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LESSON 59Irregular Past-Tense Verbs Ending in “a”
Second irregular category
This group contains verbs with a long a at the end. For these forms (I, you singular, we, you plural), change the final a to i before adding the normal ending. For she, add only t. The he and they forms keep the final a.
Example verb: “to eat” (kla)
| English | Darija |
|---|---|
| I ate | klit |
| You ate — masculine | kliti |
| You ate — feminine | kliti |
| He ate | kla |
| She ate | klat |
| We ate | klina |
| You ate — plural | klitu |
| They ate | klau |
Common verbs in this group
- mša — to go
- bda — to start
- šra — to buy
- ġnna — to sing
- 3ṭa — to give
- nsa — to forget
- bka — to cry
- bġa — to want
- xda — to take
- ja — to come
- kra — to rent
- jra — to run
- sala — to finish
- tġdda — to have lunch
- t3šša — to have dinner
- tmna — to hope
- tsna — to wait
- qra — to read / study
- tlaqa — to meet
Examples
l-нdd lli fat, mšit l l-mdina u šrit jllaba. — Last Sunday, I went to the medina and bought a jellaba.
huma ġnnau f l-нfla nhar s-sbt. — They sang at the party on Saturday.
Exercise
Put the verbs in parentheses into the correct form:
- John u Amy (kra) ḍar zwina f Marrakech.
- l-barн ana u Paul (tlaqa) m3a ṣнabna f r-risṭora u (tġdda) mjmu3in.
- s-simana lli fatt, huma (sala) l-xdma dyalhum f l-mġrib.
Moroccan expression
l-li bġa l-3sl y-ṣbr l qris n-nнl.
Meaning: The person who wants honey must tolerate bee stings.
English equivalent: Every rose has its thorn.
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