Urban Lebanese usually builds the future in the past with a past form of كان plus invariant رح and a bare imperfect: كنت رح دقلك “I was going to call you.” The construction places a future event ahead of a past reference point; later context tells you whether the event actually happened.
This is why English translations vary among was going to, would, and almost. Those labels are contextual translations, not three separate meanings mechanically encoded by كان رح. For the present-time construction, first review رح plus the bare imperfect.
The three-part structure
The past copula agrees with the subject, رح never changes, and the bare imperfect also agrees with the subject.
| Subject | Future in the past | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| أنا | كنت رح اكتب | kint raḥ iktob |
| إنت | كنت رح تكتب | kint raḥ tiktob |
| إنتي | كنتي رح تكتبي | kinte raḥ tiktbe |
| هو | كان رح يكتب | kēn raḥ yiktob |
| هي | كانت رح تكتب | kēnit raḥ tiktob |
| نحنا | كنا رح نكتب | kinna raḥ niktob |
| إنتو | كنتوا رح تكتبوا | kinto raḥ tiktbo |
| هني | كانوا رح يكتبوا | kēno raḥ yiktbo |
كنت رح ابعتلك الجواب مبارح.
kint raḥ ibʿatlak el-zhawēb mbēriḥ.
I was going to send you the answer yesterday. (informal; plan viewed from the past)
كانوا رح يفتحوا فرع جديد بالصيف.
kēno raḥ yiftaḥo farʿ zhdīd biṣ-ṣēf.
They were going to open a new branch in the summer. (neutral; past plan)
There is no MSA-style mood ending after رح. “Bare” means that the ordinary b-marker is absent; it does not mean that agreement disappears. Compare كان بيكتب “he used to write” with كان رح يكتب “he was going to write.”
A plan whose outcome is supplied by context
English was going to often suggests an abandoned plan, but Lebanese كان رح is neutral about completion until the discourse settles it.
كنت رح دقلك، وبالفعل دقيتلك عالخمسة.
kint raḥ doʾlak, w-bil-fiʿel daʾʾētlak ʿal-khamse.
I was going to call you, and I did call you at five. (informal; realized plan)
كنت رح دقلك، بس خلص شحن تلفوني.
kint raḥ doʾlak, bass khiliṣ shaḥn tilifōne.
I was going to call you, but my phone ran out of charge. (informal; unrealized plan)
The identical first clause supports both readings. وبالفعل “and in fact” confirms realization; بس plus an obstacle cancels it. Do not treat noncompletion as part of the morphology.
Reported predictions and expectations
In reported speech, Lebanese does not require English-style backshifting. If the report itself is in the past, plain رح can remain inside an إنو clause. كان رح is useful when the speaker explicitly relocates the expected event relative to an earlier situation.
قالت إنو رح توصل قبل الضهر.
ʾālit inno raḥ tōṣal ʾabel eḍ-ḍoher.
She said that she would arrive before noon. (informal report; رح remains inside reported speech)
وقتها كنا مفكرين إنو الأسعار رح تنزل.
waʾta kinna mfakkirīn inno l-asʿār raḥ tinzal.
At the time, we thought prices would go down. (neutral; expectation held in the past)
حسب النشرة، العاصفة كانت رح توصل بالليل.
ḥasab en-nashra, el-ʿāṣfe kēnit raḥ tōṣal bil-lēl.
According to the forecast, the storm was going to arrive at night. (news discussion; past forecast)
English would is therefore not a word-for-word cue. In a past report, it may correspond to embedded رح; in a conditional result, it may correspond to كان رح plus an لو clause.
Near misses: “almost”
With a sudden bounded event and a context showing prevention, كان رح commonly receives a near-miss reading: the event came close but did not occur.
كنت رح وقع، بس مسكت الدرابزين.
kint raḥ wʾaʿ, bass msikit ed-darābzīn.
I almost fell, but I grabbed the railing. (informal; near miss)
السيارة كانت رح تخبطني لولا إني رجعت لورا.
es-sayyāra kēnit raḥ tkhabbṭne lawla inne rzhiʿt la-wara.
The car would have hit me if I hadn't stepped back. (informal; narrowly prevented event)
الكاسة كانت رح توقع عن الطاولة.
el-kēse kēnit raḥ tōʾaʿ ʿan eṭ-ṭāwle.
The glass was about to fall off the table. (informal; imminent past event)
The lexical aspect matters. Falling, colliding, and spilling have clear endpoints, so the “almost” inference is strong. With a durative activity such as يشتغل “work,” كان رح يشتغل is more readily an intended future unless context creates a threshold.
Negation: ما كان رح
Negation normally precedes the past copula. ما كنت رح روح means “I wasn't going to go” or, in an appropriate conditional context, “I wouldn't have gone.”
كان رح يوافق عالاقتراح.
kēn raḥ ywēfiʾ ʿal-iʾtirāḥ.
He was going to agree to the proposal. (affirmative expectation)
ما كان رح يوافق عالاقتراح بلا تعديل.
ma kēn raḥ ywēfiʾ ʿal-iʾtirāḥ bla taʿdīl.
He wasn't going to agree to the proposal without an amendment. (negative expectation)
ما كنت رح خبر حدا.
ma kint raḥ khabber ḥada.
I wasn't going to tell anyone. (informal; rejected intention)
Putting ما only before the lower verb is not the neutral pattern. The whole prospective relation is under negation: ما + كان + رح + bare imperfect.
Future in the past versus a counterfactual
The forms overlap because a counterfactual also imagines a result from a nonactual past situation. The decisive difference is whether an لو condition, expressed or understood, supplies an unreal premise.
كنت رح روح عالحفلة، بس تعبت.
kint raḥ rūḥ ʿal-ḥafle, bass tiʿibit.
I was going to go to the party, but I got tired. (abandoned plan)
كنت رح روح عالحفلة لو خلصت شغلي بكير.
kint raḥ rūḥ ʿal-ḥafle law khallaṣt shoghle bkīr.
I would have gone to the party if I had finished work early. (past counterfactual)
The first sentence reports an actual former plan and its obstacle. The second makes going dependent on an unrealized condition. See counterfactuals for the full conditional system.
Dialogue: expectation, cancellation, and near miss
مش كنت رح تجي عالعشا؟
mish kint raḥ tzhe ʿal-ʿasha?
Maya: Weren't you going to come to dinner? (informal; checking an earlier plan with predicate-focused مش)
إيه، كنت رح اطلع عالسبعة، بس السيارة كانت رح تعطلني بالطريق.
ē, kint raḥ iṭlaʿ ʿas-sabʿa, bass es-sayyāra kēnit raḥ tʿaṭṭilne biṭ-ṭarīʾ.
Karim: Yes, I was going to leave at seven, but the car was going to hold me up on the way. (informal; plan followed by a projected obstacle)
يعني ما كنت رح توصل عالوقت.
yaʿne ma kint raḥ tōṣal ʿal-waʾet.
Maya: So you weren't going to arrive on time. (informal; negative prediction from a past viewpoint)
The dialogue shows why a single English tense label is inadequate: the first كان رح recalls a plan, the second projects an obstacle from that past situation, and the negative evaluates an expected result.
Weak and geminate stems stay lexical
The lower verb remains its real bare form: يروح, يجي, ينام, يدق. Neither كان nor رح repairs it into a regular triliteral template.
كان رح ينام، بس دق تلفونه.
kēn raḥ ynēm, bass daʾʾ tilifōno.
He was about to sleep, but his phone rang. (informal; hollow and geminate verbs retain their stems)
Common Mistakes
Keeping the b-marker after رح
❌ كنت رح بروح بكير.
Incorrect in the Beirut baseline — رح selects the bare imperfect.
✅ كنت رح روح بكير.
kint raḥ rūḥ bkīr.
I was going to leave early.
Treating every plan as unrealized
❌ كنت رح دقلك يعني ما دقيت.
Incorrect inference — كان رح alone does not say whether the call happened.
✅ كنت رح دقلك، وبالفعل دقيت.
kint raḥ doʾlak, w-bil-fiʿel daʾʾēt.
I was going to call you, and I did call.
Using one form of كان for every subject
❌ هي كان رح تجي.
Incorrect — feminine هي requires كانت.
✅ هي كانت رح تجي.
hiyye kēnit raḥ tzhe.
She was going to come.
Translating English would mechanically
❌ كل استعمال للفعل المساعد الشرطي بالإنكليزي لازم يكون كان رح.
Incorrect — the corresponding English auxiliary also marks habits, politeness, and other meanings.
✅ كنت رح ساعدك لو خبرتني.
kint raḥ sēʿdak law khabbartne.
I would have helped you if you had told me. (counterfactual result)
Regularizing a weak lower verb
❌ كان رح ينوم هون.
Incorrect — نام has the bare imperfect ينام.
✅ كان رح ينام هون.
kēn raḥ ynēm hōn.
He was going to sleep here.
Key Takeaways
Use an agreeing past form of كان, invariant رح, and an agreeing bare imperfect to look forward from the past. The construction does not guarantee that the projected event failed: completion, cancellation, near miss, and counterfactuality come from the surrounding discourse. Negate neutrally with ما كان رح, and keep the lower verb's genuine weak or geminate stem.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- رح plus Bare ImperfectA1 — Use invariant رح with an agreeing bare imperfect for Lebanese predictions, intentions, plans, and explicit future framing.
- Past Nominal Sentences with كانB1 — Put Lebanese noun, adjective, prepositional, existential, and participial predicates in the past with كان.
- Present, رح, بد, and Active Participles for Future MeaningB1 — Choose among schedules, predictions, intentions, imminent events, and arranged motion in Lebanese future reference.
- About-To and Imminent ConstructionsB1 — Express events poised to happen with بدّو, prospective رايح, قرّب, and near-future time expressions in urban Lebanese.
- Layered Counterfactuals and RegretB2 — Build present and past alternatives with لو, place كان where time and aspect require it, and distinguish reflection from blame.
- Negating رح FuturesA2 — Build negative Lebanese predictions, intentions, and refusals with ما رح followed by an agreeing bare imperfect.