How to Say "I Was Born" in Arabic

ولدت

wulidtu

The phrase "I was born" in Arabic is ولدت (wulidtu).

This phrase is used to state the time or place of one's birth.

Which one should you use?

Unlike English which uses a helping verb "was" plus a participle, Arabic uses a single passive-voice verb to express this same idea.

The phrase is a passive verb form where the suffix -tu indicates the first-person singular subject "I".

wulidtu

Without vowel marks, the word for 'I was born' and 'I gave birth' are written identically as ولدت, though they are pronounced differently.
The Arabic word for 'boy' or 'son', ولد, is derived from the same three-letter root as ولدت, conceptually linking the child to the act of birth.
A man and a woman use the exact same word ولدت to say 'I was born', as the gender of the speaker is absorbed into the verb's structure.

هل ولدت في شهر مايو؟
Was it in May that I was born?
This sentence is useful for asking about the month of one's birth using ولدت.
Tatoeba #1573397 by Amastan, translation #844702 by eastasiastudent
ذهب إبني إلى لندن، أين ولدت.
My son went to London, where I was born.
This sentence is useful for describing a location relative to one's birth using ولدت.
Tatoeba #1572026 by Amastan, translation #274431 by sundown
ولدت في 18 من مارس عام 1994.
I was born on March 18th 1994.
This sentence is useful for stating a specific birth date using ولدت.
Tatoeba #4940308 by damascene, translation #4490349 by Joseph
أُولِدْتُ في مدينة الرياض.
I was born in Riyadh.
وُلِدتُ في مدينة جدة.
I was born in Jeddah.
أنا مولود في مدينة القاهرة.
I was born in Cairo.
4 more sentences on Tatoeba

Ziad and Maryam are talking about their hometowns.

Sources

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