قبل (qabl) — "before" in Modern Standard Arabic
قبل
qabl
before
- Topic
- time
- Seen in
- 6 of our stories
Conjugate قبل
Past, present, future and imperative, affirmative and negative.
"before" in the other dialects
قبل in a sentence
Every sentence below is taken from a story on Parallel Arabic, so you can see how the word behaves in real context rather than in isolation.
نحن كتبنا الواجب قبل الاكل
Nahnu katabna alwajib qabla alakl
We wrote the homework before eating
from A Family Meal
قبل المباراة نحن كتبنا الواجب
Qabla al mubara nahnu katabna al wajib.
Before the match we wrote the homework.
from The School Match
فهمتُكَ الآن يا سالم، هل طلبتَ لنا قهوة عربية بالهيل قبل أن نبدأ، أم أطلبها أنا مع بعض التمر؟
Fahimtuka al-aan ya Salim, hal talabta lana qahwah 'arabiyyah bil-hayl qabla an nabda', am atlubuha ana ma'a ba'd at-tamr?
I understand you now, Salem, did you order us Arabic coffee with cardamom before we begin, or should I order it with some dates?
فكرة ممتازة، لأنني أحتاج حقاً إلى الوضوء بالماء البارد كي أستعيد نشاطي المفقود قبل تناول تلك الشاورما الساخنة.
Fikra mumtaza, li-annani ahtaju haqqan ila al-wudu' bil-ma' al-barid kay asta'ida nashati al-mafqud qabla tanawul tilka ash-shawarma as-sakhina.
Excellent idea, because I really need to perform ablution with cold water in order to regain my lost energy before eating that hot shawarma.
كان هذا الموقف يحتاج الى اعداد جيد منها قبل الذهاب
Kana hadha al-mawqif yahtaju ila i'dad jayyid minha qabl adh-dhihab
This situation required good preparation from her before going
from Returning a Dress
شعرت مريم ببعض التردد قبل ان تعيد الفستان الى المحل
Sha'arat Maryam bi-ba'd at-taraddud qabl an tu'id al-fustan ila al-mahall.
Maryam felt some hesitation before returning the dress to the shop.
from Returning the Dress
More time vocabulary
Practice time
8 questions, half of them spoken out loud. Free, no account needed.