نهاية الرواية كانت احسن من نهاية الفيلم.

The ending of the novel was better than the ending of the movie.

Breakdown of نهاية الرواية كانت احسن من نهاية الفيلم.

• ال: the
• كان: to be
• من: than
• احسن: better

Questions & Answers about نهاية الرواية كانت احسن من نهاية الفيلم.

Why is كانت used here?

كانت is the past-tense form of كان, which means was.

So the sentence structure is:

• نهاية الرواية = the ending of the novel
• كانت = was
• احسن من نهاية الفيلم = better than the ending of the film

In other words, كانت makes the sentence past tense: The ending of the novel was better than the ending of the film.

If you removed كانت, the sentence would sound more like a general present statement:

• نهاية الرواية احسن من نهاية الفيلم
  = The ending of the novel is better than the ending of the film

Why is it كانت and not كان?

Because the subject, نهاية, is grammatically feminine.

In Arabic, verbs in the past tense agree with the subject in gender. Since نهاية is feminine, you use:

• كانت = she/it was

If the subject were masculine, you would use:

• كان = he/it was

So:

• نهاية الرواية كانت...
  because نهاية is feminine

What exactly does نهاية الرواية mean? Why isn’t there a separate word for of?