حَلَفْتُI swore

Example sentences

• فَقَعَدَتْ فَقَالَتْ وَاللَّهِ لَئِنْ حَلَفْتُ لَا تُصَدِّقُونَنِي،

  She sat down and said, "By God, if I swear, you will not believe me."

  حَلَفْتُ — I swore. A completed past-tense verb with the -tu 'I' ending built in. Sitting inside an 'if' clause, the past form here carries a hypothetical sense rather than a real past act: 'if I should swear', the supposed condition on which the rest depends.

  From: Aisha Cleared of Slander →

• لَوْ حَلَفْتُ لَرَجَوْتُ أَنْ أَبَرَّ

  If I had sworn, I would have hoped to keep it.

  حَلَفْتُ — I had sworn. This is a past-tense verb with the subject ending '-I' built into it, so no separate pronoun is needed. It sits in the condition half of the unreal 'if' frame, the supposed swearing. The first-person ending pins the hypothetical act to the speaker himself.

  From: On Foolishness and Wisdom →