A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.
ما لبث (لم يلبث) أن (حتى) it did not take long before he…, presently he…, he lost no time in…
Root: ل-ب-ث
Page: 1002*
Example: “ما لَبِثَ الشَّبابُ أَن انطَلَقوا تُجاهَ المَدينةِ، بَحثًا عَنِ الأَمَل”
Translation: “they wasted no time in setting off towards the city, in search of hope”
Notes:
- It may seem unusual to have a past tense verb following أَنْ but it’s common in certain structures! Both لبث أنْ and بعد أنْ, for example, can also be followed by either a past or present tense verb
Revise all of the vocab from the series on Quizlet:
* The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th Edition
The Arabic Pages 