This article analyzes the structural, semantic, and discourse features of one of the analytical verb constructions in Arabic, namely “كَانَ + مُضَارِع” kāna + muḍāri‘un – “was + present tense”, based on modern linguistic approaches. In traditional Arabic grammar, verb tenses are mainly explained through two forms – ماضٍ (past tense) and مضارع (present-future tense); however, actual language use shows that tense-aspect meanings are often expressed through analytical constructions. The study examines the role of this construction in expressing progressivity, background, habituality, and discourse functions. It also identifies its semantic correspondence with the English Past Continuous and the Uzbek “-ayotgan edi” form. The findings indicate that complex tense forms in Arabic are formed not at the morphological level, but at the level of constructional semantics.

Arabic language, verb tenses, aspect category, analytical construction, kāna, imperfect verb, progressivity, background, discourse analysis, tense-aspect system, translation equivalence, structural-semantic analysis.

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