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’ can appear in both الماضي and المضارع, just like regular verbs. They also also initiate a nominal sentence (جُمْلة اِسْمية) which causes the subject (المبتدأ) to become اسم كادَ (noun of Kāda) and the predicate (الخبر) to become 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 that an action was on the verge of occurring.
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 | |
| {يَكَادُ زَيْتُهَا يُضِىٓءُ} {[Its] oil would almost glow […]} Qurʾān [al-Nūr : 35] | |
| أَوْشَكَتْ الصَخْرةُ أَنْ تَسْقُطَ = 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 |
Note on Negation: When كاد is negated, its meaning flips counterintuitively — this is a common source of confusion:
Form Meaning كادَ يَفْعَلُ He almost did it (but didn’t) ما كادَ يَفْعَلُ He barely did it (but eventually did)
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 draw 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 verbs are frozen in tense — meaning they cannot be conjugated across الماضي and المضارع and are always treated as ماضي. They can, however, take attached pronouns as their اسم, as seen in عساكَ. Furthermore, the following verb will always be a subjunctive verb (المُضارع المَنْصوب) preceded by أَنْ.
| Hopefully you are well | عسا أَنْ تَكونَ بِخَيْرٍ |
| Hopefully the sun will show up | حَرى الشَمْسُ أَنْ تَبْرُزَ |
| Maybe they’ll leave after sunset | اِخْلَوْلَقَ أَنْ يُغادِرُوا بَعْدَ المَغْرِبِ |
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“‘Kāda and its sisters’ are used in the perfect tense (الماضي)” Is this true? I am a bit confused over يَكَادُ زَيْتُهَا يُضِيءُ – are the present tense not afaal muqariba?
Thank you for your question — and you are absolutely right to flag it!
As the lesson now clarifies, ‘Kāda and its sisters’ can actually appear in both الماضي and المضارع, just like regular verbs. So يَكَادُ زَيْتُهَا يُضِيءُ (al-Nūr 24:35) is a perfect example of كاد appearing in المضارع — there is nothing irregular about it.
What is unique about these verbs is not their own tense, but rather the tense of their خبر, which must always be a مضارع verb — regardless of whether كاد itself appears in الماضي or المضارع.