Breakdown of كلما تقدمنا في العمر، كلما فهمنا الحياة.
الal
the
فيfî
in / about, regarding
ناnâ
our / us (object) / we (subject suffix on past verb)
فهمfahima
to understand
عمرumr
age
حياةhayâh
life
تقدمtaqaddama
to advance
كلماkullamâ
whenever, every time; the more … (the more)
Questions & Answers about كلما تقدمنا في العمر، كلما فهمنا الحياة.
Why do we use the past tense verbs تقدمنا and فهمنا when the English translation is in the present tense?
The word كلما requires the verb immediately following it to be in the past tense, even when expressing a general truth or an ongoing process. So, while كلما تقدمنا literally looks like 'whenever we advanced,' it functions here to mean 'the more we advance.'
Do we have to repeat كلما in the second half of the sentence?
In Modern Standard Arabic, repeating كلما is very common to create the 'the more... the more...' structure taught in this lesson. You will also sometimes see sentences where the second كلما is dropped, leaving just the second past tense verb to show the result, but repeating it makes the proportional comparison very clear to learners.
Why do we use the preposition في with العمر?
The verb تقدم (to advance or progress) naturally pairs with the preposition في (in) to show what you are progressing in. The phrase تقدم في العمر is the standard Arabic idiom for 'getting older' or 'advancing in age.'
What part of تقدمنا and فهمنا shows that 'we' are doing the action?
Both verbs end with the attached pronoun suffix ـنا (-na). As a quick refresher, in the past tense, adding ـنا to the end of a verb always indicates 'we' as the subject, changing تقدم (he advanced) to تقدمنا (we advanced).
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