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LESSON 57Regular Verbs in the Past Tense
What is a regular verb?
A regular verb follows the conjugation pattern used by most verbs. An irregular verb follows a different pattern. A verb can be regular in the past tense but belong to a different group in the present tense.
Regular verb groups
Regular past-tense verbs generally include three-letter verbs that do not have a long a in the middle or at the end, and verbs with more than three letters that do not end in a.
Example verb: “to write” (ktb)
| English | Darija |
|---|---|
| I wrote | ktbt |
| You wrote — masculine | ktbti |
| You wrote — feminine | ktbti |
| He wrote | ktb |
| She wrote | ktbat |
| We wrote | ktbna |
| You wrote — plural | ktbtu |
| They wrote | ktbu |
In the past tense, the masculine and feminine singular forms of “you” are the same.
Common regular verbs
- šrb — to drink
- 3rf — to know
- l3b — to play
- rsm — to draw
- n3s — to sleep
- lbs — to wear
- gls — to stay / sit
- dxl — to enter
- xrj — to go out
- rj3 — to return
- tfrrj — to watch
- st3ml — to use
- fhm — to understand
- xdm — to work
- ḍrb — to hit
- wqf — to stop / stand
- wṣl — to arrive
- sm3 — to hear / listen
Plus: suwl (to ask), safr (to travel), 3awn (to help), ṣifṭ (to send), ġsl (to wash), tkllm (to speak).
Examples
l-barн, šrbt atay bla skkar. — Yesterday, I drank tea without sugar.
s-simana lli fatt, Said ktb bra l saнbu. — Last week, Said wrote a letter to his friend.
l-3am lli fat, safrna l New York. — Last year, we travelled to New York.
Exercise
Put the verbs in parentheses into the correct past-tense form:
Mohamed: weš (n3s) bkri l-barн?
Hassan: lla.
Mohamed: 3laš?
Hassan: (gls) m3a l-3a’ila dyali u (tkllm) m3ahum šwiya. mn b3d, нna (xrj). mlli (rj3), (l3b) l-karṭa u (tfrrj) f t-tlfaza. mn b3d ana (dxl) l l-bit dyali u (n3s).
l-нdd lli fat, (3awn) xti f l-kuzina: (ġsl) l-mma3n u (ṭiyb) l-ġda.
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