يَضْرِبُhe strikes

Example sentences

• قَالَ فَرَأْتُ الْبَرَاءَ يَضْرِبُ إِحْدَى يَدَيْهِ عَلَى الأُخْرَى يَنْفِضُ،

  He said: I saw al-Bara' strike one of his hands against the other and shake it off.

  يَضْرِبُ — he strikes. A present-tense verb with its 'he' subject built in, here describing what al-Bara' was seen doing, an action ongoing under the eye of the watcher. Arabic uses this present shape to picture the activity as in progress at the time of seeing. The clause works like an English '-ing' description hanging off 'saw'.

  From: A Night with the Prophet →