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Why does كان follow اذا in some consructions?

I often see Arabs use the construction:

اذا كان تريد

Why is there a kaana between the verb and particle? What is its purpose? What meaning does it convey?

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Mona00Mostafa profile picture Mona00MostafaOctober 2023
First the correct formation for the sentence is إذا كان يريد this means if he wanted... or in case HE wanted. Or إذا كانت تريد here we mean if or in case SHE wanted...
كان expresses the past tense. When there is kan in the sentence, it leads to the subject being nominative and the predicate being accusative, and this gives the sentence new characteristics from the usual.
  • Mona00Mostafa profile picture Mona00MostafaOctober 2023
    Let me rephrase it
    If we use إذا كان + فعل مضارع this is similar to إذا + فعل ماض
    If we use إذا +فعل مضارع then it indicates to a future. For example: إذا يريد النجاح لابد أن يذاكر If he wants to succeed he must study.

    And keep in mind إذا is a conditional tool regardless the tense that follows it we use it to express condition like IF in English.
  • SunChaser profile picture SunChaserOctober 2023
    Shukran I understand morphology, but I’ve never seen اذا يريد I’ve always only seen idhaa with a past tense verb or with كان + فعل مضار
  • Mona00Mostafa profile picture Mona00MostafaOctober 2023
    The past tense we usually remove the letter ي for male.
    For Female we remove the letter ت then add it at the end of the word.

    For Example:
    He played لعب She played لعبت
    He Wrote كتب She Wrote كتبت
    He worked عمل She worked عملت
  • Mona00Mostafa profile picture Mona00MostafaOctober 2023
    The literally meaning for If He wants is إذا يريد If She wants إذا تريد
    In most cases the present tense in Arabic starts with the letter ي for male, and ت for female.

    For example He works we can say هو يعمل or simply يعمل. She works هي تعمل or simply we say تعمل
    He plays يلعب She plays تلعب
    He writes يكتب She writes تكتب
    ِ
  • SunChaser profile picture SunChaserOctober 2023
    Are you sure I can use: إذا أرادت?

    I learned that idhaa + فعل ماضي = present tense meaning

    ”If he wants ...”
  • Mona00Mostafa profile picture Mona00MostafaOctober 2023
    Regarding إذا it expresses the condition. For example, إذا كان يريد أن ينجح لابد يذاكر this literally means if he wanted to succeed, he has to study.

    Note that, Kana and Isa express about plan started in the past (his wish to succeed) and action in the present ( he have to study).
  • Mona00Mostafa profile picture Mona00MostafaOctober 2023
    It’s a linguistic rule, only Language specialists care about it. However in general you can say إذا أراد If he wanted or إذا أرادت If she wanted. This is almost the same meaning in general speaking.