Learn Hardcore Arabic (Modern Standard): عندما أعود إلى البيت، أضع المفتاح فوق الطاولة قرب الباب. - When I return home, I put the key on the table near the door.

Word

عندما أعود إلى البيت، أضع المفتاح فوق الطاولة قرب الباب.

Meaning

When I return home, I put the key on the table near the door.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Lesson

Breakdown of عندما أعود إلى البيت، أضع المفتاح فوق الطاولة قرب الباب.

What does عندما do in this sentence?

عندما means when and introduces a time clause.

So the sentence is divided like this:

عندما أعود إلى البيت = when I return home
أضع المفتاح فوق الطاولة قرب الباب = I put the key on/above the table near the door

It works very much like English when at the start of a sentence.

Why are أعود and أضع both in the present tense?

In Arabic, the imperfect form (often called the present tense) is used for more than just actions happening right now. It can also express:

Here, the meaning is something like a routine or repeated action:

So using أعود and أضع is completely natural.

If you wanted a completed past event, you would normally use past forms instead:

Where is the word for I? Why isn’t أنا used?

Arabic often leaves out the subject pronoun when the verb already shows who is doing the action.

Both verbs here already tell you the subject is :