Arabic vocabulary
How to say “to pass” in Arabic, with pronunciation and real example sentences from OpenArabic texts.
ينبع الطريق إلى تهذيب النفس من ملاحظة اللحظة الصغيرة التي تمر بين شهيق وزفير
The path to refining the soul springs from noticing the small moment that passes between inhalation and exhalation.
تَمُرُّ — it passes. Present-tense verb 'tamurr' = 'it passes'; subject 'it' (the moment) is built in.
From: Small Daily Habits →راقب خاطرًا يمرّ كطيف، فإن وجدت فيه رياءً أو رغبةً عمياء، فاغسله بالاستغفار والعمل الهادئ
Observe a thought passing like a phantom; if you find hypocrisy or blind desire in it, cleanse it with repentance and calm action.
يَمُرُّ — it is passing. Present-tense verb 'yamurr' = 'it passes'; subject 'it' (the thought) is built in.
From: Small Daily Habits →ويمر في أغراضه لولا أن العقل حجوز،
And he pursues his desires, were it not that reason restrains him.
وَيَمُرُّ — and he conducts. The 'and' joins the clause, and beneath it a present-tense verb meaning 'goes on / proceeds' carries its 'he' subject built in. The present tense paints the youth's pursuit of his aims as an ongoing habit, setting up the conditional twist that closes the line.
From: God's Promise of New Life →فَمَرَّ بِهِ عَلِيٌّ فَقَالَ
Then Ali passed by him and said.
فَمَرَّ — then he passed by. Led by fa-, the tight connector chaining this onto the prior scene as the next step. The past verb carries its own 'he' subject, named explicitly just after.
From: A Stranger Finds the Prophet →وَكَانَ أُمَيَّةُ إِذَا مَرَّ بِالْمَدِينَةِ نَزَلَ عَلَى سَعْدِ،
Whenever Umayya passed by the city, he would stay with Sa'd.
مَرَّ — he passed. A past verb with 'he' inside; in this habitual frame it reads as a repeated 'would pass'. It pairs with the 'by' phrase next to mean passing through a place.
From: Warning Before the Battle of Badr →وَكَانَ سَعْدٌ إِذَا مَرَّ بِمَكَّةِ نَزَلَ عَلَى أُمَيَّةِ،
Whenever Sa'd passed through Mecca, he would stay with Umayya.
مَرَّ — he passed. A past verb with 'he' inside; in this habitual frame it means 'would pass', and it teams with the 'by' phrase next to mean passing through a place.
From: Warning Before the Battle of Badr →فَأَقْبَلُوا يَسِيرُونَ حَتَّى أَتَوْا مَرَّ الظَّهْرَانِ،
They then set out walking until they reached Marr al-Zahran.
مَرَّ — Marr. Here this word is the first element of the two-part place-name 'Marr al-Zahran', the spot they reached. It serves as the destination of the motion verb before it, standing as the goal that 'until' pointed toward.
From: Conquest of Mecca Account →فَلَمَّا مَرَّ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ بِأَبِي سُفْيَانَ
When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, passed by Abu Sufyan.
مَرَّ — passed by. A past-tense verb 'passed by' that pairs with a following bi- phrase to name what it passed. Coming after 'when', it supplies the event the 'when' clause is built around; Arabic puts the verb first, then its doer.
From: Conquest of Mecca Account →فَمَرَّ أَبُو بَكْرٍ، فَسَأَلْتُهُ عَنْ آيَةٍ مِنْ كِتَابِ اللَّهِ،
Then Abu Bakr passed by, and I asked him about a verse from the Book of Allah.
فَمَرَّ — then he passed by. This verb has 'fa-' on the front, a connector meaning 'then/so' that signals the next step in a sequence of events; the body is a past verb 'passed by' with 'he' built in. Here the 'fa-' simply moves the story forward to the moment Abu Bakr appears. Unlike a plain 'and', this connector implies one thing following right after another.
From: Generosity to the Poor →فَمَرَّ وَلَمْ يَفْعَلْ، ثُمَّ مَرَّ بِـيْ عُمَرُ فَسَأَلْتُهُ عَنْ آيْةٍ مِنْ كِتَابِ اللَّهِ،
He passed by and did not do it; then Umar passed by me, and I asked him about a verse from the Book of Allah.
فَمَرَّ — so he passed. The 'fa-' on the front moves the narrative forward to the next beat; the rest is the past verb 'passed by' with 'he' inside. This connector implies immediate succession, 'so then he passed', tying it to the preceding scene. It differs from a plain 'and' by signalling consequence or sequence.
From: Generosity to the Poor →فَمَرَّ وَلَمْ يَفْعَلْ، ثُمَّ مَرَّ بِـيْ عُمَرُ فَسَأَلْتُهُ عَنْ آيْةٍ مِنْ كِتَابِ اللَّهِ،
He passed by and did not do it; then Umar passed by me, and I asked him about a verse from the Book of Allah.
مَرَّ — he passed. A plain past verb 'passed by' with 'he' built in, here introducing Umar as the one who passes; the doer is named in the word that follows. Its repetition of the earlier 'passed' keeps the parallel structure of the encounters. The subject coming after the verb is the normal Arabic order.
From: Generosity to the Poor →فَمَرَّ فَلَمْ يَفْعَلْ،
He passed by and did not do it.
فَمَرَّ — so he passed by. The 'fa-' connector moves the story to the next beat, 'so he passed'; the body is the past verb 'passed' with 'he' inside. It signals succession, tying this passing to the prior moment. As a sequence marker it implies one event right after another.
From: Generosity to the Poor →ثُمَّ مَرَّ بِي أَبُو الْقَاسِمِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَتَبَسَّمَ
Then Abu al-Qasim, may God bless him and grant him peace, passed by me and smiled.
مَرَّ — he passed. A plain past verb 'passed by' with 'he' built in; the doer is named in the words that follow. It parallels the earlier passings of Abu Bakr and Umar, keeping the structure. Verb-before-subject is the ordinary order here.
From: Generosity to the Poor →ثُمَّ مَرَّ بِأَمَةٍ فَقَالَتْ اللَّهُمَّ لَا تَجْعَلْ إِبْنِي مِثْلَ هَذِهِ فَتَرَكَ ثَدْيَهَا
Then he passed by a slave-girl, and she said, "O God, do not make my son like this." Then he left her breast.
مَرَّ — passed by. A bare past 'passed by', its 'he' subject inside. With no prefix it stands as the plain next action after 'then', moving the baby's bearer past a new person.
From: Those Who Spoke in the Cradle →إِذْ مَرَّ بِاِمْرَأَةٍ تَصِيحُ بِابْنِهَا يَا وَلَدِي
When he passed by a woman who was crying out for her son, she cried, "O my son!"
مَرَّ — passed by. A past-tense verb whose 'he' subject is built in, the action that breaks into the scene. It needs no separate pronoun. It then reaches its object through the preposition that follows it.
From: Stories of Prophetic Judgments →OpenArabic teaches words like مَرَّ through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
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