Questions & Answers about كانت الحرارة عالية وذاب الرمل.
Since this lesson is about verbs like أصبح and صار making the predicate accusative, does that rule apply here too?
Yes! The verb كان (was) is the head of that exact same verb family. Just like the verbs of becoming, كان makes its predicate accusative. Therefore, عالية (high) is in the accusative case and takes a fatḥatayn ending, pronounced as عاليةً (aliyat-an).
Why is the verb كانت feminine here?
The subject of the first clause is الحرارة (the heat). Because it ends in a taa marbouta (ة), it is a feminine noun. The verb must agree with its subject, so we add the feminine past-tense suffix ـت to كان, making it كانت.
Why does the verb ذاب (melted) come before الرمل (the sand)?
Arabic typically uses a Verb-Subject word order. After the conjunction و (and), a new clause begins. Rather than saying 'the sand melted', it is much more natural in Arabic to put the verb first, literally saying 'and melted the sand'.
The verb ذاب (melted) has an Alif in the middle. How would I say 'I melted'?
ذاب is a 'hollow' verb, meaning its middle root letter is a weak vowel. When you attach the 'I' suffix in the past tense, that middle Alif drops out to prevent two unvoweled consonants from clashing. So, 'I melted' becomes ذبت (dhubtu).