Unlike regular verbs, ‘Kāda and its sisters’ (كاد وَأَخَواتُها) are termed as semi-verbs (أَفْعال ناقِصة) since they do not possess an agent/doer (فاعِل) in their sentence. The verb Kāda (كادَ) originally means ‘to be about to’. 

Similarly to ‘Kāna and its sisters’, ‘Kāda and its sisters’ are used in the perfect tense (الماضي) and also initiate a nominal sentence (جُمْلة اِسْمية) which causes the subject (المبتدأ) to be designated as اسم كادَ (noun of Kāda) while making the information/khabar (الخبر) into خَبَر كادَ (predicate of Kāda).

Kāda and sisters’ predicate (خَبَر كادَ) should be formulated as a verbal sentence, where the verb is in the imperfect tense (المُضارِع). The verb will sometimes be preceded by the subjunctive particle أنْ (equivalent to ‘to’ of English infinitive), consequently making it subjunctive. Despite seeming like it starts with a verb, their sentence structure is actually nominal, with the subject (المُبْتَدأ) being either an implicit pronoun or a noun explicitly following ‘Kāda and its sisters’. Here’s what the sentence with ‘Kāda and its sisters’ looks like.

Sentence with Kāda and its sisters
خَبَرَ كادَ (فِعْل مُضارِع…)	اسم كادَ (اسم أو ضَمِير مستتر) +	كاد وَأَخَواتُها (فِعْل ماضٍ) +
The predicate of the nominal sentence called ‘khabar Kāda’ (starting with a verb in the imperfect tense)	The subject of the nominal sentence is called ism Kāda (either a noun or an implicit pronoun)	Kāda and its sisters (in the past tense)

Kāda and sisters are divided into three sub-categories of verbs:

• Verbs of imminence / أَفْعال المُُقارَبة
• Inchoative verbs / أَفْعال الشُرُوع
• Verbs of hope / أَفْعال الرَجاء

Verbs of imminence / أَفْعال المُقارَبة

These verbs mean the imminence of the action of the verbal predicate. They express an action that was about to take place but didn’t happen.

The verb of imminence كادَ يَكادَ (= to be about to…, almost, nearly) can be followed by a juxtaposed verb (or preceded by أَنْ)

مِثال في جُمْلة Example in sentence	أَفْعال المُقارَبة Verbs of imminence
كادَ الأُسْتاذُ يُعْطِي الجَوابَ The professor almost gave the answer	كادَ يَكادُ (أَنْ) to be about to, to almost/nearly do
كِدْتُ أَنْ أَغْضِبَ على ما فَعَلَتْ I almost got mad at what she did
أَوْشَكَتْ الصَخْرةُ أَنْ يَسْقُطُ = أَوْشَكَتْ الصَخْرةُ على السُقُوط The rock was on the verge of falling	أَوْشَكَ يُوشِكُ على / أَنْ To be on the verge of
كَرَبَتْ الطائِرةُ أَنْ تُقْلِعَ The plane was about to take off	كَرَبَ أَنْ To be ready to

Inchoative verbs / أَفْعال الشُرُوع

These verbs have the meaning of ‘beginning, getting started’. Contrary to verbs of imminence, inchoative verbs can only be followed by juxtaposed verbs that won’t be preceded by أَنْ.

The main inchoative verbs are: أَخَذَ / جَعَلَ / بدأ

We started playing soccer a year ago	بَدَأْنا نُمارِسُ كُرةَ القَدَمِ قَبْلَ سَنَةٍ
The child began to laugh	جَعَلَ الطِفْلُ يَضْحَكُ
the knight began to drew his sword from its scabbard	أَخَذَ الفارِسُ يَسْتِلُّ سَيْفَهُ مِن غِمْدِهِ

Note: used outside this sentence construction, each term retains its own meaning.

In addition to these three verbs, there are a few other verbs that have the same meaning as well as their major meaning. The following are the most common of them:

قامَ	أَنْشَأَ	أَقْبَلَ	شَرَعَ	طَفِقَ
to start/ to begin

Verbs of hope / أَفْعال الرَجاء

Verbs of hope are constituted of three verbs expressing a desired probability which are:

اِخْلَوْلَقَ أَنْ	حَرى أَنْ	عَسى أَنْ
Maybe/hopefully

Unlike inchoative verbs and verbs of imminence, these ‘incomplete-verbs’ (أَفْعال ناقِصة) remain frozen as in they cannot be conjugated. Furthermore, the following verb will always be a subjunctive verb (المُضارع المَنْصوب) preceded by أَنْ.

Hopefully you are well	عساكَ أَنْ تَكونَ بِخَيْرٍ
Hopefully the sun will show up	حَرى الشَمْسُ أَنْ تَبْرُزَ
Maybe they’ll leave after sunset	اِخْلَوْلَقَ أَنْ يُغادِرُوا بَعْدَ المَغْرِبِ