LessonsSupplementary Practice 15: Caravan Reports, Attribution and the Limits of InferenceQuiz

إِنِ انْكَشَفَ الضَّبَابُ سِرْنَا.
If the fog clears, we will proceed.

In is a conditional particle; inkashafa is the protasis and sirnā the apodosis. Although both verbs are morphologically past, the condition can place their realization in a future hypothetical setting. The sentence does not assert that travel has already resumed.

سِرْنَا بَعْدَ انْكِشَافِ الضَّبَابِ.
We departed after the fog had cleared.

This second statement reports a completed occurrence. Similar verb forms do not erase the difference between an unrealized condition and a factual report.

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Conditional protasis and its consequence

Supplementary Practice 15: Caravan Reports, Attribution and the Limits of Inference

إِنِ انْكَشَفَ الضَّبَابُ سِرْنَا.
If the fog clears, we will proceed.

In is a conditional particle; inkashafa is the protasis and sirnā the apodosis. Although both verbs are morphologically past, the condition can place their realization in a future hypothetical setting. The sentence does not assert that travel has already resumed.

سِرْنَا بَعْدَ انْكِشَافِ الضَّبَابِ.
We departed after the fog had cleared.

This second statement reports a completed occurrence. Similar verb forms do not erase the difference between an unrealized condition and a factual report.