قُلتُI said

Example sentences

• قُلتُ بَلَى،

  I said, 'Yes.'

  قُلتُ — I said. Past-tense speech-verb with the suffix '-tu' (I) fused on, so the narrator is the doer. This 'I said' frames the one-word reply. The '-tu' ending marks the first-person singular subject inside the verb.

  From: A Night with the Prophet →

• وَلَوْ قُلتُ إِنِّي اِطَّلَعْتُ عِشْرِينَ أَلْفَ مُجَلَّدًا، كَانَ أَكْثَرُ،

  And if I said: 'Indeed I have perused twenty thousand volumes,' it would be more.

  قُلتُ — I said. A past-tense verb with the -tu 'I' ending. Although past in form, inside the 'if' supposition it carries hypothetical force, 'were I to say'. Conditional particles like the one before it routinely take a past-shaped verb for an unreal situation.

  From: A Life of Reading and Writing →