كُنْتَyou were

Example sentences

• إِنْ كُنْتَ رَأَيْتَ رُؤْيًا فَاقْصِصْهَا عَلَيَّ

  If you saw a dream, relate it to me.

  كُنْتَ — you were. A past-tense verb from the root 'to be', its '-ta' ending marking a single male 'you' as the doer. Paired with the conditional particle and the verb that follows, it builds the 'if you had...' frame, supplying the past-time backbone of the condition.

  From: A Night of Reckoning →

• فَإِنْ كُنْتَ لَا تَدْرِي فَتِلْكَ دِيَارُهُمْ

  So if you do not know, then those are their homes.

  كُنْتَ — you are. A past-tense form of 'to be' carrying its 'you' subject inside, but set within a conditional it reads as a timeless 'if you are', not a finished past. It anchors the condition's state, with the negation and verb after it filling in what that state is.

  From: Vigilance Against Worldly Deception →

• لَوْ أَدْرَكْتَهُ كَيْفَ كُنْتَ تَكُونُ

  If you had caught up with him, how would you have behaved?

  كُنْتَ — you were. A past verb, 'were', with the 'you' (masculine singular) subject in its tail, the past of 'to be'. Paired with the verb after it, it builds the hypothetical 'how would you have been'. The subject lives in the verb's ending.

  From: A Spy in the Enemy Camp →