How to Conjugate kāna (to be) in Arabic

كَانَ (kāna) means to be. It is a hollow Form I verb from the root ك و ن (k-w-n): كَانَ (kāna) in the past, يَكُونُ (yakūnu) in the present and كُنْ (kun) as a command. The tables below give its full conjugation in all 13 persons, vowelled, with its participle and verbal noun; it has no passive.

Every form of kāna on this page comes from the engine behind our Arabic verb conjugator and was checked against Wiktionary's conjugation table for كَانَ, which is also the source of its verbal nouns.

Kāna at a glance

Past tense of kāna

The past tense (al-māḍī) of kāna has two stems: kān- before an ending that starts with a vowel (كَانَ (kāna), كَانَتْ (kānat)) and kun- before an ending that starts with a consonant (كُنْتُ (kuntu), كُنَّ (kunna)).

Present tense of kāna

The present tense (al-muḍāriʿ) of kāna has a long vowel in the stem, -kūn-, which turns short before the -na of the feminine plural: يَكُونُ (yakūnu) but يَكُنَّ (yakunna).

Subjunctive and jussive of kāna

In the jussive the long vowel of the stem shortens wherever no ending follows: after لم (lam, did not) the he-form is يَكُنْ (yakun), while the subjunctive after لن (lan, will not) keeps it, يَكُونَ (yakūna). After لم the jussive يَكُنْ (yakun) also has a short form without the final n, يَكُ (yaku), as in لم يَكُ (yaku) (lam yaku).

Imperative of kāna

Take the prefix off the jussive تَكُنْ (takun) and the command is كُنْ (kun): no alif is needed, because the first root letter now has a vowel. The long vowel comes back when an ending follows: كُونِي (kūnī), كُونُوا (kūnū).

Participles and verbal noun of kāna

In the active participle a hamza takes the place of the weak middle letter: كَائِن (kāʾin). Kāna has no passive, so it has no passive participle either. Form I verbal nouns follow no single pattern, and Wiktionary lists three for kāna: كَوْن (kawn), كِيَان (kiyān), كَيْنُونَة (kaynūna). Learn them with the verb, or look them up under k-w-n in one of the dictionaries in our guide.

Why kāna conjugates this way

The middle root letter of كَانَ (kāna) is و (w), a weak letter, which is why grammars call it a hollow verb. That letter never appears as a consonant in Form I. Where the syllable stays open it becomes a long vowel (كَانَ (kāna), يَكُونُ (yakūnu)); where a consonant ending closes it, the vowel is short (كُنْتُ (kuntu), يَكُنْ (yakun)). So kāna has two past stems, kān- and kun-. Qāla (to say) and qāma (to stand up) are hollow too, and change in the same places.

Kāna in sentences

كان صائما.
He was fasting.
The verb: كَانَ (kāna), past, he. Source: Tatoeba sentence 12172930 by dididodo (CC BY 2.0 FR), unvowelled as published.

كنت أدرس.
I was studying.
The verb: كُنْتُ (kuntu), past, I. Source: Tatoeba sentence 12849790 by dididodo (CC BY 2.0 FR), unvowelled as published.

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