You likely have been taught that in Arabic the main verb in a conditional clause is conjugated for the past tense even if English uses a present tense verb. This is a good general rule for Egyptian Arabic as well, and in many situations breaking this rule will result in an unintended or ungrammatical sentence. This will be our topic in Section 1 of this page. (For the occasions when a past tense verb is inappropriate see لو أعمل, لو بعمل, لو هعمل, and لو تحب ينفع تقدر تعرف).
But what about when you would like to take a clause that doesn't have a verb in it and modify it with لو ? You might think that the solution would be to use كان; however, as you will see in Section 2 this is not necessary.
Section 1: Basic contidional sentences using past tense verbs
Examples
لو عمل حاجة
Example 1 "شاف" Arabic verb past, English verb present
واوعى تقول لهم لو شفتهم
..and don't tell them if you see them (تلتمية خمسة وستين يوم سعادة)
Example 2 "شاف" Arabic verb past, English verb past
ادهم: حد شافك من الشغالين؟ معتز: ولوشافوني دول مربيني
Adam:Did any of the workers see you? Muataz:Even if they saw me (they wouldn't tell anyone because) they raised me. (ملاكي اسكندرية)
Example 3 "شاف" Arabic verb past, English verb past or present (depending on context)
انا مش قايل لك قبل كده لو شفتك هنا هكسر لك رجلك
Didn’t I tell you previously, if I saw you here I would break your leg! or Didn’t I tell you previously, if I see you here I will break your leg!(طريقي)
Example 4 "شاف" Arabic verb past, English verb past
اختي داليا عندها خمستاشر سنة لو شفتيها دلوقتي مش هتلاقي ولا شعراية في راسها
My sister Dalia is 15 years old. If you saw her now you wouldn’t find a hair on her head. (توقيت القاهرة)
Example 5 "حصل" Arabic verbs past, English verbs past and present (depending on context)
لبيب: المراة اللي كانت مع القتيل اعترفت عليه وقالت على كل اوصافه وإن عربي كمان كان بيطارده صلاح: خلاص يا باشا خلاص يا باشا لو عربي حصل منه حاجة زي دي يبقى انتوا من حقكو تعملوا اللي انتو عايزين يا باشا. وبعدين عربي هيروح فين يا باشا؟ اكيد لو حصل منه حاجة زي دي يا باشا هيبقى ناسي وهيجي البيت عادي وآديكو قاعدين مستنيينه و لو حصل اي حاجة يا باشا هبلغ معاليك على طول يا باشا
Labiib: The woman who was with the murder victim identified Arabic and described him in detail and said that Arabi was also following the victim. Salaah: Ok Basha ok. If Arabi did something like this then you will have the right to do whatever you want. And anyway, where will Arabi go? If he did something like this, of course he will have forgotten and will come home like normal and here you are sitting here waiting for him. If anything happens I will let you know immediately. (فاصل ونعود)
Example 6 "أخد" Arabic verb past, English verb present
حازم الموضوع كبير فعلا وابوك مبيهزرش انتوا لومخدتوش القرض ده في أقرب فرصة هتفلسوا
Hazim this is really a big deal and your dad isn’t joking. If y’all don’t take out the loan at the soonest opportunity y’all will go bankrupt. (غش الزوجية)
Example 7 "أخد" Arabic verb past, English verb past or present (depending on context)
وهتفرق في ايه برضه لوخدت شهادة
Also, what difference would it make if I got a diploma?! or Also, what difference would it make if I get a diploma?! (حضرة المتهم ابي)
Example 8 "أخد" Arabic verb past, English verb present
انزل عـ السلم لوخدت الاسانسير هتلاقيه في وشك! اتحرك
Go down the stairs! If you take the elevator, he will be right in front of you! Move! (بدل فاقد)
Example 9 "جه" Arabic verb past, English verb past
بص يا سيدي، دلوقتي انت عندك حتة ارض تمنها الف جنيه إجارها عشرة جنيه يعني أنا لوجيت أجرتها منك أديك في الشهر عشرة ولواشتريتها منك هديك الف جنيه تمام
ًLook sir, now you have a piece of land whose value is 1000 pounds, its rent is 10 pounds, so if I came and rented it from you I would give you 10 pounds a month and if I bought it from you I will give you a thousand pounds.Good? (الريان)
Example 10 "جه" Arabic verb past, English verb present
لوجيت لي بكرا زي دلوقتي هتلاقي سيمبا عندي
If you come over tomorrow at the same as now, you will find Simba. (سهر الليالي)
In the previous section, we saw that verbs are for the most part conjugated in the past tense for standard conditional clauses. This section will demonstrate that this is not the case for conditional clauses that do not contain a main verb. This occurs if the conditional clause contains a modal, active participle, or an equational sentence. Part 1 will focus on these types of sentences. However, these conditional clauses can be put in the past tense, but it may change your intended meaning. Part 2 discusses what happens if the sentences in Part 1 are put in the past tense using كان. Part 3 deals with how to represent continous ongoing actions that are described using a habitual verb rather than an Active Participle.
Part 1: لو من غير فعل
Example 11
بصي انتي معاكي رقم امي كلميني في اي وقت لوعايزاني
Hey, you have my mom's number. Call me any time if you need me. (لا تراجع ولا استسلام)
لو لازم نخاف على حاجة دلوقتي يبقى لازم نخاف عـ المليون اللي ممكن تدخل لنا لو احمد قعد هناك سنة واحدة كمان
If we must worry about something right now then we should worry about the million (EGP) that could come into us (that we could make) if Ahmed stays there another year. (قصة الامس)
يا حاج لو انت شايف اللي بتطلبه مني ده يرضي ربنا والمجرمين دولت يفلتوا بعملتهم يبقى خلاص أنا موافقة
Sir, if you see (i.e. think/feel) that what you ask of me pleases God and that those criminals should get away with what they have done then, fine, I agree. (قضية رأي عام)
أنا كنت بقول يعني لو انتي قاعدة مابتعمليش حاجة أنا ممكن أعزمك على حاجة ونشربها سوا. ايه رايك
I was saying, you know, if you are sitting not doing anything, I could buy you something (to drink) and we could drink it together*. What do you say? (الخروج)
*This does not mean that they will share something to drink, but rather they will drink their individual drinks together.
بسيطة خالص. أنا بكرا الصبح اول ما أوصل القسم أشوف لك لوليه اي محاضر عندنا اتحوّلت للنيابة ولا لا ولو فيههعرّف لك ايه السبب بالظبط
That's simple!* Tomorrow morning, as soon as I arrive at the polict will check for you and see if he has any cases with us that have been transferred to the prosecutor or not, and if there is, I will let you know exactly what the reason is. (دلع بنات)
*This phrase can be said in response to a request as it is here in this sentence.
ده من وجهة نظركِ لكن في وجهة نظر تانية بتقول اني لو مهم عندك فعلا تقفلي باب التعاون مع الراجل ده خالص
That's your opinion but there is another opinion that says that if I was important to you, you would shut the door of cooperation with that guy (you would stop dealing with that guy). (سهر الليالي)
اذا انت كنت جاي علشان ندى فـ ده شيء ميخصنيش إنما لو جاي لي لأي سبب من الاسباب يخصني من قريب او من بعيد فـ لازم تحفظ المسافة اللي ما بيني وما بينك. أنا معيدة وانت مجرد طالب وبس
If you have come for Nada, that is something that doesn't concern me, but if you've come for any of the reasons that concern me either closely or distantly then you need to be mindful of the distance that is between you and me. I am a Graduate Assistant and you are merely a student! (حب البنات)
1. With the conditional اذا Active Participles must be in the past tense. However, not so with لو. This is no more evident than in this sentence where the first جاي is modified by كنت but not the second.
2. The past tense reading of جاي in لو جاي comes from the fact that this Active Participle can have a past tense reading not merely a present continous reading.
وهضربهم مع بعض كويس قوي دول لوحدهم الاول لو ممكن في خلاط بحولهم لعجينة. بحولهم لأيه لعجينة
...and I will blend them together really well....them by themselves first.....If possible in a blender....I am turning it into a paste..I am turning it into what? A paste.(على قد الايد)
ولو برا البيت يكون احسن. فيه مكان أنا بكلّمك منه مكان جميل ومناسب لو تحبي نتقابل فيه
and if (our meeting) is outside of the house, it would be better. There is a place, I am calling you from ... a nice place and appropriate if you would like to meet there. (شرف فتح الباب)
Part 2: Adding كان to otherwise verbless sentences
But what if you put these sentences in the past tense? Would it change the meaning of the sentence if you added كان? A survey of the corpus CALM, reveals that when Egyptians put these sentences in the past, often, they do so to turn the sentence into a hypothetical conditional. So "if I want" becomes "if I had wanted" (Examples 26-27). However, this is not the case 100% of the time. Sometimes, Egyptians make hypothetical conditional sentences without putting the conditional clause in the past tense (Examples 28-29). And other times, sentences are put in the past tense to make them softer just as they are done in English (Examples 30-31).
Hypothetical
Example 26 Inserting كان into the first clause puts conditional into the hypothetical
أنا! أغيْر منك؟ أنا لوكنت عايزة أبقى زيك كنت بقيت
Me! Be jealouse of you! If I had wanted to be like you, I would have been (واحد صفر)
Example 28 Hypothetical meaning without the first clause being in the past
انت لو عندك حبة مخ بدل البلوظة اللي هنا ده كنت فهمت لوحدك
If you had half a brain (lit. a small piece of brain) instead of the baluuza* that is here (in your head), you would have understood by yourself. (واحد صحيح)
*Baluuza is a type of pudding made from cornstarch, sugar, and water.
Example 29 Hypothetical meaning without the first clause being in the past
وبعدين انا لو عايزة اطفش بيرلا بتاعتك دي كنت رُحت قلت لاهلك انها قريبة مراة ابوك بس ان ماعملتش كده
Also, if I had wanted to drive away your precious Perla, I would have gone and told your family that she is a relative of your dad's wife, but I didn't do that. (لف ودوران)
In many cases a presently ongoing action is described using an Active Participle; however, not all verbs have an Active Participle that describes an ongoing action. For these verbs, the habitual form of the verb is used. For example, رايح can mean 'presently going' as in 'I am walking out the door, going to the gym.' However, to every Syrian speaker's chagrin, عامل does not mean 'presently doing.' For this reason 'what are you doing?' in Egyptian is 'بتعمل ايه؟' and not 'عامل ايه؟'.
When a habitual verb is describing an ongoing action, it is treated as if it were an Active Participle in sentences with لو. Just as Active Participles are not put in the past tense, neither are these verbs.
Examples
لو بتعملي حاجة
Example 1
لو بتكدبهحبسك يا عامر
If you are lying, I will throw you in jail Amir. (آدم)
احمد: بابا حضرتك بتعاملني كأني عيل صغير عبد الحميد: لو بعاملك اكنك عيل صغير مكنتش اديتك المفاتيح واستأمنتك على نفسي وعـ العربية
Ahmed: Dad, you are treating me like a child! Abdel Hamiid: If I am treating you like a child, I would not have given you the keys to the car and trusted you with my life and the car. (حضرة المتهم ابي)