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63 There is no verb corresponding to I am. It is omitted. Thus, ana mabsūt, I am contented; hmwa faqīr, he is poor.

I have, &c., is formed with the preposition 'and (near) and the personal pronouns, as

I had is kān 'andi, (there was near me) ; and similarly for the other persons.

General Formation of Tenses. An ordinary verb—katab, he wrote—is here given, and all the verbs are formed similarly:—

Nearly all imperatives are formed uniformly, as Iktib—Write! Imsik—Take hold of! Imshi—Walk! or Go! Iftaḥ—Open! From masak, māshi, fatah.

A form to express present action, to distinguish the present from the future, is often used, the present being given the prefix bi. Thus,