شَيْخًاman

Example sentences

• وَكَانَ شَيْخًا كَبِيرًا قَدْ عَمِيَ

  He was an old man who had become blind.

  شَيْخًا — a man. This is the completer of kaana ('was'): the noun that fills in what he WAS. Because kaana governs it, the noun takes the -an accusative ending you can hear, even though in English it is just a plain predicate after 'was'. It is left indefinite (no 'the'), which is why English reaches for 'a'.

  From: The Night of Revelation and Consolation →