Maadhi Variations Part 2 - Kaana
The Past Perfect (distant past)
صرف Practice
تَصْرِيْفُ فَعَلَ
0 / 36The word كَانَ is an Auxiliary Verb (فِعْل نَاقِص). It is similar to قَدْ in that it modifies the time aspect of the Maadhi. Whereas قَدْ takes the meaning of a Maadhi and takes it to the near past, (قَدْ نَصَرَ, he has helped), كَانَ takes the Maadhi verb and takes it to the distant past. In English, this is done with the word "had". So, "he stood up" would become "he had stood up".
- كَانَ نَصَرَ → نَصَرَ
He helped → He had helped - كَانَ نُصِرَ → نُصِرَ
He was helped → He had been helped - كَانَ فَعَلَ → فَعَلَ
He did → He had done - كَانَ فُعِلَ → فُعِلَ
It was done → It had been done
Because كَانَ is a فعل, we will need to conjugate it just like we do with other Maadhi verbs. Therefore, we would say:
| Person | Gender | Plurality | English | مَعْلُوْم | مَجْهُوْل | صِيْغَة Conj # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd | Masculine | Singular | He had helped/had been helped | كَانَ نَصَرَ | كَانَ نُصِرَ | 1 |
| 3rd | Masculine | Dual | They (2 males) had helped/had been helped | كَانَا نَصَرَا | كَانَا نُصِرَا | 2 |
| 3rd | Masculine | Plural | They (3/more males) had helped/had been helped | كَانُوْا نَصَرُوْا | كَانُوْا نُصِرُوْا | 3 |
| 3rd | Feminine | Singular | She had helped/had been helped | كَانَتْ نَصَرَتْ | كَانَتْ نُصِرَتْ | 4 |
| 3rd | Feminine | Dual | They (2 females) had helped/had been helped | كَانَتَا نَصَرَتَا | كَانَتَا نُصِرَتَا | 5 |
Notice here that both verbs are conjugated together as a result of which they rhyme. We would translate these first six as (active/passive), "He had helped/He had been helped", "They (2 males) had helped/They (2 males) had been helped", "They (3 or more men) had helped/They (3 or more men) had been helped", "She had helped/She had been helped", "They (2 females) had helped/They (2 females) had been helped", "They (3 or more women) had helped/They (3 or more women) had been helped".
Now, you know from the Maadhi table that from Conjugation 6 onwards, the Laam letter receives a sukoon (فَعَلْنَ). Therefore, Conjugation 6 of كَانَ should be كَانَّ. Then, كَانْتَ كَانْتُمَ كَانْتُمْ. Now if you say these out loud, you will realise that it is very awkward to pronounce. The Alif which has a sukoon requires elongating the "ka" sound to "kaa", and is then followed by another saakin letter, the noon, creating "kaaan". This is called الْإِلْتِقَاتِ السَاكِنَيْنِ, which means "The Gathering of Two Saakins", which is prohibited in Arabic as it results in awkwardness like the example above.
As a result, whenever a gathering of two saakins occurs, the word undergoes some change in order to get rid of this gathering of two saakins. We will omit the process that كَانَ undorgoes for now and just give you the remainder of the conjugation table. The actual steps will be gone through in detail in the future, Inshaa Allah.
| Person | Gender | Plurality | English | مَعْلُوْم | مَجْهُوْل | صِيْغَة Conj # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd | Masculine | Singular | He had helped/had been helped | كَانَ نَصَرَ | كَانَ نُصِرَ | 1 |
| 3rd | Masculine | Dual | They (2 males) had helped/had been helped | كَانَا نَصَرَا | كَانَا نُصِرَا | 2 |
| 3rd | Masculine | Plural | They (3/more males) had helped/had been helped | كَانُوْا نَصَرُوْا | كَانُوْا نُصِرُوْا | 3 |
| 3rd | Feminine | Singular | She had helped/had been helped | كَانَتْ نَصَرَتْ | كَانَتْ نُصِرَتْ | 4 |
| 3rd | Feminine | Dual | They (2 females) had helped/had been helped | كَانَتَا نَصَرَتَا | كَانَتَا نُصِرَتَا | 5 |
| 3rd | Feminine | Plural | They (3 or more females) had helped/had been helped | كُنَّ نَصَرْنَ | كُنَّ نُصِرْنَ | 6 |
| 2nd | Masculine | Singular | You had helped/had been helped | كُنْتَ نَصَرْتَ | كُنْتَ نُصِرْتَ | 7 |
| 2nd | Masculine | Dual | You (2 men) had helped/had been helped | كُنْتُمَا نَصَرْتُمَا | كُنْتُمَا نُصِرْتُمَا | 8 |
| 2nd | Masculine | Plural | You (3 or more men) had helped/had been helped | كُنْتُمْ نَصَرْتُمْ | كُنْتُمْ نُصِرْتُمْ | 9 |
| 2nd | Feminine | Singular | You had helped/had been helped | كُنْتِ نَصَرْتِ | كُنْتِ نُصِرْتِ | 10 |
| 2nd | Feminine | Dual | You (2 women) had helped/had been helped | كُنْتُمَا نَصَرْتُمَا | كُنْتُمَا نُصِرْتُمَا | 11 |
| 2nd | Feminine | Plural | You (3 or more women) had helped/had been helped | كُنْتُنَّ نَصَرْتُنَّ | كُنْتُنَّ نُصِرْتُنَّ | 12 |
| 1st | Masculine/Feminine | Singular | They (2 females) had helped/had been helped | كُنْتُ نَصَرْتُ | كُنْتُ نُصِرْتُ | 13 |
| 1st | Masculine/Feminine | Plural | They (2 females) had helped/had been helped | كُنَّا نَصَرْنَا | كُنَّا نُصِرْنَا | 14 |
Why is كَانَ conjugated along with the Maadhi, but in our lesson about قَدْ, it remained قَدْ and did not change throughout the conjugation?
Recall we said that the negative particle مَا does not combine with قَدْ in order to negate it. This restriction does not apply to كَانَ. Therefore, we can say مَا كَانَ فَتَحَ الْبَابَ, he had not opened the door. And also, مَا كَانَ فُتِحَ الْبَابُ, the door had not been opened.
Summary
- كَانَ in English is an Auxiliary verb. The Arabic term is فِعْل نَاقِص.
- When it combines with a Maadhi, it takes the past tense verb into the distant past.
- كَانَ نَصَرَ → نَصَرَ
He helped → He had helped - كَانَ نُصِرَ → نُصِرَ
He was helped → He had been helped - كَانَ فَعَلَ → فَعَلَ
He did → He had done - كَانَ فُعِلَ → فُعِلَ
It was done → It had been done - It can be combined with مَا to negate the meaning, مَا كَانَ كُتِبَ - it had not been written.