50 • Moroccan Arabic

Past Events
Objective: By the end of the chapter, you will be able to:

• talk about past activities with regular and irregular verbs

• talk about what you did not do using negative sentences

• ask about past experiences (Have you ever...) and respond (I’ve never...)

• use object pronouns with verbs

Time Vocabulary
• ask varied questions with different question words

Before we begin the past tense, let’s learn some words that will help us describe when past events took
place. Then we will be ready to talk about some of our past activities.
Days of the Week

day yum / nhar  /  Tuesday t-tlat (

) 


week simana  Wednesday l-arb‫ع‬ ( ) 

Sunday l-нdd ()  Thursday l-xmis 

Monday l-tnin ()  Friday j-jm‫ع‬a 

Saturday s-sbt 

Months of the Year

month šhr  June yunyu 

year ‫ع‬am  July yulyuz 

January yanayr ! August ġušt "#

February fbrayr $ September šutnbir % "

March mars  October oktobr &'*

April abril +* November nuwanbir %!"

May may , December dujanbir %!-

The Seasons

season fasl +.0$ summer s-sif 1.

seasons fosul +."$ fall l-xrif 1

spring r-rbi‫ع‬  winter š-šta 

For information about the months of the Islamic calendar and some of the major religious events
of the year, see “Moroccan Holidays” on page 160.
 Peace Corps / Morocco • 51

Time Expressions
this year had l-‫ع‬am  

last year l-‫ع‬am lli fat 

 

last month š-šhr lli fat 

 

last week s-simana lli fatt  

 

yesterday l-barн  

today l-yum 

on (+ day of the week) nhar ... 

on Friday nhar j-jm‫ع‬a  

in (+ month) f šhr ...  

f šhr ġušt   

in August
f šhr tmnya   

at (+ time) f 

at 9:00 f t-ts‫ع‬ud  

at dawn f l-fjr  

in the morning f s-sbaн  

in the afternoon / evening f l-‫ع‬šiya  

at night f l-lil ! 

at midnight f ns l-lil ! " 

Past Tense – Regular Verbs

Verbs in General
When learning verbs in a foreign language, we usually learn the “infinitive” form of the verb (e.g. to
eat), and then learn how to “conjugate” from that infinitive (I eat, he eats, they eat). In Arabic, there
are not infinitives for verbs in this way. Rather, we learn the “he” form of the verb (i.e. third person
masculine singular) in the past tense, and then learn how to conjugate the other forms (I, you, she,
etc.) from the “he” form. Because we use this past tense “he” form like an infinitive for the purposes of
learning verbs, if you see something referred to as an “infinitive,” it is this form. Some examples:
he drank šrb 
past tense
“he” form: he hit drb 
like an infinitive
he sat gls 
Whenever you are given a new verb in this book or by your teacher, it will be given to you in this form.
You will be able to conjugate verbs in the past or present tense based upon this “infinitive” form.
The vast majority of Darija (Moroccan Arabic) verbs are made up of three letters (see the verbs
above). To these “stems” we can add prefixes (letters that we attach to the beginning of a word) and
suffixes (letters we attach to the end of a word) in order to conjugate the verb. Stems with a vowel in
the middle and stems with a vowel at the end will differ from verbs with three consonants.
52 • Moroccan Arabic
Regular Verbs in the Past Tense
When we say “regular verb,” we mean a verb that is conjugated according to rules that the large
majority of verbs in the language use. An “irregular verb” is conjugated according to different rules.
There are regular and irregular verbs for both the past and present tense in Darija. However, irregular
verbs that are similar in the past may be different in the present. So, you need to realize that the groups
of verbs categorized together for the past tense may not always correspond to the groups in the present
tense.
In general, “regular verb” refers to:
• All 3-letter verbs without the long vowel “a” (  / ) in the middle or end position
(i.e. 3-letter verbs made up only of consonants)
• All verbs with more than 3 letters and not ending in “a” (  /)
To conjugate a regular verb in the past tense, we add the following suffixes (endings):
“to write” ktb 

Remember
that the I wrote ktbt 

“infinitive” is
the same as you wrote (masc. sing.) ktbti 

the past tense

“he” form. you wrote (fem. sing.) ktbti 

he wrote ktb  In the past

tense, you
she wrote ktbat   (masc.) and
you (fem.)
we wrote ktbna

are the same.
In the present
ktbtu tense, they
you wrote (plur.) 
will be
different.
they wrote ktbu 

Some Regular Verbs

to drink šrb  to understand fhm 

to know ‫ع‬rf  to work xdm 

to play l‫ع‬b  to hit drb 

to draw rsm  to stop / stand up wqf 
to sleep n‫ع‬s
 to arrive wsl  
to wear lbs  to hear / listen sm‫ع‬ 
to stay / sit gls  to ask suwl 
to enter dxl  to travel safr 
to go out xrj  to help ‫ع‬awn 
to return rj‫ع‬  to send sift 
to watch tfrrj  to wash ġsl !
 Peace Corps / Morocco • 53

to use st‫ع‬ml  to speak tkllm  

Some examples:
Yesterday, I drank tea without l-barн, šrbt atay bla
skkar.
.
    
 
 
sugar.

Last week, Said wrote a letter to s-simana lli fatt, Said 

    
his friend. ktb bra l saнbu. . !
Last year, we traveled to New l-‫ع‬am lli fat, safrna l
."
 
   
York. New York.

Exercise: Put the verbs in parentheses in the correct form.

Mohamed: weš (n‫ع‬s) bkri l-barн? %
  
($) # :
Hassan: lla
.& :'
Mohamed: ‫ع‬laš? %#* :
Hassan: (gls) m‫ع‬a l-‫ع‬a'ila dyali
u (tkllm) m‫ع‬ahum šwiya.
 () 
 
  () :1
mn b‫ع‬d, {нna}(xrj). mlli (")  .(!){}    .
(rj‫)ع‬, (l‫ع‬b) l-karta u  .'*+&
 , (%&)  $
 (#
)
(tfrrj) f t-tlfaza. mn
b‫ع‬d {ana}(dxl) l l-bit .() 
 0
 / (/! ) {-}  
dyali u (n‫ع‬s).

l-нdd lli fat, (‫ع‬awn) xti f l-kuzina:

(ġsl) l-mma‫ع‬n u (tiyb) l-ġda.
 3%
 (/14) :*
 , ! (3) 02 
 % 

. 5
 (#%$)
Past Tense – Irregular Verbs
When we speak about irregular verbs for the past tense, we refer to three categories: 1. three-letter
verbs with the long vowel “a” ( ) in the middle position, 2. any verb with the long vowel “a” ( ) at the  /

end, and 3. two-letter verbs.

1st Category: long vowel “a” ( ) in the middle position
To conjugate a three-letter verb in the past tense with the long vowel “a” in the middle position, remove
the long vowel “a” for the I, you (sing.), we, and you (plur.) forms before adding the past tense
endings. For the form, only add a “t.” The and
she he they forms are like regular verbs.
“to be” kan 

In these forms,
we remove the I was knt 

middle “a” and

then add the you were (masc. sing.) knti  

endings.
you were (fem. sing.) knti  

he was kan 

she was kant  

In these forms,
we keep the we were knna  
middle “a” and
then add the
endings.
54 • Moroccan Arabic
you were (plur.) kntu 

they were kanu 

Some Irregular Verbs with long vowel “a” ( ) in the middle

position
to get up /
to see šaf  nad 
stand up
to do / make dar
 to throw laн 
to swim ‫ع‬am  to pass / pass by daz 
to sell ba‫ع‬ 
to pass fat 
to love / be
to bring jab  mat ‫ع‬la  
dying for
to say gal  to increase zad 
to fast sam  to be scared xaf 
to drive sag  to live ‫ع‬aš 

Some examples:
This morning I got up at 7:00. had s-sbaн ndt f s-sb‫ع‬a. .
   
 !
What did you do yesterday? šnu drti l-barн? " #
 $%# &'
What’s done is done. (proverb) lli fat mat. .  $

Exercise: Put the verbs in parentheses in the correct form.

s-simana lli fatt, ana u sнabi (‫ع‬am)
.0,,12  () $
( & ) *+ $ ,
f la-ppisin.
Sara (‫ع‬aš) f mirikan ‫ع‬amayn. .   
() 3#
nhar s-sbt f l-‫ع‬šiya, ana u sнabati  .
( )     
  
(kan) f l-нmmam. mlli xrjna (daz) l
l-qhwa. .%& ' (#$) !"

2nd Category: long vowel “a” ( /  ) at the end

To conjugate a verb with the long vowel “a” at the end, change the vowel to “i” for the I, you (sing.),

we, and you (plur.) forms, then add the normal endings. For the form, only add a “t.” The
she he

and they forms are like regular verbs.

“to eat” kla 
In these forms,
we change the I ate klit 
final “a” to “i”
then add the you ate (masc. sing.) kliti 
endings.
you ate (fem. sing.) kliti 
he ate kla 

In these forms,
we keep the final
“a” and then add
the endings.
 Peace Corps / Morocco • 55

she ate klat 

we ate klina 
you ate (plur.) klitu 
they ate klau  

Some Irregular Verbs with the long vowel “a” (  / ) at the



end
to go mša
 to rent kra  
to start bda  to run jra  
to buy šra 
to finish sala 
to sing ġnna  to have lunch tġdda 
to give ‫ع‬ta  to have dinner t‫ع‬šša 
to forget nsa  to hope tmna

to cry bka  to wait tsna 
to want bġa  to read / study qra 
to take xda  to meet tlaqa 
to come ja 

Some examples:
Last Sunday, I went to the l-нdd lli fat, mšit l    
  
 ! "#
medina and bought a jellaba. l-mdina u šrit jllaba. .
They sang at the party on huma ġnnau f l-нfla nhar
s-sbt.
. $ !%# &  ' 
()
Saturday.

Exercise: Put the verbs in parentheses in the correct form.

John u Amy (kra) dar zwina f
Marrakech.
./
&  0  () 
*  +

l-barн ana u Paul (tlaqa) m‫ع‬a sнabna (" )  3 &  #4 56
( ) 1   * 2
f r-ristora u (tġdda) mjmu‫ع‬in. .+


s-simana lli fatt, huma (sala)

l-xdma dyalhum f l-mġrib.
78
 & 9($ 
 ( ) 
()  !  
.
56 • Moroccan Arabic

Moroccan Wisdom:   

  
. 
l-li bġa l-‫ع‬sl y-sbr l qris n-nнl.
The one who wants honey must tolerate bee stings.
3rd Category: two-letter verbs
When we say “two-letter verbs,” some confusion can arise. When we write them in Arabic, they have
only two letters. However, there is a “shedda” on the second letter (see pages 3 and 159), so in the
transcription we double the second letter, making them look like three-letter verbs. In this case, you
can still recognize them because the second and third letters are the same. Or, look at the Arabic script
and you can be sure of the fact that they are, indeed, two-letter verbs.
To conjugate this type of verb, we add the long vowel “i” to the I, you (sing.), we, and you (plur.)

forms, then add the normal endings. The he, she, and they forms are like regular verbs.
“to open” нll 

In these forms, I opened нllit

we add “i” to the 

verb, then add you opened (masc. sing.) нlliti

the normal  
A two-letter
endings. you opened (fem. sing.) нlliti  
verb with
“shedda” on
he opened нll 
the second
letter.
she opened нllat 


In these forms, we opened нllina  

we simply add
the normal you opened (plur.) нllitu  
endings.
they opened нllu 

Some two-letter verbs

to close sdd   to be able qdd 

to smell šmm   to pick up hzz  

to hand mdd  to think dnn 

to answer /
rdd  to be bored mll 
return back
to pour kbb  to take / catch šdd 

to feel нss  to pull / drag jrr 

 Peace Corps / Morocco • 57

to put нtt 

Some examples:
I opened the window and I нllit s-srjm u sddit
.
   

closed the door l-bab.
I felt cold нssit b l-brd. . 
 

Exercise: Put the verbs in parentheses in the correct form.

l-barн f s-sbaн, Mary (rdd) l-ktab l
  ! ()     .
l-xizana.
mlli kan l-‫ع‬jaj, {ana} (sdd) s-srajm. . () {}  


{нna} (нtt) l-нwayj f l-makina d

.       () {}
s-sabun.

Negation
Normal Negative Form
In order to express the negative of a verb (i.e. “didn’t,” or “don’t,” or “doesn’t”), we add the prefix ma ( )
to the beginning of a verb and the suffix š () to the end of a verb.

We drank. šrbna 

We didn’t drink. ma-šrbna-š   

Exercise: Conjugate the verbs in parentheses in the negative form.

huwa (safr) s-simana lli fatt. .
      ( ) 


l-barн f l-lil (qra) l-ktab dyali

нit knt ‫ع‬iyan. .! "       ()    

нiya (gls) m‫ع‬ana нit (sala) l-xdma

. '  * (& )   % (#$)  
dyalha.
нna (n‫ع‬s) bkri нit (t‫ع‬šša) bkri. .+ (&%)  + (#%) 

Kari (lbs) l-kswa j-jdida f l-нfla

нit (kan) ‫ع‬ndha l-wqt. .  " (! )  ,  -/ -  ( #) + 

mlli ja l l-mġrib (sift) bra l

  !0    (,2) 01  / .
l-walidin dyalu.
kant l-brd u {ana} (нll) s-srajm. 5/  (4) { 3}    .

Additional Negative Forms

The following negative forms replace the š ( ) we use for the normal negative form. We still use ma ()
before the verb, but we use these forms after the verb or, sometimes, before the verb (and thus before
ma).

nothing walu 

nothing нtta нaja 

58 • Moroccan Arabic

nothing нtta ši  

no one нtta waнd  
no one (нtta) нdd  ()
neither ... nor la ... wala
...

only / just ġir 

Some examples:
I knew nothing. ma-‫ع‬rft walu. .   
I ate nothing. ma-kleet нtta нaja.    .
No one came. нtta waнd ma-ja. .   
He saw no one. ma-šaf нtta waнd / нdd.  /    .
I met neither Mohamed nor ma-laqit la Mohamed wala
Amber.
.



Amber.
I drank only water. ma-šrbt ġir l-ma.    .

Exercise: Put the verbs in parentheses in the proper form.

l-нdd lli fat (gls) f d-dar,
(xrj negative) ‫ع‬laнqqaš (kan) š-šta.
 . () 
 ()    ()   

f l-‫ع‬šiya saнbi (ja) u (mša) l
s-siber bjooj. mn b‫ع‬d (mša) l & (#$)  $ ."! % & (#$) " (!) 
 
s-sinima. (šaf) waнd l-film zwin. ./"% & (+ ) () $ ."+ ,-
" () .$'*%
mlli (xrj), (daz) l s-suq. (šra)
l-xodra. mn b‫ع‬d (šdd) tobis u (rj‫)ع‬ .  & (4!) " "3 ( )  $ .12 (0)
l d-dar.
 Peace Corps / Morocco • 59

Exercise: Write a paragraph from these pictures.

Have you ever... / I’ve never...

Have you ever...?
We can use the word ‫ع‬mmr ( 
 ) to express the English equivalent of the present perfect tense: “Have

you ever...?” and “I have never...” We “conjugate” it as follows:

Have I ever... weš ‫ع‬mmri / ‫ع‬mmrni

 /   

Have you (sing.) ever... weš ‫ع‬mmrk   

Has he ever... weš ‫ع‬mmru    

Has she ever... weš ‫ع‬mmrha   

60 • Moroccan Arabic

Have we ever... weš ‫ع‬mmrna  

Have you (plur.) ever... weš ‫ع‬mmrkum

 

Have they ever... weš ‫ع‬mmrhum

 

The verb that follows ‫ع‬mmr is often in the past tense. Some examples:
Have you ever gone to France? weš ‫ع‬mmrk mšiti l Fransa?      

Have they ever eaten couscous? weš ‫ع‬mmrhum klau l-ksksu?   

 

Have you ever drunk mint tea in weš ‫ع‬mmrkum šrbtu atay b      !
 

America? n-n‫ع‬na‫ ع‬f mirikan? " # $

I’ve never...
This is like the conjugation above, with the addition of ma ( ) at the beginning of ‫ع‬mmr ( ).
 

I have never... ma-‫ع‬mmri / ma-‫ع‬mmrni   /  

you (sing.) have never... ma-‫ع‬mmrk  

he has never... ma-‫ع‬mmru  

she has never... ma-‫ع‬mmrha  

we have never... ma-‫ع‬mmrna  

you (plur.) have never... ma-‫ع‬mmrkum

 

they have never... ma-‫ع‬mmrhum

 

Some examples:
I’ve never eaten hamburger. ma-‫ع‬mmrni kleet l-hamborgr. .% ! & '(  

She has never been abroad. ma-‫ع‬mmrha safrat l l-xarij. .)# *  '   

He has never spoken Arabic. ma-‫ع‬mmru tkllm l-‫ع‬rbiya. .+!

,(  

Object Pronouns
In English, we have pronouns for the subject of a sentence: I, you, he, she, we, and they. But we also
have object pronouns that we use after verbs :
He hit me. I saw her.
Ask him a question. We gave them some cake.
So far, you have learned the independent pronouns (see page 7) and the possessive pronouns (see
page 9). Here are the object pronouns that we use in Moroccan Arabic :
after verbs

me ni 
you (sing.) k 
him / it u / h  / 
 Peace Corps / Morocco • 61

her / it ha 

us na 

you (plur.) kum 

them hum 

These pronouns are the same as the possessive pronouns, with the exception of “me.” The “him” form
uses u after consonants and h after vowels, exactly like the possessive pronoun form. Some examples:
‫ع‬omar ‫ع‬ta waнd l-ktab l
Omar gave a book to Mohamed. .

    

Mohamed.
Omar gave it to Mohamed. ‫ع‬omar ‫ع‬tah l Mohamed. .

  


Did you write the letter to weš ktbti l-bra l

   
Hassan? Hassan?
Yes, I wrote it to Hassan. iyeh, ktbtha l Hassan. .  !"

Why did you leave us with him? ‫ع‬laš xllitina m‫ع‬ah?  #

!!$%& '

She saw me at the movie šaftni f s-sinima. .

!+ ( ) *
theater.
As you can see, these pronouns are attached directly to the verb . As a result, when a verb with an
object pronoun is made , the š ( ) is used
negative after the pronoun. Some examples:
You saw me. šftini 
You didn’t see me. ma-šftini-š  
Did you see Hakima and Karim? weš šfti Hakima u Karim?
     
No, I didn’t see them. lla, ma-šfthum-š. .   

Exercise: Replace the underlined nouns by the corresponding pronouns.

1. qrit dik l-jarida l-barн f
s-sbaн.
.      ! "#
2. nsau s-sarut dyalhum f d-dar. .    " $  $
3. zrt duk n-nas f Fes l-barн. .  % &  %  ! "'
4. ddau wldhum m‫ع‬ahum l s-sinima. . 
 
 

5. wqqfna šffar f z-znqa. .      

6. bba ‫ع‬awn xuk f l-нsab. .      !"

Question Words
Some of these you already know. Some will be new for you.
who škun #

Who are you? škun nta / nti? &% / $% #

62 • Moroccan Arabic

what aš / šnu / ašnu  /  / 

What did you do yesterday? šnu drti l-barн? 
  
which ašmn 
Which bus did you take? ašmn tobis xditi?   
 
where fin / fayn   / 
Where did you eat pizza? fin kliti l-ppitza?   
how kifaš 
How did you get to the hotel? kifaš wslti l l-otil?    
from where mnin 
Where did you come from? mnin jiti?  ! 
when fuqaš / imta #$ / "
When did you sleep yesterday? fuqaš n‫ع‬sti l-barн? 
 %& "
When did you arrive? imta wslti?   #$
why ‫ع‬laš '(
Why did you come late? ‫ع‬laš jiti m‫ع‬ttl? )& ! '(
Because I didn’t get up early. ‫ع‬laнqqaš ma-ndt-š bkri. .*
+  ),-.(
The word mn () is used after some prepositions to create question words.
with whom m‫ع‬a mn  12
With whom did you travel to
Rabat? (In the US: Who did you travel m‫ع‬a mn safrti l Rabat? 
   %  12
to Rabat with?)

whose dyal mn   
how many / how much šнal  -
The question word šнal ( ) may is followed by either d () or mn (), depending upon the noun
following it. Uncountable nouns are nouns that do not have a plural because they speak about
something that can be “measured,” but not “counted” (e.g. tea, air). Countable nouns are nouns that
have plural forms and, therefore, nouns with which we use numbers (e.g. 5 cats, 3 books). With šнal:
šнal + d + singular uncountable noun
or
šнal + d + plural countable noun
or
šнal + mn + singular countable noun

How much time? šнal d l-wqt? 

  
 Peace Corps / Morocco • 63

How many books? šнal d l-ktub?  



How many books? šнal mn ktab? 

 


In referring to prices, šнal is almost always preceded by the preposition b ().

How much is this shirt? bšнal had l-qamija? . 


How much did you pay for bšнal šritihum? 


them?

Exercise: Write your time line of activities for last Sunday. Use the
following time expressions and verbs to write as many sentences
as you can.
e.g. f l-weekend t‫ع‬ššit m‫ع‬a sнabi f
. 
    
r-ristora.

Time Expressions Verbs

f l-weekend  tfrrj  t‫ع‬šša 

f s-sbaн bkri   dar  safr !

f l-‫ع‬šiya " ‫ع‬awn #$ tsnna  

f l-lil %& sam ' ja (

mn b‫ع‬d  # kbb ) mša 

l-нdd lli fat !

&   dqq * tlaqa +,

f (time) (+) xaf 0 wsl %

šaf  qra 1+

duwš 2 tkllm '&

lbs 3 sift