jaf
See also: jàf and jäf
Maltese
Etymology
From Arabic يَعْرِفُ (yaʿrifu), imperfect of عَرَفَ (ʿarafa, “to know, get to know, find out”). Doublet of uncontracted għaraf (“to recognise, become aware of, find out”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /jaːf/
Verb
jaf (imperfect only)
- to know; to be able to do sth.
- Ma nafx.
- I don't know.
- Ma kienx jaf li wasalna.
- He didn't know that we'd arrived.
- Ma nafx jekk huwa jkunx reliġjuż.
- I don't know whether [or not] he's religious.
- Ma nafx.
Conjugation
- The verb is defective and has no perfect forms. The perfect tense is expressed with forms of kien followed by the imperfect forms.
conjugation of jaf
singular | plural | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person m | 3rd person f | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | |||
jien(a) | int(i) | hu(wa) | hi(ja) | aħna | intom | huma | |||
perfect | kont naf | kont taf | kien jaf | kienet taf | konna nafu | kontu tafu | kienu jafu | ||
imperfect | naf | taf | jaf | taf | nafu | tafu | jafu | ||
imperative | kun af | kunu afu |