تَنَافَسَcompete (mutually)

Example sentences

• فَعَرَضَ ضِيَاعَهُ عَلَى الْبَيْعِ وَكَانَ النَّاسُ يَتَنَافَسُونَ فِيهَا

  So he offered his possessions for sale, and people were competing for them.

  يَتَنَافَسُونَ — they were competing. Present-tense verb with a built-in reciprocal sense, 'competing with one another', the plural 'they' in its ending; under the earlier 'was' it reads as ongoing past. The mutual back-and-forth is carried by the verb's pattern itself.

  From: Sheba's Garden and Destruction →