تَخَلَّفَfall behind

Example sentences

• إِنَّكَ مَتَىٰ مَا يَرَاكَ الْنَّاسُ قَدْ تَخَلَّفْتَ

  Indeed, whenever people see you, they say that you have fallen behind.

  تَخَلَّفْتَ — you fell behind. A past verb with 'you' in its -ta ending, in a reflexive-style pattern meaning to stay back or lag. The suffix names the doer, so 'you fell behind' rides on one word.

  From: Warning Before the Battle of Badr →

• وَأَنْتَ سَيِّدُ أَهْلِ الْوَادِيِ تَخَلَّفُوا مَعَكَ،

  And you are the leader of the people of the valley; they lagged behind with you.

  تَخَلَّفُوا — they lagged behind. A past verb whose -u ending carries a 'they' subject — the plural rides in the verb's tail. It means they all stayed back, a single word doing the work of pronoun plus verb.

  From: Warning Before the Battle of Badr →