قَلِيلًاa little

Example sentences

• تمشي كثيرًا وتضلُّ قليلًا في كل خطوة

  You walk much yet stray a little with every step.

  قَلِيلًا — a little. 'a little,' in the -a form working adverbially. The straying is SMALL each time — but it compounds, as 'with every step' next shows. A little drift per step adds up to being lost.

  From: Purifying Your Intentions →

• وَهَكَذَا حَتَّى إِذَا تَبَاعَدَ الزَّمَانُ شَيْئًا قَلِيلًا

  And so it continued until when time had grown distant a little slightly.

  قَلِيلًا — little. An adjective 'little', here intensifying the adverbial 'somewhat' before it to mean 'a little'. It modifies the degree of the distancing, working with its partner to express that only a small span had elapsed.

  From: How the Companions Preserved Hadith →

• فَلَمْ يَلْبَثْ الْقَوْمُ إِلَّا قَلِيلاً حَتَّى أَتَى الْجُرْذُ عَلَى الرَدْمِ

  So the people had not remained except a little until the rat came onto the mound.

  قَلِيلاً — a little. A noun used adverbially for a short span, in the object-style ending Arabic puts on a 'how much/how long' word. It measures the brief stretch the people lingered.

  From: Sheba's Garden and Destruction →