المحادثة: الْفِعْلُ الْمَاضِي
Dialogue: Past tense in conversation (ذَهَبَ، كَتَبْتُ، مَا قَرَأَ)
زَيْنَب
أَيْنَ ذَهَبْتَ أَمْسِ؟
Where did you (m.) go yesterday?
أَحْمَد
ذَهَبْتُ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ.
I went to the mosque.
زَيْنَب
وَالْمُعَلِّمُ؟ هَلْ كَتَبَ عَلَى اللَّوْحِ؟
And the teacher? Did he write on the board?
أَحْمَد
نَعَمْ. كَتَبَ وَأَنَا قَرَأْتُ.
Yes. He wrote and I read.
زَيْنَب
زَيْنَبُ قَرَأَتْ الْكِتَابَ. وَأَنْتُمْ خَرَجْتُمْ؟
Zaynab read the book. And did you (pl.) go out?
أَحْمَد
مَا خَرَجْنَا. دَرَسْنَا فِي الْفَصْلِ.
We did not go out. We studied in the classroom.
زَيْنَب
هَلْ كَتَبْتَ عَلَى اللَّوْحِ؟
Did you (m.) write on the board?
أَحْمَد
نَعَمْ، كَتَبْتُ. وَقَرَأَتْ الطَّالِبَةُ.
Yes, I wrote. And the (female) student read.
زَيْنَب
الْوَلَدُ مَا ذَهَبَ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ. ذَهَبَ إِلَى الْمَدْرَسَةِ.
The boy did not go to the mosque. He went to the school.
أَحْمَد
خَرَجُوا مِنَ الْفَصْلِ. وَدَرَسْنَ الطَّالِبَاتُ.
They (m.) went out of the classroom. And the (female) students studied.
Grammar Note
Past tense uses suffixes: ذَهَبْتُ (I went), ذَهَبْتَ (you m. went), ذَهَبَتْ (she went). Negation: مَا + past verb — مَا ذَهَبَ (he did not go), مَا خَرَجْنَا (we did not go out).