Arabic and English Sentence Patterns: A Comparative Guide

40 | P a g e EXAMPLES (( ﻗﺪ ﻻ ﯾﻜﻮن اﻟﻤﻮت ﺑﺘﻮﻗﻒ اﻟﻨﺒﺾ ﻓﻘﻂ )) .۱ “Death might not be caused by stoppage of the pulse only ” 67 (( أﻋﯿﺶ ھﻨﺎ ﻣﻨﺬ ﺧﻤﺲ ﺳﻨﻮات. )) .۲ “I have been living here for five years.” Ryding, Standard Arabic 447. (( ﻻ أَزالُ أﺷْﺘَﻐِﻞُ ﻣُﺘَﺮْﺟِﻤﺎً ﻣُﻨْﺬُ أَنْ ﺗَﺨَﺮﱠ ﺟْﺖُ ﻣِﻦَ اﻟْﺠَﺎﻣِﻌَﺔِ . )) .۳ “I have been (and am still) working as an interpreter since I graduated from the university.” Schulz, Standard Arabic 319. The construction ﻗﺪ ﯾﻜﻮن followed by a verb is somewhat uncommon. It is more usually followed by a nominal (including participles), a construction which carries the modality of uncertainty or possibility (as in the first example) rather than perfective aspect. The paucity of exact literary equivalents for this pattern represents the tendency of Arabic writers to use less complex structures to achieve the present perfective. While such economy is the norm in the spoken language, it is something of an anomaly in written Arabic, which is well known for its periphrastic eloquence. As the second and third examples illustrate, perfect progressive meaning is often understood from the context surrounding simple present verbs (especially cue words such as ﻣُﻨْﺬُ ). 9