Breakdown of كان السائق غضبان لأن الطريق كان مزدحما.
الal
the
سائقsâ'iq
driver
طريقtarîq
road
لأنli'anna
because
كانkâna
to be
مزدحمmuzdaḥim
crowded
غضبانghadbân
angry
Questions & Answers about كان السائق غضبان لأن الطريق كان مزدحما.
Why does the word for "crowded" end in an alif (مزدحما)?
This is because of the verb كان (was). When you use كان to put a "Subject is Adjective" sentence into the past tense, the predicate (the adjective) changes to the accusative case. The alif at the end of مزدحما holds the "an" sound (tanwin fath) that marks this case.
If كان makes the adjective accusative, why doesn't غضبان (angry) also end in an alif?
Adjectives describing emotions or physical states that end in ـان (like غضبان for angry or تعبان for tired) belong to a special group of words called "diptotes". Diptotes are not allowed to take the double vowel "tanwin" sound at the end of the word. Because it only takes a single fatha (غضبانَ) instead of the "an" sound, it doesn't need the extra alif.
How does the word لأن (because) affect the grammar of this sentence?
The word لأن acts just like إنّ (indeed). It requires a noun or an attached pronoun immediately after it, and it puts that noun into the accusative case. So in this sentence, الطريق (the road) is grammatically in the accusative case (الطريقَ) because it directly follows لأن.
Why is كان used twice in this sentence?
In English, we can sometimes rely on context to carry the past tense feeling through a sentence. In Arabic, both halves of this sentence are separate descriptive clauses. To show that both situations happened in the past, you have to add كان to each clause: the first to show the driver was angry, and the second to show the road was crowded.
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