Past Possibility: "Could have"
To express that something was possible in the past but didn't happen—such as a missed opportunity in a sports match—use the fixed phrase كان يمكن أن followed by a present tense verb.
Just like the structure for past obligation, the phrase كان يمكن أن remains entirely fixed. It does not conjugate to match the subject. Only the present tense verb that follows أن changes to indicate who or what could have done the action.
The Subjunctive Mood
Because the main action verb follows the particle أن (that), it must be placed in the subjunctive mood. For most singular subjects, as well as the "we" form, this simply changes the final short vowel to a fatha (though it is often unwritten in daily use).
However, for verb forms that usually end in ون or ين (such as the plural "they"), the subjunctive mood requires dropping the final ن and adding a silent alif at the end of plural masculine verbs.
In the Heat of the Match
You will frequently use these structures to describe close calls, decisive referee decisions, or major turning points in sports matches.
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 يمكن أن |
|---|
| نَفُوزُ | كَانَ يُمْكِنُ أَنْ نَفُوزَ |
| تَدْخُلُ | كَانَ يُمْكِنُ أَنْ تَدْخُلَ التَّسْدِيدَةُ |
| يَتَأَهَّلُونَ | كَانَ يُمْكِنُ أَنْ يَتَأَهَّلُوا |
As after every أن, the verb is subjunctive: -u becomes -a (heard only), and the plural loses its ن (visible: يتأهلوا).
