قالت
qālat
قالت (qālat) is the Arabic way to say "she said".
This phrase is used to report that a female person spoke.
Which one should you use?
While قالت is the standard way to report speech, صرّحت is used when the sense is that she made an official statement or declaration. For informal situations where you want to indicate that someone said something directly to you, you might use قالتلي.
How does it change in a sentence?
قالت is the feminine singular form used for a single female subject in the past tense. In formal spoken or written Arabic, the final consonant of the feminine marker is often pronounced with a sukun, appearing as قالَتْ.
How do you pronounce it?
qālat
Did you know?
- In legal contexts, reporting that a woman قالت something can carry different evidentiary weight than using the formal صرّحت, which implies a sworn statement.
- While قالت is a neutral way to report speech, Arabic speakers often swap it for more descriptive verbs that indicate volume or tone. If the woman 'whispered' or 'shouted', the verb itself changes entirely to reflect that specific action.
- The verb قالت is built upon the three-letter root 'q-w-l', which is so fundamental that it forms the basis for the word 'proverb' in Arabic. This root is the linguistic DNA for almost anything involving speech or formal declarations.
Examples in context
- هي من قالت ذلك.She said that.This sentence is useful for showing how to use the form قالت to report that she said something.Tatoeba #11644742 by dididodo, translation #2853919 by Amastan
- قالت أن أمها مدمنة على المخدرات.She said that her mother was a drug addict.This sentence shows the use of قالت when reporting a statement about someone's mother.Tatoeba #10261858 by Amghar, translation #4513729 by Amastan
- قالت أنه ينبغي علي أن أعود للبيت مبكرا.She said that I should come home soon.This sentence demonstrates using قالت to report an instruction or advice.Tatoeba #1579838 by Amastan, translation #388838 by CK
- قالت الأستاذة أمل أنها ستحضر الاجتماع.Ms. Amal said that she will attend the meeting.
- صرّحت الدكتورة فاطمة أنها تعمل على بحث جديد.Dr. Fatimah stated that she is working on a new research.
- قالت سارة إنها راح تخرج مع رفقاتها.Sarah said that she will hang out with her friends.
- 10 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Ahmad and Maryam are discussing a news report.
- أحمد Ahmedهل سمعتِ ماذا قالت المذيعة؟hal sami'ti madha qalat al-mudhi'a?Did you hear what the presenter said?
- مريم Maryamنعم، قالت إن الأخبار جيدة.na'am, qalat inna al-akhbar jayyida.Yes, she said that the news is good.
- أحمد Ahmedهذا رائع جداً.hadha ra'i' jiddan.That is very wonderful.
- مريم Maryamأنا سعيدة بذلك.ana sa'ida bi-dhalik.I am happy about that.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
