كَانُوا be in Arabic
كَانُوا is how you say “be” in Arabic.
Arabic
English
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Example sentence
قال يقولون لو رأوك كانوا أشد لك عبادة، وأشد لك تمجيدًا، وأكثر لك تسبيحًا
They say: If they saw You, they would be more devout in worship, more devoted in glorifying, and more frequent in praising.
كَانُوا they would be
This is 'to be' with '-u' = 'they', here the result-limb of the counterfactual — 'they WOULD be...'. Its predicate, an elative, comes next in the accusative, as 'be'-verbs require.
The English is machine-translated.
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More example sentences
وَتَضَيَّقَ سَبِيلًا مَا زَالَ مُتَّسِعًا فَفَرَّقَ الأَكْثَرُونَ دِينَهُمْ وَكَانُوا شِيعًا
And a path that had remained wide became narrow, so the majority divided their religion and became sects.
وَكَانُوا and were
A past-tense 'became/were' verb carrying 'they' in its ending, opened by the attached 'and'. This is a state verb that needs a following predicate to complete it, set up by the 'and' linking back.
بِأَحْسَنِ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ
with the best of what they used to do
كَانُوا they used to be
The past-tense 'to be', here a habit-opener rather than a claim of existence. Paired with the present verb after it, it builds a 'they used to...' frame, placing repeated past action in time. Its job is to time-stamp the deeds as an ongoing past practice.
وَكَانُوا أَحْرَصَ شَيْءٍ عَلَى الْخَيْرِ
They were most eager for good.
وَكَانُوا and were
The wa- here is the chaining 'and' that opens the sentence by tying it to the surrounding account, glued to a past-tense verb whose ending already carries 'they'. The prefix links the clause; the plural verb-ending names the people without a separate pronoun.
ـ وَكَانُوا خَمْسِينَ رَجُلًا ـ
There were fifty men.
وَكَانُوا and they were
A connector 'and' prefixed to a 'was/were' verb whose '-u' ending makes the subject a plural 'they'. This kind of verb opens a description, with the words after it telling what they amounted to; English often leaves the linking 'and' untranslated here.
فَخَانَتْهُمْ أَحْرَصَ مَا كَانُوا عَلَيْهَا،
So the very thing they had been most eager for betrayed them.
كَانُوا they were
The past-tense 'to be' verb with the -u 'they' ending, 'they were'. It sets up a past ongoing state, 'they used to be eager', over which the betrayal then strikes. Such 'to be' verbs frame the background situation against which the main event lands.
وَتَقَطَّعَتْ بِهِمْ أَسْبَابُهَا أَحْوَجُ مَا كَانُوا إِلَيْهَا،
And its ties were cut off from them at the very time they needed it most.
كَانُوا they were
The past-tense 'to be' verb with the -u 'they' ending, 'they were', setting the past ongoing state of needing against which the ties snapped. As a framing 'to be', it builds the background, 'they used to be in need', for the main blow.
وَكَانُوا بِآيَاتِنَا يُوقِنُونَ
And they were certain of Our signs.
وَكَانُوا and they were
wa- links this onto the prior verse, and the rest is the verb 'were' carrying a built-in 'they' plural. This 'was/were' verb sets up an ongoing state that the verb later in the sentence completes.
فَإِنَّ الْمُشْرِكِينَ كَانُوا يَقُرُّونَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ خَالِقُهُمْ وَرَازِقُهُمْ وَهُمْ يَعْبُدُونَ غَيْرَهُ
The polytheists acknowledged that God was their Creator and Provider, yet they worshipped others besides Him.
كَانُوا they were
A past-tense verb 'were' in the 'they' form, with the plural doer built in. It pairs with the following present verb to express a habitual past: 'they used to acknowledge'.