Learn Arabic › A1 › خَلْف
خَلْف
behind, the rear /ˈxalf/
nounA1#376 most common
Also: the back, the rear part, the area behind something
Example sentences
الكَلْبُ خَلْفَ البَيْتِ.
The dog is behind the house.
جَلَسْتُ خَلْفَكَ في الصَّفِّ.
I sat behind you in the class.
تَوَقَّفَتِ السَّيّارَةُ خَلْفَ الحافِلَةِ.
The car stopped behind the bus.
تَرَكَ كُلَّ هُمُومِهِ خَلْفَهُ وَسافَرَ.
He left all his worries behind him and traveled.
مِنْ خَلْفِ السِّتارِ كانَ أَحَدُهُمْ يُراقِبُ.
From behind the curtain someone was watching.
تَكْمُنُ خَلْفَ هٰذا القَرارِ دَوافِعُ سِياسِيَّةٌ مُعَقَّدَةٌ.
Behind this decision lie complex political motives.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | خَلْفٌ (khalfun) | None |
| Genitive | خَلْفٍ (khalfin) | None |
| Accusative | خَلْفًا (khalfan); adverbial خَلْفَ (khalfa) | None |
| Vocative | None | None |
Word family
خَلْفِيّ (khalfī)rear, posterior
خَلْفِيّة (khalfiyya)background
خَليفة (khalīfa)successor, caliph
خَلَفَ (khalafa)to succeed, come after
تَخَلَّفَ (takhallafa)to lag behind, fall behind
Etymology
خَلْف comes from the Semitic root kh-l-f, which carries the sense of coming after or being at the rear. The same root yields words for succession and replacement, since what follows in time stands behind in space. Cognate roots appear in Hebrew and Aramaic with the sense of passing on or changing.
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