شفنا السفينة بالبحر.

to see

Breakdown of شفنا السفينة بالبحر.

• بحر: sea
• سفينة: ship

Questions & Answers about شفنا السفينة بالبحر.

What does شفنا break down into?

شفنا means we saw.

It breaks down like this:

• شف = the past-tense stem here
• -نا = we

A useful thing to know is that the verb is related to شاف / يشوف (to see). In the past tense, forms like شفت، شفنا are very common in Levantine, so the long vowel you see in شاف does not stay the same in every form.

So:

• شاف = he saw
• شفنا = we saw

Why isn’t there a separate word for we in the sentence?

Because Arabic verbs usually already include the subject.

In شفنا, the ending -نا already tells you the subject is we, so you do not need a separate word like we.

If you want extra emphasis, you could add نحنا:

• نحنا شفنا السفينة بالبحر

That would be more like we saw the ship in the sea, with extra stress on we.

What does السفينة mean, and why does it start with الـ?

السفينة means the ship.

• سفينة = ship