When and how long
When does it happen, and how long does it last?
المعنى
Time expressions tell us when something happens or how long it lasts. They can name a clock time, a day, a starting point, or a length of time. Languages use separate words, endings, or context; some have no special endings for time expressions. Unlike Past, present and future, this block gives a time or duration rather than just placing an event before now, now, or later.
طريقة التعرّف عليه
Look for words or forms that answer when, since when, until when, or for how long.
في اللغة الأم
Arabic expresses time with words such as ghadan 'tomorrow' and phrases naming clock times or dates. Duration can be given directly, as in niṣfa sāʿatin 'half an hour,' or introduced with a word such as muddata 'for a period of.' Many time and duration expressions take an -a or -an ending in fully pronounced formal Arabic.
سَنَلْتَقِي غَدًا. (Sanaltaqī ghadan.)
Ghadan gives the time without a preposition.
نَلْتَقِي فِي السَّاعَةِ الثَّالِثَةِ. (Naltaqī fī al-sāʿati al-thālithati.)
اِنْتَظَرْتُ نِصْفَ سَاعَةٍ. (Intaẓartu niṣfa sāʿatin.)
The duration follows the verb directly.
في اللغة قيد التعلم
English uses words such as yesterday and expressions with at, on, and in to say when something happens. For gives a length of time, while since gives the starting point of a period continuing to a later point, often now. Time expressions often go at the beginning or end of a sentence.
The class starts at nine on Monday.
At is used with a clock time and on with a day.
We waited for twenty minutes.
For introduces the length of time.
I've lived here since 2020.
Since marks the starting year; the situation continues now.
Learners whose language uses one marker for different kinds of time expressions may mix up at, on, and in. Learners whose language does not distinguish a duration from its starting point in the same way may confuse for and since.