Learn Arabic (Modern Standard): كان أبوك يشتري الخبز من المخبز. - Your father was buying bread from the bakery.

أب (father) is one of the special "Five Nouns" in Arabic. When these nouns are attached to a pronoun to show possession (like ك for "your"), they use a long vowel to show their grammatical case. Because "your father" is the subject of كان (was), it is in the nominative case. For the Five Nouns, the nominative case is marked by the long vowel و (waw), making it أبوك (abūka) instead of taking a short Damma.

Why are there two verbs, كان (was) and يشتري (buys), used together?

This is how Arabic forms the past continuous tense to say someone "was doing" something. You use the past tense of كان followed by a present tense verb. Together, كان ... يشتري literally means "was ... he buys", which translates smoothly to "was buying".

Are the words الخبز (the bread) and المخبز (the bakery) related?

Yes! They share the same three-letter root: خ - ب - ز (kh-b-z), which relates to baking. In Arabic, adding a مـ (ma-) to the beginning of an action's root often creates a "noun of place". Therefore, مخبز literally translates to "a place of baking".

Can أبوك be used when talking to a female?