حَفَرَdig

Example sentences

• فَرَأَى الْجُرْذَ يَحْفُرُ بِمَخَالِبِ مِنْ حَدِيدٍ

  Then he saw the rat digging with iron claws.

  يَحْفُرُ — he digs. A present-tense 'he/it' verb, 'digs', whose subject is the rat just mentioned. Coming right after 'saw the rat', this present form paints what the rat was caught in the middle of doing, 'saw it [as it was] digging', the Arabic way of showing an action in progress at the moment of seeing.

  From: Sheba's Garden and Destruction →

• فَأَتَى بُهْرَةً وَالْجُرَذُ يَحْفِرُ وَلَا يَكْتَرِثُ بِالْهِرَّةِ

  So a female cat came, and the rat was digging and did not pay attention to the cat.

  يَحْفِرُ — was digging. Present-tense verb picturing an action in progress; set against the surrounding past narrative it paints the digging as ongoing at that moment. Arabic uses the present shape, not a separate 'was -ing' helper, to freeze a scene mid-action.

  From: Sheba's Garden and Destruction →