Breakdown of عندما استجوبته الشرطة، كان شريكه قد فر.
الal
the
هوhuwa
he / his / him (attached)
شرطةshurta
police
كانkâna
to be
عندما'indamâ
when (not in questions)
قدqad
already
شريكsharîk
partner
استجوبistajwaba
to interrogate
فرfarra
to flee
Questions & Answers about عندما استجوبته الشرطة، كان شريكه قد فر.
How exactly does the past perfect tense form 'had fled' in this sentence?
It uses the formula كان + subject + قد + past tense verb. Here, كان is followed by the subject شريكه (his partner), then the particle قد, and finally the past tense verb فر (fled). This sequence indicates that the fleeing happened completely before the interrogation even started.
Why is the subject شريكه placed right in the middle of the past perfect structure?
In an Arabic verbal sentence, the subject usually directly follows the first verb of the clause. Because كان (was) acts as the first verb here, the subject شريكه naturally comes right after it, splitting the tense structure into the common order: كان + subject + قد + main past verb.
How do you break down the word استجوبته?
It is made of three combined parts: the past tense verb استجوب (interrogated), the feminine marker ت because the subject الشرطة (the police) is grammatically feminine, and the attached pronoun ـه (him). If you read it with full vowels, it sounds like 'istajwabat-hu'.
The verb فر looks unusually short for a past tense verb. How does it work?
فر (fled) is a 'doubled' verb, meaning its root has the same second and third letter (ف-ر-ر). When conjugated for 'he' in the past tense, those identical letters merge together under a shadda (an emphasis mark), making it look and sound like a compact two-letter word (فَرَّ).
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