Breakdown of ظلت الحافلة تمشي حتى الصباح.
الal
the
حافلةhâfila
bus
مشىmashâ
to walk / to go, to move along (of a vehicle)
حتىhattâ
until
صباحsabâh
morning
ظلdhalla
to keep on, remain (+ present verb)
Questions & Answers about ظلت الحافلة تمشي حتى الصباح.
Why does ظلت mean 'kept' here instead of 'remained' or 'stayed'?
The verb ظل literally means 'to remain' or 'to stay'. However, it belongs to a special group of verbs (the sisters of كان). When you pair it with a present tense verb like تمشي, it acts as an auxiliary verb meaning 'to keep doing' or 'to continue doing' that action.
تمشي usually means 'walking'. Why is a bus walking?
In Arabic, the verb مشى (to walk) is frequently used for vehicles, trains, and machines to mean 'moving', 'going', or 'running'. Saying that a bus or car is walking is the standard, natural way to express that it is moving along its route.
Why is the verb ظلت used instead of ظل?
The subject of the sentence is الحافلة (the bus). Because this noun ends in a taa' marboota (ة), it is feminine. Therefore, the verb must also be feminine, which is done by adding the feminine ending ت to make ظلت.
What role does حتى play in this sentence?
While حتى can sometimes mean 'even' or 'in order to', here it is followed directly by a noun of time, الصباح (the morning). In this structure, it acts as a preposition meaning 'until'.
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