قَدِرَbe able

Example sentences

• وَكُلُّ قَوْمِهَا كَانَ حَرِيصًا عَلَى نِكَاحِهَا لَوْ قَدِرَ عَلَى ذَلِكَ،

  And each of her people would have been eager to marry her if he had been able to do so.

  قَدِرَ — had been able. A past-tense verb ('was able'), with its 'he' subject built in, serving as the verb of the unreal 'if' clause. Under 'if' of this kind the past form carries a 'had been able' contrary-to-fact sense rather than a plain past.

  From: The Prophet's Marriage to Khadijah →