Arabic vocabulary
How to say “wasted” in Arabic, with pronunciation and real example sentences from OpenArabic texts.
وعلى الضدّ من ذلك مَن لم تبقَ له حسنةٌ معتبرة وقد قضاها على الباطل فلا يقوم له وزن؛ أعماله كالسراب أو الرماد في يومٍ عاصف
And on the contrary: whoever has no significant good deeds left—having wasted them on falsehood—has no weight; his deeds are like a mirage or ashes on a stormy day.
قَضَاهَا — wasted them. Past 'he spent, used them up', with 'them' attached pointing back to the good deeds. 'Having squandered them' — the background to his emptiness.
From: Small Deeds, Great Reward →وَأَن تقضي عَلَيْهِ بآراء الْمُتَكَلِّمين وأفكار المتكلفين
And to judge it with the opinions of the theologians and the speculations of the pretentious,
تَقْضِيَ — to judge. A subjunctive verb 'pass judgment / decide' (the '-a' ending) because of 'that' before it, '-ta' (you) subject implied. The mood marks it as a hypothetical course, not a fact.
From: God's Majesty →فقضى لهم حياة وقضى عليهم مماتا،
So He decreed life for them and decreed death for them,
فَقَضَى — So He decreed. The 'so/then' prefix presents this as the unfolding result, and beneath it a past-tense verb means 'He decreed / ordained', with its 'he' subject built in. The connector chains the ordaining onto the prior decree, and the verb leads into the 'for them' phrase.
From: Death and Decree →فقضى لهم حياة وقضى عليهم مماتا،
So He decreed life for them and decreed death for them,
وَقَضَى — and decreed. The 'and' joins a parallel clause, and beneath it the same past-tense verb 'decreed' repeats, with its 'he' subject built in. The repetition builds a balanced pairing, ordaining death just as life was ordained, so the verb is echoed for rhetorical symmetry.
From: Death and Decree →وَبَابُهَا مِنْ جَرِيدٍ حَتَّى قَضَى رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ حَاجَتَهُ،
And its opening was from palm branches, until the Messenger of God had finished his need.
قَضَى — had finished. A plain past verb 'he finished/fulfilled' with a built-in 'he', whose doer (the Messenger) is named next. It states what the 'until' was waiting for.
From: Three Companions Promised Paradise →وَلاَ تَقْضِينَ فَأَنَالُ مِنْكِ
And do not judge, so I will take from you.
تَقْضِينَ — you (feminine) judge. A present-tense verb addressed to a single female 'you', here under the preceding prohibition so it reads as 'do not judge'. The feminine 'you' is built into the verb's ending rather than written as a separate word, so the form itself tells you the addressee is a woman.
From: Charity and Stinginess →فَقَضَى بِهِ لِلْكُبْرَى مِنْهُمَا
So he ruled that it belonged to the elder of the two.
فَقَضَى — so he ruled. A 'so' is fused to the front of a past-tense verb of judging whose 'he' subject is carried inside it. The 'so' frames this ruling as the direct outcome of the dispute just described. This verb of deciding then reaches its details through the prepositions that follow it.
From: Stories of Prophetic Judgments →فَقَضَى بِهِ لَهَا
So he ruled in her favor.
فَقَضَى — so he ruled. A 'so' is fused to a past-tense verb of judging whose 'he' subject is built in. The 'so' presents this as the natural consequence of what was just said. The deciding verb then relies on the prepositions after it to name what was ruled and in whose favor.
From: Stories of Prophetic Judgments →OpenArabic teaches words like قَضَى through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
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