أَدْرَكَcomprehended

Example sentences

• وَأَدْرَكَ الأُمُورَ الْغَامِضَةَ

  And it grasped the hidden matters.

  وَأَدْرَكَ — and it comprehended. 'wa-' = 'and'; past-tense verb, subject 'it' built in.

  From: Intellect and Faith →

• وَكَرِهَ أَنْ يَسْأَلَ عَنْهُ حَتَّى أَدْرَكَهُ بَعْضُ اللَّيْلِ،

  He was reluctant to ask about him until part of the night had passed.

  أَدْرَكَهُ — overtook him. A past verb of the make-it-happen pattern with the attached 'him' as object, here 'part of the night overtook him'. Its doer is named just after, and the suffix is the person the night caught.

  From: A Stranger Finds the Prophet →

• أَدْرَكْتُمْهُ وَلَمْ نَدْرِكْهُ وَرَأَيْتُمْهُ وَلَمْ نَرَهُ

  You met him, but we did not; you saw him, but we did not.

  أدركتموه — you (plural) met him. A past verb carrying both the 'you' (plural) subject in its tail and the object pronoun '-hu' (him): so one word says 'you all met him'. The plural ending marks the addressees as several, and the suffix names whom they met. It opens a contrast with the 'we' clause that follows.

  From: A Spy in the Enemy Camp →

• لَوْ أَدْرَكْتَهُ كَيْفَ كُنْتَ تَكُونُ

  If you had caught up with him, how would you have behaved?

  أَدْرَكته — you had caught up with him. A past verb carrying both the 'you' subject in its tail and the object pronoun '-hu' (him): 'you had caught up with him'. Under the counterfactual 'if' it reads as an unreal past, something that did not in fact occur. The subject and object are packed into the one verb.

  From: A Spy in the Enemy Camp →