قَفَلُواthey had gone

Example sentences

• فَلَمَّا قَفَلُوا قَالَ سَلَمَةُ رَأَنِي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ شَاحِبًا

  When they had gone, Salamah said, "The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, saw me pale."

  قَفَلُوا — they had gone. A past verb whose ending already carries its 'they' subject, so the plural doers are built into the word with no separate pronoun. The word's shape alone tells you a group performed the action, which is why English has to add 'they' that Arabic folds inside the verb.

  From: The Martyr's Reward →