كان وأخواتها
Past tense 'to be' (كان/كانت) and its sisters: subject stays nominative, predicate becomes accusative
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
كان الطالبُ مجتهداً.
The student was hardworking.
كانت المدينةُ جميلةً.
The city was beautiful.
كنتُ تعبانًا.
I was tired.
كنّا سعداءَ.
We were happy.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
كان وأخواتها — Kāna and Its Sisters
كان (was/were) enters a nominal sentence and changes the predicate to accusative. The subject stays nominative.
| Form | Usage |
|---|---|
| كانَ | he was |
| كانَت | she was |
| كُنتُ | I was |
| كُنّا | we were |
Pattern: كان + subject (مرفوع) + predicate (منصوب). Compare: الطالبُ مجتهدٌ (nominal) → كان الطالبُ مجتهداً (with كان — predicate gets tanween fatha).
كان الطالبُ مجتهداً.
The student was hardworking.
كان makes الطالب the subject (nominative) and مجتهداً the predicate (accusative — note the tanween fatha اً).
كانت المدينةُ جميلةً.
The city was beautiful.
كانت (feminine form) because المدينة is feminine. جميلةً is accusative (tanween fatha on taa marbuuta).
كنتُ تعبانًا.
I was tired.
كُنتُ = I was. The subject pronoun is embedded in the verb. تعبانًا is accusative.
كنّا سعداءَ.
We were happy.
كنّا = we were. سعداءَ (happy, plural) is accusative — broken plural with fatha ending.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises