Kāna and its sisters / كانَ وأَخَواتُها

Kana and its sisters are verbs when placed as head constituents of a nominal sentence, put the information/predicative complement (الخَبَر) in the accusative case (مَنْصُوب); this is opposite to ‘Inna and its sisters’.
The verb كانَ originally means ‘to be’. Because the nominal sentence (الجُمْلة الاسمية) doesn’t note the tense in Arabic, we need to precede it with the verb كانَ (= to be) as a temporal exponent if we want to place it clearly in the past.
According to Arabic grammarians, a verb is an action correlated to a tense. Kāna is mainly used as a complement to time and lacks the ‘action’ condition. For that very reason, it is not considered to be fully a verb in Arabic even though it has its own conjugation.
Henceforth, when كانَ is put as the head constituent of a nominal sentence, the sentence doesn’t become a verbal sentence but the subject (المُبْتَدأ) following it is then called اِسْم كانَ (noun of kāna) and remains in the nominative case (مَرفُوع), while the predicate called خَبَر كانَ (predicate of kāna) turns into the accusative case (if it is a noun or an adjective).
Kāna time values
Depending on its use كانَ can express several nuances in the tenses which their English equivalent would be:
1. Past tense as a head constituent of a nominal sentence (الجُمْلة الاسميّة):
Example | Construction |
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كانَ الطَقْسُ مُشْمِسًا و حارًّا فِي الصَبْاحِ The weather was sunny and hot this morning | كانَ + جُمْلة اسمية |
2. Past progressive or past habitual followed by a verb in the imperfect (present) indicative tense ( المُضارِع المَرفُوع):
Example | Construction |
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كُنّا نَخْرُجُ من الجامِعةِ We were getting out of the university | كانَ + المُضارِع المَرْفُوع |
3. Pluperfect when followed by a verb in the perfect (past) tense (الماضي):
Example | Construction |
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كانَتْ قَدْ اِسْتَعَدَّتْ لِعَرْضِها She had prepared for her presentation | كانَ + قَدْ + الماضي |
4. Future perfect when put in the future tense followed by a perfect (past) tense verb (الماضي):
Example | Construction |
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سأَكُونُ قَد جَلَسْتُ قَبْلَ أَنْ يَتَكَلَّمَ المُعَلِّمُ I will have sat down before the teacher speaks | سَ+ يَكونُ + قَدْ + الماضي |
Note: If the subject (المُبْتَدأ) was a detached pronoun, in the nominal sentence without كان, it will be implied in the temporal exponent conjugated كانَ.
كُنّا مُرْهَقِينَ
We were exhausted? نَحْنُ مُرْهَقُونَ
We are exhausted
Kāna’s conjugation / تَصْريف كان
Perfect tense / الماضي
مُثَنّى (dual) | جمع (plural) | مُفْرَد (singular) | الماضي Perfect tense | |
كُنّا | كُنْتُ | المُتَكَلِّم 1st person | ||
كُنْتُما | كُنْتُم | كُنْتَ | المُذَكَّر masc. | المُخاطَب 2nd person |
كُنْتُنَّ | كُنْتِ | المُؤَنَّث fem. | ||
كانَا | كانُوا | كانَ | المُذَكَّر masc. | الغائِب 3rd person |
كانَتا | كُنَّ | كانَتْ | المُؤَنَّث fem. |
Imperfect indicative tense / المُضارِع المَرْفوع
مُثَنّى (dual) | جمع (plural) | مُفْرَد (singular) | المُضارِع المَرْفوع Imperfect indicative tense | |
نَكُونُ | أَكُونُ | المُتَكَلِّم 1st person | ||
تَكُونانِ | تَكُونُون | تَكُونُ | المُذَكَّر masc. | المُخاطَب 2nd person |
تَكُنَّ | تَكُونِينَ | المُؤَنَّث fem. | ||
يَكُونانِ | يَكُونُون | يَكُونُ | المُذَكَّر masc. | الغائِب 3rd person |
تَكُونانِ | يَكُنَّ | تَكُونُ | المُؤَنَّث fem. |
Kana’s sisters
We usually divide kāna and its sisters into three separate categories:
- Complete verbs / أفعال تامة التصرف: those are the verbs that exist in all three conjugation tenses in Arabic, perfect, imperfect, and imperative.
- Incomplete verbs / أفعال ناقصة التصرف: those are the verbs that only exist in the perfect and imperfect tenses.
- Frozen verbs / أفعال جامدة: those are the verbs that only exist in the perfect tense.
أَفْعال جامِدة Frozen verbs | أَفْعال ناقِصة التَصَرُّف Incomplete verbs | أَفْعال تامّة التَصَرُّف Complete verbs |
لَيْسَ nominal sentence negation | ما زالَ to still do /to continue to do | كانَ to be |
صارَ to become | ||
أَصْبَحَ to become | ||
ما دامَ as long as | ما بَرِحَ to still do /to continue to do | ظلَّ to still do /to continue to do |
باتَ to become | ||
ما ظَلَّ as long as | ما اِنْفَكَّ to still do /to continue to do | أَمْسَى to become |
ما فَتِئَ to still do /to continue to do | أَضْحى to become |
✨ Try out the automatic verb conjugator here
Note: At the exception of كانَ all the complete verbs also have a 2nd original meaning when not used as a temporal exponent.
Note 2: The incomplete verbs (الأَفْعال الناقِصة التَصَرُّف) are translated as ‘to cease’, ‘disappear’, and/or ‘go away’. When accompanied by the negative particle ما in the perfect tense, or لا in the imperfect tense, they mean “is still (doing)” and/or “continues to (do)“. Both tenses have an identical significance.
لا يَزالَ يَدْرُسُ في الجامعةِ
He’s still studying at universityما زالَ يَدْرُسُ في الجامعةِ
He’s still studying at universityلا تَنْفَكَُ تَعْمَلُ في اللَّيْلِ
She’s still working at nightما اِنْفَكَّتْ تَعْمَلُ في اللَّيْلِ
She’s still working at nightلا نَبْرَحُ المَكانَ
We are still in placeما بَرِحْنا المَكانَ
We are still in place
Note 3: The ما used for frozen verbs (الأَفْعال جامِدة) isn’t the negative particle used for incomplete verbs but rather the relative particle.
I will work as long as I live سَأَعْمَلُ ما دُمْتُ حيًّا She will disturb us as long as she stays in our house سَتُزْعِجُنا ما ظَلّتْ في بَيْتِنا
Kāna and its sisters

Understand the Arabic verbs 'Kāna' and its sisters with examples and exercises. Learn how to use them in past tense sentences and expand your language skills.
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Course Provider Name: ArabiKey
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