Arabic vocabulary
How to say “be” in Arabic, with pronunciation and real example sentences from OpenArabic texts.
ولو كانت إضافته إليه إضافة إنشاء وابتداء لم يكن رسولًا
And if ascribing it to Him were an act of creation and origination, He would not be a messenger.
يَكُنْ — he be. A present-tense form of 'to be' in the shortened mood demanded by the preceding past-negator, giving 'he would not be'. The clipped ending is the mark of that mood; together they negate his being a messenger under the hypothetical.
From: God's Eternal Word →فقرأ في صلاة الصبح قل هو الله أحد حتى بلغ ولم يكن له كفوا أحد فقال اللهم إن كان في الأرض أحد فاجعله كفوا لي
He recited in the morning prayer 'Say, He is Allah, the One,' until he reached 'and there is none equal to Him,' then said: O Allah, if there is anyone on earth, make him my equal.
يَكُن — is there. A present-tense 'to be' verb, clipped at the end because the negator lam before it forces the jussive shape; together lam plus this verb means 'there was not'. The shortened ending is the mark of that jussive.
From: Bedouin Manners →قال لأني سمعت الله يقول ولم يكن له كفوا أحد فأردت أن أكون أنا ذلك الكفؤ إذا كان موجودًا
He said: Because I heard Allah say, '[Nor is there to Him any equivalent],' so I wanted to be that equivalent if it existed.
يَكُن — is there. A present 'to be' verb clipped to the jussive by the lam before it; lam plus this verb means 'there was not'. The shortened ending marks the jussive.
From: Bedouin Manners →وكان له سمت يعرفه به من لم يكن رآه
And he had a demeanor by which those who had never seen him recognized him.
يَكُنْ — he had. This is the 'to be' verb in its cut-off (jussive) shape, demanded by the preceding past-negator, and together they form 'had not been'. It carries its 'he' subject and supports the negated past frame.
From: The Grandson's Noble Grief →روي أن رجلا دخل البصرة، ولم يكن رأى الحسن،
It is narrated that a man entered Basra, who had not seen Al-Hasan,
يَكُنْ — he had. This is the 'to be' verb in its cut-off (jussive) shape, required by the preceding past-negator, together meaning 'had not been'. It carries its 'he' subject and frames the negated past.
From: The Grandson's Noble Grief →يَعْنِي أَنَّهُ إِذَا لَمْ يَكُنِ الصَّلَاةُ وَالصَّوْمُ لِوَجْهِ اللهِ تَعَالَى فَلَا ثَوَابَ لَهُ
This means that if the prayer and fasting are not done for the sake of Allah, then there is no reward for them.
يَكُنِ — be. A present-shaped verb of being pulled into the past and chopped into its jussive ending by the 'not' before it, 'were / happened to be'. The trimmed final consonant marks the negation trigger, inside the conditional.
From: Empty Fasting, Empty Prayer →OpenArabic teaches words like يَكُن through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
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