Past Obligation: "Should have"
To express hindsight or say that something "should have" been done in the past, use the fixed phrase كان يجب أن followed by a present tense verb.
Unlike other structures using كان, the phrase كان يجب أن remains entirely fixed. It does not conjugate to match the subject. Only the present tense verb that follows أن changes to match who was supposed to do the action.
| We should have reviewed the draft of the contract before we sent it to the client. | كان يجب أن نراجع مسودة العقد قبل أن نرسلها إلى العميل.kâna yajibu an nurâji'a musawwadata al-'aqdi qabla an nursilahâ ilâ al-'amîl. |
| The manager should have rejected this deal because the financial loss was big. | كان يجب أن يرفض المدير هذه الصفقة لأن الخسارة المالية كانت كبيرة.kâna yajibu an yarfuda al-mudîru hâdhihi as-safqata li'anna al-khasârata al-mâliyyata kânat kabîratan. |
The Subjunctive Mood
Because the main verb follows the particle أن (that), it must be placed in the subjunctive mood. For most singular subjects, this simply changes the final short vowel to a fatha (though it is often unwritten in daily use).
| The female employee should have studied the marketing plan that the competitors used. | كان يجب أن تدرس الموظفة خطة التسويق التي استخدمها المنافسون.kâna yajibu an tadrusa al-muwazzafatu khuttata at-taswîqi allatî istakhdamahâ al-munâfisûna |
However, for verb forms that usually end in ون or ين (such as the plural "you" or "they"), the subjunctive mood requires dropping the final ن and adding a silent alif at the end of plural masculine verbs.
| Colleagues, you should have reviewed this draft. | يا زملاء، كان يجب أن تراجعوا هذه المسودة.yâ zumalâ'u, kâna yajibu an turâji‘û hâdhihi al-musawwadata. |
Asking Questions in Hindsight
To ask if something should have been done, simply place a question word like هل directly before the fixed phrase.
| Should we have sent the financial data to the manager (f.)? | هل كان يجب أن نرسل البيانات المالية إلى المديرة؟hal kâna yajibu an nursila al-bayânâti al-mâliyyata ilâ al-mudîrati? |
Seeing the endings
This course writes Arabic the way books and newspapers print it, without the short-vowel marks, so the ending this lesson is about is something you hear in the audio but never see in the drills. Here are some of them with every vowel written out:
| present | after كان يجب أن |
|---|---|
| نُرَاجِعُ | كَانَ يَجِبُ أَنْ نُرَاجِعَ مُسَوَّدَةَ العَقْدِ |
| يَرْفُضُ | كَانَ يَجِبُ أَنْ يَرْفُضَ المُدِيرُ هَذِهِ الصَّفْقَةَ |
| تُرَاجِعُونَ | كَانَ يَجِبُ أَنْ تُرَاجِعُوا هَذِهِ المُسَوَّدَةَ |
After أن the verb is in the subjunctive. The final -u becomes -a, which you only hear. The plural change you can see: the ن of تراجعون drops, and تراجعوا is written with a silent alif.
