Arabic vocabulary
فَكَانَwas
How to say “was” in Arabic, with pronunciation and an example from OpenArabic texts.
Example sentences
فَكَانَ زُوَّارُ بَغْدَادِ يَحْرِصُونَ عَلَى حُضُورِ مَجَالِسِهِ
Visitors to Baghdad were eager to attend his sessions.
فَكَانَ — so he was. A past-tense 'was/were' with fa- joined on front. fa- carries the narrative forward ('and so'). This copula sets up a was-doing-something frame: paired with the present verb later, it shifts that present into past habitual, 'used to be eager'. Its subject is named next.
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