Breakdown of كان عندنا وقود عندما توقفت السيارة.
الal
the
سيارةsayyâra
car
ناnâ
our / us (object) / we (subject suffix on past verb)
عند'inda
at / to have
توقفtawaqqafa
to stop
كانkâna
to be
عندما'indamâ
when (not in questions)
وقودwaqûd
fuel
Questions & Answers about كان عندنا وقود عندما توقفت السيارة.
Why do we use كان instead of كنا if the English translation says 'We had'?
In Arabic, there is no direct verb for 'to have'. Instead, we use a preposition like عند (at/with) plus a pronoun suffix, making عندنا (literally: at us). To make this past tense, we add the verb كان (was). Crucially, كان agrees with the thing being possessed (the fuel, وقود), not the possessors (us). Since وقود is a masculine singular noun, we use كان.
Why is 'when' translated as عندما here and not متى?
The word متى is a question word used only for asking 'When?' (e.g., 'When did it stop?'). Because this sentence is a statement connecting two events rather than a question, we must use the conjunction عندما, which means 'when' or 'at the time that'.
Why does the verb توقفت end with a ـت?
The verb توقف (to stop) is in the past tense, and its subject is السيارة (the car). Because السيارة is a feminine noun (indicated by the taa marbuta at the end), the verb must also be feminine. Adding the ـت suffix changes the 'he' form into the 'she/it' form (توقفت).
Why doesn't وقود (fuel) take the definite article الـ?
The sentence expresses that we had 'some fuel' or 'fuel' in a general sense, not 'the fuel' (a specific batch). In Arabic, indefinite nouns simply drop the الـ prefix. It acts as the indefinite subject of كان, meaning 'A fuel was with us', which sounds perfectly natural in Arabic.
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