# قد / لقد



## ihsaan

Hi,
Sometimes when conjugating a verb in the past tense, people will tend to put a lam before the qadd (لقد), and I've never really understod when to use or don't use it. Could someone please clarify the usage? And also, could someone explain what the additional lam "does" to the sentence in terms of meaning?


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## ayed

What I do know so far is that it is an emphatic particle


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## suma

It's mostly a stylistic particle that adds little significant meaning. Although in some sense a slight nuance of meaning can be applied, for example:
جاء    He came
قد جاء  He did come
لقد جاء   Indeed he did come​


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## Josh_

Yeah I agree, it seems to be that in modern Arabic it adds little meaning, but is mainly stylistic.  In Classical Arabic it may have had more meaning.

I also wanted to note that the word is قدْ and as such I would transliterate it with one 'd' -- _qad_ -- since there is another word with a mushaddad 'd', قدّ , which would be transliterated as _qadd_.


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## elroy

suma said:


> Although in some sense a slight nuance of meaning can be applied, for example:
> جاء    He came
> قد جاء  He did come
> لقد جاء   Indeed he did come​


 I don't agree.  I think this is an oversimplified distinction created by western Arabists to make sense of an apparently mysterious particle.  As a native speaker, I do not feel any added emphasis with قد or لقد - in *modern standard Arabic*, that is (things may have been different centuries ago, as Josh said).

In response to the thread question, I can say that لقد sounds better than قد at the beginning of a text - such as a newspaper article.  For example:

أكد الرئيس أمس تأييده للحركة التحريرية - natural
لقد أكد الرئيس أمس تأييده للحركة التحريرية - natural
قد أكد الرئيس أمس تأييده للحكرة التحريرية - unnatural as first sentence

Perhaps others can shed more light.


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## ihsaan

This thread is getting interesting! Thank you all for your answers. If anyone have any more points to add, I'd be very happy to hear them.


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## Fractal7

Maybe the answer is simple. It may be hard to speak and read *kad* since it is only one syllable so people tend to add *L* to stress it. I am just guessing


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## yusufadam

elroy said:


> I don't agree.  I think this is an oversimplified distinction created by western Arabists to make sense of an apparently mysterious particle.  As a native speaker, I do not feel any added emphasis with قد or لقد - in *modern standard Arabic*, that is (things may have been different centuries ago, as Josh said).
> 
> In response to the thread question, I can say that لقد sounds better than قد at the beginning of a text - such as a newspaper article.  For example:
> 
> أكد الرئيس أمس تأييده للحركة التحريرية - natural
> لقد أكد الرئيس أمس تأييده للحركة التحريرية - natural
> قد أكد الرئيس أمس تأييده للحكرة التحريرية - unnatural as first sentence
> 
> Perhaps others can shed more light.


Sorry to bump this post.

But why is قد أفلح المؤمنون used as introductory sentence and is translated " Successful indeed are the...


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## rayloom

yusufadam said:


> Sorry to bump this post.
> 
> But why is قد أفلح المؤمنون used as introductory sentence and is translated " Successful indeed are the...




You'd find قد used as an introductory quite commonly in Classical texts (Ancient all the way to modern). It adds emphasis to the meaning.
However, you won't see it used as much as an introductory in MSA. In MSA (as in Classical Arabic) it serves more of a temporal role!


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## samatar

If I'm not mistaken this lam has a special name - lam alibtidaa لام الابتداء (the lam of.. initiation?) and, grammatically speaking, does endow the subsequent sentence with some kind of emphasis


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## yusufadam

But it contradicts everything and there is no fixed pattern of its usage. 

I thought قد  meant "already" when used with perfect verb.

It appears that when translating لقد we are ignoring قد and just translating the ل.


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## clevermizo

yusufadam said:


> But it contradicts everything and there is no fixed pattern of its usage.
> 
> I thought قد  meant "already" when used with perfect verb.
> 
> It appears that when translating لقد we are ignoring قد and just translating the ل.



قد does not necessarily mean already; it is an intensifier of the perfective aspect.  Here is one (of many?) discussions on rendering "already". Please feel free to use the forum Search feature to find others.


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## إسكندراني

I suppose قد could be a 'maybe' while لقد can only mean 'already', so it's more of a clarifier than an intensifier here the ل.


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## eastren

*Please explain* (ما الفرق بين قد و لقد) both Arabic words with proper sentences.
1. (لقد ذهبت إلى كل مكان) and 2. (قد ذهبت من محل اقامتي)


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## fdb

This question has (as Cherine reminds us) been discussed before, but not resolved. In classical Arabic _qad_ expresses a completed action and in English it can generally be translated with the present perfect tense. For example, the ʼiqāma formula قد قام الصلاة means “(the time of) prayer has arrived”, that is: it has arrived just now. Prefixed ل will usually be translated by “indeed” or “certainly”.


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## francogerman

It rained yesterday. لفد\قد امطرت البارحة Why we add لفد\قد I don´t know, but to me, the sentence امطرت البارحة sounds stale (yet correct), it needs a word to make it sound nicer.

I cannot sense a difference between قد & لقد, but when you add و, there is one.


How could you betray me and I have raised you كيف خنتني وقد ربيتك
IF you use لقد, I would understand: How could u betray me and I have already raised u.
Sometimes قد gives the impression of comparison, somewhere in a zone between (and, depsite, although).

I also agree that one can start a setence with لقد, but not قد

1) I´ve been everywhere
2) قد ذهبت من محل اقامتي I DID leave my place of residence
ذهبت من محل اقامتي I LEFT my place of residence


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## eastren

Thanks for all you. I am thinking about both words and got a result till now if i am right. (قد) is used to show the present perfect condition, and other word (لقد) is for Past Indefinite conditions. some examples here.
1.(قد كتبت رسالة لحبيبي)  I have written a letter to my friend.
2.(لقد تزوجت من امراة التي تصغرني) I married a woman who is younger than me.
*Please correct and explain* my sentences if I am wrong.


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## francogerman

I do not agree with this explanation. We do not really have different forms of the past. Sometimes this is used to signify a far past كنت + verb

1.(قد كتبت رسالة لحبيبي)  I have written a letter to my friend.
I would understand the same from   لقدكتبت رسالة لحبيب
2.(لقد تزوجت من امراة التي تصغرني) I married a woman who is younger than me.
I would understand the same from قد تزوجت من امراة التي تصغرني
I would also understand the same from  تزوجت من امراة التي تصغرني
On an unrelated notice,   التي and الذي cannot be used with an indefinite noun. in arabic, you can say: I married a (THE) woman, who is younger than me                          تزوجت من المراة التي تصغرني  (which gives the impression there were other women but s kind of chose her despite the age difference). You can also say: I married a women younger than me  تزوجت من امراة  تصغرني  but not I a married a woman, who is younger than me

I found this on another website, it makes sense http://www.italki.com/question/219081:​لقد is used to confirm actions in the past.
example : لقد رأيت ذلك بنفسى = I've (already) seen that myself.

قد = perhaps, maybe
example: قد يأتى مبكرا غدا = Maybe he'll come early tomorrow.

However, قد can also be used in the past to confirm something, however, لقدcannot be used in the present


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## Arabic_Police_999

قد is used in الجملة المثبتة
لقد is used in الجملة الخبرية المؤكدة
قد when it is used with the perfect verb it means generally the action happened close to the present
قد when it is used with the imperfect verb it add uncertainty to the happening of the action,


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## abdulwahid

In classical Arabic grammar texts it is said that قد has four different meanings. Two meanings are connected to the مضارع and two to the ماض

When qad precedes the مضارع it represents تكثير or تقليل
When it precedes the ماض it represents تحقيق or تقريب


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## Miraluv

*I*- When we use *قد* :
*1*- *In The past: Ex:* *أكل الطفل تفاحة* ( *The child ate an apple* ) --> not sure if he really did that or not
*a*- *قد أكل الطفل تفاحة*  --> To confirm that something really happened and to clear any doubts about it. (In arabic التحقيق )
*b*- *قد أقبل المُعلِّم* (*The teacher has come* ) --> To Confirm that something ‏has happened in the near past (In arabic التقريب )

*2*-*In the future Ex:* 
  ‏  *a*- *قد يأكل الطفل تفاحة* (*Maybe the child eats an apple* ) --> To inform that something may happen. (In arabic التقليل )
*b*- *قد يخرج خالد* ( *khaled may come outside* ) --> ‏To inform something is expected to happen (In arabic التوقّع )
*c*- *قد أزوك اليوم* ( *I may visit you today* ) --> To inform that something is going to happen with a little possibility of not ( In arabic التكثير)


*In All cases of , the meaning of قد is determined by the context of the sentence.*

*II*- *لقد* = *ل* + *قد* ‏ Where the *ل* is called *لام الابتداء* (*"laam" of initiation*) and one of its use is *emphasis*.
   Thus, saying that *لقد* = "*already*" *is not true at all*.

And in my humble opinion about why *لقد* is considered as "*already*"

*Ex**:* *I've already done that*.(Its certain that I've done that something)
*ex1*) *قد فعلتُ ذلك*
    (and according to what I said above ‏at *I-1-b* (التقريب) and : *لقد* = *ل* + *قد* , So *لقد فعلتُ ذلك* is an *emphasis to ex1* )
 And that's why I guess that *لقد* is considered to some as "*already*"


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## paieye

Would it be fair to regard the consensus to be:

1. Used with the future tense of a verb, قد expresses uncertainty.
2. Used with the past tense of a verb, it may express immediacy, somewhat as in the English "X has just (past verb)."
3. There are numerous other possible uses, almost all too subtle for beginners such as I !


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## Nahuel O Tavros

مرحبا
Hello, friends. I would like to know if the particles laqad and qad are the same in usage.
I've just eaten a burger and I don't know what to say in Arabic.
انا قد اكلت همبرجر
او
انا لقد اكلت همبرجر.
Which of the two versions is correct?
Thanks to all of you,

Nahuel


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## Matat

Nahuel O Tavros said:


> انا قد اكلت همبرجر
> او
> انا لقد اكلت همبرجر.
> Which of the two versions is correct?


لقد only works if it is the beginning word of the sentence. If the sentence starts with أنا, then only أنا قد is possible.


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## elroy

Nahuel O Tavros said:


> I've just eaten a burger


 I would say لقد أكلت همبرغر للتو.

(I’m guessing همبرغر is a diptote.)


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## Matat

elroy said:


> (I’m guessing همبرغر is a diptote.)


More likely indeclinable than a diptote (همبرغرْ). Even for those who always pronounce case endings, I can't imagine them reading this as همبرغرَ.


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