Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Hundred and One Rules in Arabic Grammar! 85. کانَ& her Sisters (Revisited). We said earlier that کانَ & her Sisters are used with equational sentences. However, they can tolerate the use of verbs after them. That verb has to be in the present indicative form, as in: **کانـَتْ تـَعملُ في مَکتـَبـِها.** She was working in her office. If the subject is expressed, it should be placed between کانَ & her sisters and the verb.
**کانـَتِ الأستاذةُ تـَعملُ في مَکتـَبـِها.** The professor was working in her office. An exception to this rule is when you want to topicalize the subject, and that simply means that you want to emphasize it. **الأستاذة ُ کانـَتْ تـَعملُ في مَکتـَبـِها.** Previous Next