Arabic

Verb

كَانَ • ‎(kāna) I, non-past يَكُونُ‎ (yakūnu)

1. (copulative) to be [+accusative]
2. to exist
   • Bible (SVD), Book of Genesis, 1:3

     وَقَالَ اللهُ: «لِيَكُنْ نُورٌ»، فَكَانَ نُورٌ.‎

     waqāla llāhu: “liyakun nūrun”, fakāna nūrun.

     And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

3. to happen, to occur, to take place

Conjugation

Usage notes

• Like all copulative verbs in Arabic, كَانَ ‎(kāna) takes a predicate in the accusative case.

  كَانَ جَمَالٌ عَبْدُ ٱلنَّاصِرِ رَئِيسَ جُمْهُورِيَّةِ مِصْرَ ٱلْعَرَبِيَّةِ.‎

  kāna jamālun ʿabdu n-nāṣiri raʾīsa jumhūriyyati miṣra l-ʿarabiyyati.

  Gamal Abdel Nasser was the president of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

• In the present indicative, “to be” is most often expressed by a nominal sentence (جُمْلَة اِسْمِيَّة ‎(jumla(t) ismiyya)) with no verb. In this case, the predicate is in the nominative case.

  عَبْدُ الْفَتَّاحِ ٱلسِّيسِي (هُوَ) رَئِيسُ جُمْهُورِيَّةِ مِصْرَ ٱلْعَرَبِيَّةِ.‎

  ʿabdu l-fattāḥi s-sīsī (huwa) raʾīsu jumhūriyyati miṣra l-ʿarabiyyati.

  Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is the president of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

• Imperfect forms of كَانَ ‎(kāna) are not rare, however:
  • They occur after certain conjunctions that must always be followed by a verb:

    أُرِيدُ أَنْ أَكُونَ غَنِيًّا.‎

    ʾurīdu ʾan ʾakūna ḡaniyyan.

    I want to be rich.

  • They are sometimes used instead of a nominal sentence to provide for a clearer sentence structure.

Related terms

• استكانَة
• تكون
• كائن
• كنان
• كون
• كَوْنِيّ ‎(kawniyy, “cosmic, universal”)
• مستكين
• مكان
• مكانَة
• مَكَانِيّ ‎(makāniyy, “local, spatial”)
• مَكَانِيَّة ‎(makāniyya, “spatiality”)
• مكون

See also

• ليس