Arabic vocabulary
How to say “saw” in Arabic, with pronunciation and real example sentences from OpenArabic texts.
عرضت علي الأمم، فرأيت النبي ومعه الرهيط،
The nations were presented to me, and I saw a prophet with a small group with him,
فَرَأَيْتُ — and I saw. This is 'so' plus a past verb 'saw' with '-tu' = 'I' — 'and I saw'. The 'fa-' moves the vision along. The first-person subject rides in the verb's ending. Its object follows.
From: Those Who Enter Without Account →فَرَأَيْتُ أَنْ أَحْذَرَ مِنْ مَكَائِدِهِ
So I decided to beware of his schemes.
فَرَأَيْتُ — so I decided. A past-tense verb with a first-person 'I' suffix on its end, literally 'I saw' but used idiomatically as 'I resolved'. The suffix builds the speaker into the word, so no separate 'I' is needed.
From: Finding the Prophet's Way →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.
فَرَأْتُ — so I saw. The 'fa-' (so/then) advances the story, fused onto a past verb whose '-tu' ending means 'I'. So the chunk both links and reports the narrator's seeing. The first-person singular subject rides inside that ending.
From: A Night with the Prophet →فَقَالَ لَهُ رَأَيْتُهُ يَأْمُرُ بِمَكَارِمِ الْأَخْلاَقِ،
So he said to him, "I saw him enjoining noble character."
رَأَيْتُهُ — I saw him. A past verb with its 'I' subject inside and the attached 'him' as object, the person seen. That suffix reaches back to someone outside this sentence, so tracking the earlier referent is how you know who 'him' is.
From: A Stranger Finds the Prophet →فَإِنَّيَ إِنْ رَأَيْتُ شَيْئًا أَخَافُ عَلَيْكَ قُمْتُ كَأَنَّيَ أُرِيقُ الْمَاءَ،
Whenever I saw anything that made me fear for you, I would stand up as if I were pouring water,
رَأَيْتُ — I saw. A past verb with its 'I' subject built into the ending, 'I saw'. Inside the conditional it reads as a repeated 'whenever I saw', the trigger of the habit described.
From: A Stranger Finds the Prophet →ثُمَّ أَرْجِعُ فَإِذَا رَأَيْتُ رَبَّيَّ وَقَعْتُ سَاجِدًا،
Then I return, and when I see my Lord, I fall down in prostration.
رَأَيْتُ — I see. This is a finished-action verb with -tu on the end fixing the doer as 'I'. Although it has a past shape, inside the idha 'whenever' frame it reads as a general present, the timing comes from the frame, not the verb's own form, which is why a past-shaped verb can describe a recurring 'when I see'.
From: Intercession on Judgment Day →ثُمَّ أَرْجِعُ فَإِذَا رَأَيْتُ رَبِّي وَقَعْتُ سَاجِدًا،
Then I return, and when I see my Lord I fall prostrate.
رَأَيْتُ — I saw. A finished-action verb with -tu fixing the doer as 'I'. Its past shape here is pulled into a general present by the idha 'whenever' frame around it, the timing comes from the frame, not the verb, which is how a past-shaped form expresses 'when I see'.
From: Intercession on Judgment Day →فَلَقَدْ رَأَيْتُهُ أَكَفُّهُ عَنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ
I certainly saw that his hands were kept away from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.
رَأَيْتُهُ — I saw him. Past-tense 'saw' with a -tu marking 'I' as doer and an attached -hu as its object, so subject and object both ride on the one verb. The object points to the situation being witnessed, which the next words spell out.
From: Marriage and Financial Justice →وَإِذَا رَأَيْتُ كِتَابًا لَمْ أَرَهُ فَكَأَنِّي وَقَعْتُ عَلَى كَنْزٍ،
When I saw a book I had not seen before, it was as if I had stumbled upon a treasure.
رَأَيْتُ — I saw. A past-tense verb with the -tu ending that marks an 'I' subject. Inside the 'whenever' frame it gives the repeatable trigger: each time I saw. The -tu suffix is what fixes the speaker as the doer.
From: A Life of Reading and Writing →وَمَا رَأَيْتُ فِي الْقُضَاةِ أَعْقَلَ مِنْهُ
I have not seen anyone among the judges wiser than him.
رَأَيْتُ — I saw. A past-tense verb whose ending -tu builds in an 'I' subject, so the speaker is named inside the verb. The negation before it flips it to 'I have not seen', the doer carried in the verb's tail.
From: Permissible Laughter and Conduct →كَمْ رَأَيْتُ صَاحِبَ مَنْزِلٍ مَا نَزَلَ لَحْدَهُ حَتَّى نَزَلَ
How many a homeowner have I seen who never moved into his house before he died!
رَأَيْتُ — have I seen. A past-tense verb carrying its 'I' subject inside the form, so no separate 'I' is needed. It anchors the exclamation in the speaker's own experience, 'I have seen', with the great many homeowners that follow as what was witnessed.
From: Vigilance Against Worldly Deception →وَإِنِّي رَأَيْتُ خَلْقًا كَثِيرًا غَرَّهُمْ الشَّبَابُ،
And I saw many people whom youth had deceived,
رَأَيْتُ — I saw. A past-tense verb carrying its 'I' subject in the -tu ending, so no separate pronoun is needed. It narrates a completed act of the author, and it takes a direct object, the people, named in the words that follow.
From: Preparing for Death and Repentance →فَتَفَكَّرْتُ فَرَأَيْتُ كَثِيرًا مِنَ النَّاسِ فِي وُجُودِهِمْ كَالْعَدَمِ،
I reflected and saw that many people, in their existence, are like nothingness.
فَرَأَيْتُ — so I saw. Another first-person past verb, its '-tu' carrying the 'I'. The 'fa-' here marks consequence within the same chain: reflecting led to seeing, so this 'fa-' reads as 'and then, as a result' rather than mere addition. It keeps the run of actions flowing in order.
From: Preparing for Death and Repentance →حَتَّى لَقَدْ رَأَيْتُ أَبَا سُفْيَانِ وَثَبَ عَلَى جَمَلٍ لَهُ مَعْقُولٌ
I even saw Abu Sufyan leap onto his tied camel.
رَأَيْتُ — I saw. This is a past-tense verb whose '-tu' ending marks 'I' as the eyewitness, asserting what was seen. The 'I' rides in the verb's tail, so no separate pronoun appears. The emphatic particles before it underline that this is a firsthand claim.
From: A Spy in the Enemy Camp →OpenArabic teaches words like رَأَيْتُ through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
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