ plural) were
| |
Examples of كَان kaa-na for each of these inflections using وَلَدٌ wala-dun and بِنتٌ bin-tun as Nouns of kana for male and female are given below:
1) كَانَ وَلدٌ سَعِيدًا
Kaa-na wala-dun sa'ee-dan
He was a happy boy
2) كَانَا وَلَدَانِ سَعِيْدَانِ
Kaa-na wala-daa-ni say'ee-daani
They were two happy boys
3) سَعِيْدِيْنَ كَانُوْا اَوْلَادٌ
Kaa-nu aw-laa-dun Sa'ee-deena
They all were happy boys
4) سَعِيْدَةً كَانَتْ بِنْتٌ
Kaa-nat bin-tun sa'ee-da-tan
She was a happy girl
5) سَعِيْدَتَانِ كَانَتَا بِنْتَانِ
Kaa-na-taa bin-taa-ni sa'eeda-ta-ni
They were two happy girls
6) سُعْدَاءً بَنَاتٌ كُنَّ
Kun-na bana-tun s'u-daa-an
They were all happy girls
7) سَعِيْدًا كُنْتَ وَلَدٌ
Kun-ta-wala-dun sa'ee-dan
You were a happy boy
8) سَعِيْدَانِ كُنْتُمَا وَلَدَانِ
Kun-tuma wala-daa-ni sa'ee-daa-ni
You two were happy boys
9) سَعِيْدِيْنَ كُنْتُمْ اَوْلَادٌ
Kun-tum aw-laa-dun sa'ee-dee-na
You all were happy boys
10) سَعِيْدَةً كُنْتِ بِنتٌ
Kun-ti bin-tun sa'ee-da-tan
You were a happy girl
11) سَعِيْدَتَانِ كُنْتُمَا بِنْتَانِ
Kun-tumaa bin-taa-ni sa'ee-da-ta-ni
You two were happy girls
12) سُعْدَاءً كُنْتُمْ بَنَاتٌ
Kun-tum banaa-tun su'-daa-an
You all were happy girls
13) سَعِيْدَةً كُنتُ وَلَدٌ سَعِيْدًا/ ، كُنْتُ بِنْتٌ
Kun-tu wala-dun sa'ee-dan/ kun-tu bin-tun sa'ee-da-tan
I was a happy boy, I was a happy girl
14) سُعْدَاءًكُنَّا اَوْلَادٌ سَعِيْدِيْنَ / بَنَاتٌ كُنَّا
Kun-naa aw-laa-dun sa'ee-dee-na/ kun-naa banaa-tun su'-daa-an
We Two or all were happy boys
We Two or all were happy girls,
We were all happy boys
We were all happy girls
Imperfect tense فِعْلُ الْمُضَارِعِ fei-ul mudaa-ri-'yi is given in the table below. Here, the form يَكُوْنُ Ya-koo-nu does not actually mean "is, " rather it means "will be."
Table 66 - يَكُوُنُ Yakunu inflections
|
|
Gender
|
Single |
dual |
Plural
|
| Absent 3rd person | Male | يَكُوُنُ Yakoo-nu (He) Is/will be
| يَكُوْنَانِ Yakoo-naa-ni (Those Two males) are or will be
| يَكُوْنُوْنَ Yakoo-noo-na They (All males) are or will be
|
| Female | تَكُوُنُ Ta-koo-nu (She) Is/will be
| تَكُوْنَانِ Takoo-naa-ni Those (Two females) are or will be | يَكُنَّ Ya-kun-na They (All females) are or will be | |
| Present 2nd person | Male | تَكُوُنُ Takoo-nu you (male) are or will be or will be | تَكُوْنَانِ Takoo-naa-ni You (Two males) are or will be | تَكُوْنُوْنَ Takoo-noo-na You (All males) are or will be |
| female | تَكُوْنِيْن Takoo-nee-na
You (female) are or will be | تَكُوْنَانِ Takoo-naa-ni You (Two females) are or will be | تَكُنَّ Takun-na You (All females) are or will be | |
| Speaker 1st person | Male/ female | اَكُوُنُ Akoo-nu (I) am or will be | نَكُوْنُ Nakoo-nu we (males, females, duals, plurals) are or will be)
| |
Examples of يَكُوُنُ yakoo-nou for each of these using وَلَدٌ wala-dun and بِنتٌ bin-tun as Nouns of kana for male and female are given below:
1) يَكُوْنُ وَلدٌ سَعِيدًا
Ya-koo-nu wala-dun sa'ee-dan
He is a happy boy
2) يَكُوْنَانِ وَلَدَانِ سَعِيْدَانِ
Yakoo-naa-ni wala-daa-ni sa'ee-daani
They are two happy boys
3) سَعِيْدِيْنَ يَكُوْنُوْنَ اَوْلَادٌ
Yakoo-noo-na aw-laa-dun Sa'ee-deena
They all are happy boys
4) سَعِيْدَةً بِنْتٌتَكُوُنُ
Takoo-nu bin-tun sa'ee-da-tan
She is a happy girl
5) سَعِيْدَتَانِ تَكُوْنَانِ بِنْتَانِ
Takoo-naa-ni bin-taa-ni sa'eeda-ta-ni
They are two happy girls
6) سُعْدَاءً يَكُنَّ بَنَاتٌ
Ya-kun-na bana-tun su'-daa-an
They are all happy girls
7) تَكُوْنُ وَلَدُ سَعِيْدًا
Ta-koo-nu wala-dun sa'ee-dan
You are a happy boy
8) سَعِيْدَانِ تَكُوْنَانِ وَلَدَانِ
Ta-koo-naa-ni wala-daa-ni sa'ee-daa-ni
You two are happy boys
9) سَعِيْدِيْنَ وْلَادٌاَتَكُوْنُوْنَ
Takoo-noo-na awlaa-dun sa'ee-dee-na
You all are happy boys
10) سَعِيْدَةً تَكُوْنُ بِنتٌ
Ta-koo-nu bin-tun sa'ee-da-tan
You are a happy girl
11) سَعِيْدَتَانِ تَكُوْنَانِ بِنْتَانِ
Takoo-naa-ni bin-taa-ni sa'ee-da-ta-ni
You two are happy girls
12) سُعْدَاءً تَكُنَّ بَنَاتٌ
Ta-kun-na banaa-tun su'-daa-an
You all are happy girls
13) سَعِيْدَةً وَلَدٌ اَكُوْنُ سَعِيْدًا/ اَكُوْنُ بِنْتٌ
Akoo-nu wala-dun sa'ee-dan, kun-tu bin-tun sa'ee-da-tan
I am a happy boy, I am a happy girl
14) سُعْدَاءً نَكُوْنُ اَوْلَادٌ سَعِيْدِيْنَ / نَكُوْنُ بَنَاتٌ
Na-koo-nu aw-laa-dun sayee-dee-na/ kun-naa banaa-tun su'-daa-an
We Two or all are happy boys
We Two or all are happy girls
We are all happy boys
We are all happy girls
10.4 - Laisa لَيْسَ inflections
لَيْسَ Laisa does not have an imperfect mu-daa-ri-'un مُضَارِعٌ version. It does have past tense مَاضيْ maa-di inflections shown below.
Table 67 – لَيْسَ lai-sa Inflections
|
|
| single | dual | plural
|
|
Absent 3rd person |
Male |
لَيْسَ Lai-sa (He) was not
|
لَيْسَا Lai-saa Those (Two males) were not
|
لَيْسُوْا Lai-soo They (All males) were not
|
|
Female |
لَيْسَتْ Lai-sat (She) was not
|
لَيْسَتَ Lai-sa-ta Those (Two females) were not |
لَسْنَ Las-na They (All females) were not
| |
|
Present 2nd person |
Male |
لَسْتَ Las-ta you (male) were not
|
لَسْتُمَا Las-tu-maa You (Two males) were not |
لَسْتُمْ Las-tum You (All males) were not
|
|
female |
لَسْتِ Las-ti You (female) were not
|
لَسْتُمَ Las-tum You (Two females) were not |
لَسْتُنَّ Las-tun-na You (All females) were not | |
|
Speaker 1st person |
Male/female |
لَسْتُ Las-tu (I) was not
|
لَسْنَا Las-naa we (males, Females, Duals, Plurals) were not
| |
Examples for each of these using وَلَدٌ and بِنتٌ as Nouns of kana for male and female are given below:
1) لَيْسَ وَلدٌ سَعِيدًا
Lai-sa wala-dun sa'ee-dan
He was not a happy boy
2) لَيْسَا وَلَدَانِ سَعِيْدَانِ
Lai-saa wala-daa-ni sa'ee-daani
They were not two happy boys
3) سَعِيْدِيْنَ لَيْسُوا اَوْلَادٌ
Lai-su aw-laa-dun Sa'ee-deena
They all were not happy boys
4) سَعِيْدَةً لَيْسَتْ بِنْتٌ
Lai-sat bin-tun sa'ee-da-tan
She was not a happy girl
5) سَعِيْدَتَانِ لَيْسَتَا بِنْتَانِ
Lai-sa-taa bin-taa-ni sa'eeda-ta-ni
They were two not happy girls
6) سُعْدَاءً بَنَاتٌلَسْنَ
Las-na bana-tun su'-daa-an
They were all not happy girls
7) سَعِيْدًا لَسْتَ وَلَدٌ
Las-ta-wala-dun sa'ee-dan
You were not a happy boy
8) سَعِيْدَانِ لَسْتُمَا وَلَدَانِ
Las-tu-maa wala-daa-ni sa'ee-daa-ni
You two were happy boys
9) سَعِيْدِيْنَ لَسْتُمْ اَوْلَادٌ
Las-tum aw-laa-dun sa'yee-dee-na
You all were not happy boys
10) سَعِيْدَةً لَسْتِ بِنتٌ
Las-ti bin-tun sa'ee-da-tan
You were not a happy girl
11) سَعِيْدَتَانِ لَسْتُمَا بِنْتَانِ
Las-tu-maa bin-taa-ni sa'ee-da-ta-ni
You two were not happy girls
12) سُعْدَاءً لَسْتُمْ بَنَاتٌ
Las-tum banaa-tun su'-daa-an
You all were not happy girls
13) سَعِيْدَةً لَسْتُ وَلَدٌ سَعِيْدًا / لَسْتُ بِنْتٌ
Las-tu wala-dun sa'ee-dan, kun-tu bin-tun sa'ee-da-tan
I was not a happy boy/ I was not a happy girl
14) سُعْدَاءً , لَسْنَا اَوْلَادٌ سَعِيْدِيْنَ لَسْنَا بَنَاتٌ
Las-naa aw-laa-dun sa'ee-dee-na, Las-naa banaa-tun su'-daa-an
We Two or all were not happy boys
We Two or all were not happy girls,
We were all not happy boys
We were all not happy girls
***
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