# PA: كنت شارب قهوة



## raful

Hi there
What does the sentence - كنت شارب قهوة in colloquial PA mean?


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## analeeh

'I had drunk some coffee'.


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## raful

What would be the difference between the following two sentences:
كنت شارب القهوة
كنت عم بشرب الفهوة
When would you use each one?


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## analeeh

One is 'I had drunk the coffee', the other one is 'I was drinking the coffee' - the difference is pretty much the same as the English one in that one expresses a state where the coffee has been drunk and the other one where you're still drinking it. The participle _shaareb_ is resultative (like _kaateb, 2aayel, 2aakel/maakel_ etc).

Your original sentence had an indefinite, which incidentally also (here) lines up with the use of the indefinite in English (objects, especially in 3aamiyye, are an exception to the rule that generics are always definite - though I suppose this isn't generic anyway...?)


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## apricots

analeeh said:


> Your original sentence had an indefinite, which incidentally also (here) lines up with the use of the indefinite in English (objects, especially in 3aamiyye, are an exception to the rule that generics are always definite - though I suppose this isn't generic anyway...?)



I think food is a broad category of exception, no? Where leaving it indefinite implies 'some.'


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## raful

Thank you
What would be the difference between - كنت شارب قهوة and شارب قهوة ? What does the كنت contribute?


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## analeeh

_shaareb 2ahwe_ is 'I've drunk some coffee'. So _kunt _makes it more like a pluperfect. _shaareb_ you can translate as 'in the state of having drunk', if it helps - then you get 'I am in the state of' (i.e. 'I have') and 'I was in the state of' (i.e. 'I had').


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## Mahaodeh

كنت pushes the drinking of the coffee further in the past. I would use it when I'm talking about a time in the past, at that time, I had had coffee. 

with out it, it means I had coffee, it was not that far away in the past.


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## raful

In that case, what does the sentence كنت بشرب قهوة  mean? What's the difference between this sentence and the sentence كنت شارب قهوة?


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## elroy

كنت بشرب قهوة: “I was drinking coffee” or “I would drink coffee” (conditional)

كنت شارب قهوة: “I had drunk coffee”


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## oopqoo

What I had thought before reading this was that كنت بشرب قهوة was strictly "I would drink coffee" whereas كنت اشرب قهوة was "I was drinking coffee". Can I take what you say to mean that كنت بشرب can mean either one, whereas كنت اشرب means only "I was drinking"?


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## elroy

Yes.


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## raful

oopqoo said:


> What I had thought before reading this was that كنت بشرب قهوة was strictly "I would drink coffee" whereas كنت اشرب قهوة was "I was drinking coffee". Can I take what you say to mean that كنت بشرب can mean either one, whereas كنت اشرب means only "I was drinking"?



Wouldn't كنت اشرب قهوة mean - I used to drink coffee? كان+future-present verb (without the ب) show a habit. For example: قبل سنين كنت اشرب قهوة كل صبح


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## elroy

It can mean either “used to drink” or “was drinking” - just like the imperfect in Romance languages.

زمان كنت أشرب كتير قهوة (“used to drink”)
لما اتصلت فيّ كنت (عم) أشرب/بشرب قهوة (“was drinking”)

I’m noticing that for “was drinking”, there are four possibilities, but only one for “used to drink.”


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## raful

I ran into the song Lina by Apo & the Apostles and there I found the following lines:
لما صحت من النوم
*كنت شايفك* قبل يوم

What would the combination of كان + اسم فاعل  mean here?


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## analeeh

'I had seen you a day before', I think.


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## raful

Thanks
a. what would be the difference between كنت شايفك قبل يوم and شفتك قبل يوم?
b. what do these sentences mean - when I woke up from the sleep/sleeping I saw you a day ago?


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## elroy

raful said:


> a. what would be the difference between كنت شايفك قبل يوم and شفتك قبل يوم?


 "I had seen" vs. "I saw" 


raful said:


> b. what do these sentences mean - when I woke up from the sleep/sleeping I saw you a day ago?


 "When I woke up, I had seen you a day before" or "When I woke up, having seen you the day before,...".


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## Ibn Nacer

Salut,

It seems that you are making a difference between these two sentences "كنت شارب قهوة" and "كنت أشرب قهوة" but I thought the meaning was the same (I was drinking coffee*), Why am I wrong?

I think that because the active participle (ismu-l-faa'il) can act as the verb from which it derives.

Thank you.

* In french :  "Je buvais du café" ou "J'étais en tain de boire du café"...


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## analeeh

The semantics of participles in fuSHa are different from those in colloquial (although intertwined for obvious reasons) and quite complicated in both. There are lots of threads about participles already, but to sum up, _generally_ verbs which express some kind of continuous meaning (or 'aspect' in linguistic terminology) or which express motion from one place to another (e.g. _raa7_, _mishi_) have participles that themselves express continuous meaning. Verbs which express a completed action, on the other hand - such as 'drink' - usually have a meaning that lines up approximately (although not entirely) with the English perfect, usually referred to as 'resultative' - i.e. they are present tense verbal adjectives expressing the state of _having Xed_.

This means that شارب قهوة means 'having drunk coffee', and logically كنت شارب قهوة thus means 'I had drunk coffee' (= I was [in the state of] having drunk coffee).


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## elroy

كنت شارب قهوة = I had drunk coffee. / J’avais bu du café.
كنت أشرب قهوة = I used to drink coffee. / Je buvais du café (auparavant). _or_ I was drinking coffee. / Je buvais du café (à une heure donnée).


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## Ibn Nacer

Thank you both for your answers.
Ok so if I understand correctly, the meaning depends on the type of verb ?
Let's take other examples to be sure...

كنت أذهب إلى المدرسة ---> "I was going to school" (J'allais à l'école).
كنت ذاهبا إلى المدرسة ---> "I was going to school" or "I went to school" (je suis allé à l'école) or ... ?

كنت أنام   ---> "I was sleeping" (je dormais).
كنت نائما  ---> "I was sleeping" (je dormais) or "I slept" (j'ai dormi) or ... ?

كنت أكل ---> "I was eating" (je mangeais).
كنت آكلا--->  "I was eating" (je mangeais) or "I have eaten" (j'ai mangé) or ... ?

Thank you.


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## elroy

This thread is about Palestinian Arabic, not MSA, so I'll change your sentences to Palestinian Arabic and comment accordingly:

كنت أروح ع المدرسة ---> "I was going to school"  "I used to go to school"  (J'allais à l'école (auparavant) )
كنت رايح ع المدرسة ---> "I was going to school"  or "I went to school" (je suis allé à l'école ) (j'allais à l'école (à une heure donnée) )

كنت أنام   ---> "I was sleeping"  "I used to sleep" (je dormais (auparavant) )
كنت نايم  ---> "I was sleeping" (je dormais (à une heure donnée) ) or "I slept" (j'ai dormi)  

كنت آكل ---> "I was eating"  (je mangeais )
كنت ماكل--->  "I was eating" (je mangeais)  "I had eaten" or "I have eaten" (j'ai mangé)  (j'avais mangé )


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## Ibn Nacer

Thank you for your answer.


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## raful

Following all the examples given in this thread I wonder what would the sentence كنت شربت قهوة mean?


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## analeeh

In North Levantine, or at least in Syrian, it can mean 'I had drunk coffee'. But it's more likely to mean 'I would have drunk coffee', and I think that's the only possible meaning in South Levantine.


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