إذا كانت عندنا دعوة أخرى في الشهر القادم، فسوف نطبخ طعاما لذيذا أيضا.

in

Breakdown of إذا كانت عندنا دعوة أخرى في الشهر القادم، فسوف نطبخ طعاما لذيذا أيضا.

• ايضا: too
• سوف: (future marker)
• نا: our/us

Questions & Answers about إذا كانت عندنا دعوة أخرى في الشهر القادم، فسوف نطبخ طعاما لذيذا أيضا.

Why is كانت in the past tense when the sentence is talking about the future?

After إذا meaning if/when, Arabic often uses a past-tense verb to talk about a future condition.

So:

إذا كانت عندنا دعوة أخرى...

does not mean only if we had in a past sense. Here it means more like:

if we have / if there is / if we happen to have

This is a very common Arabic pattern:

• إذا جاء = if/when he comes
• إذا وصلنا = if/when we arrive

So the past form after إذا often has a future meaning in English.

Why is it كانت and not كان?

Because the implied subject of كانت is دعوة (an invitation), and دعوة is a feminine singular noun.

Arabic verbs agree in gender, so:

• كان = masculine singular
• كانت = feminine singular

Since the sentence is structurally about دعوة أخرى (another invitation), the feminine form كانت is correct.

What does عندنا mean here?

عندنا literally means at us or with us, but very often it is used to express something.