Breakdown of ماذا كان عند الجد؟
عند'inda
at / to have
ماذاmâdhâ
what (with verbs)
كانkâna
to be
جدjadd
grandfather
Questions & Answers about ماذا كان عند الجد؟
How do كان and عند work together to mean 'did ... have'?
Arabic doesn't have a true verb for 'to have'. To say someone has something in the present, we use prepositions like عند (at/with). To put this in the past tense, we just add the verb كان (was) before it. Literally, this sentence asks 'What was at the grandfather?'
Why is ماذا used for 'what' here instead of ما?
We use ماذا when asking 'what' right before a verb. Since كان (was) is a verb, we must use ماذا. The word ما is used for 'what' before nouns, like when asking 'What is this?' (ما هذا؟).
Why is كان in the masculine form? Is it because the grandfather is masculine?
Actually, كان matches the thing being owned, not the owner! Because we are asking 'what' the thing is, Arabic grammar defaults to the basic masculine singular form, كان. Even if we asked 'What did the grandmother have?', it would still be ماذا كان عند الجدة؟ because the unknown object is still treated with the default masculine verb.
Why isn't there an attached pronoun on عند, like we see in عندي (I have) or عنده (he has)?
When we state the actual noun of the possessor right after عند, we don't need a pronoun suffix. We just say عند followed by the person, making عند الجد (literally 'at the grandfather'). You only attach a pronoun if you are replacing the noun, like عنده (at him / he has).
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