Lesson 11 · ذَهَبَ
Talking about the past: I went, you went
A past tense verb starts from the “he” form, which is also how dictionaries list verbs: ذَهَبَ (dhahaba, he went). To change the person, add an ending: ذَهَبْتُ (dhahabtu) is “I went”. The ending already shows who did it, so you usually don’t need a separate word for “I” or “you”.
Learn with pictures
Tap a picture to hear the sentence.
Examples
ذَهَبْتُ إِلَى السُّوقِdhahabtu ila s-suuqiI went to the market.
أَيْنَ ذَهَبْتَ؟ayna dhahabta?Where did you go? (to a man)
ذَهَبَتْ فَاطِمَةُ إِلَى الْجَامِعَةِdhahabat faaṭimatu ila l-jaamiʿatiFatima went to the university.
خَرَجْنَا مِنَ الْبَيْتِkharajnaa mina l-baytiWe left the house.
دَخَلَ الْمُدَرِّسُ الْفَصْلَdakhala l-mudarrisu l-faṣlaThe teacher came into the classroom.
جَلَسْتُ عَلَى الْكُرْسِيِّjalastu ʿala l-kursiyyiI sat on the chair.
كَتَبُوا الدَّرْسَkatabu d-darsaThey wrote the lesson.
هَلْ فَتَحْتِ الْبَابَ؟hal fataḥti l-baaba?Did you open the door? (to a woman)
Key points
- ذَهَبَ he went · ذَهَبَتْ she went · ذَهَبْتَ you went (man) · ذَهَبْتِ you went (woman) · ذَهَبْتُ I went · ذَهَبْنَا we went · ذَهَبُوا they went
- The verb often comes first in the sentence: ذَهَبَ الْوَلَدُ إِلَى الْمَدْرَسَةِ (The boy went to school).
- These verbs work the same way: خَرَجَ (went out), دَخَلَ (went in), جَلَسَ (sat), كَتَبَ (wrote), فَتَحَ (opened).
Practice
Tap a question to see the answer.
Say “I wrote”.
كَتَبْتُ katabtu
Say “she sat”.
جَلَسَتْ jalasat
Say “We went out.”
خَرَجْنَا kharajnaa