Say and be: changing the middle

A hollow stem changes

قال said and كان was have weak middle roots. Do not attach the old regular stem blindly. Learn these selected forms as a set, not as a universal weak-verb rule.

Say: explicit forms

He said قَالَ; I said قُلْتُ; you said قُلْتَ (one male), قُلْتِ (one female); we said قُلْنَا. Present: he says يَقُولُ; I say أَقُولُ. Command to one male: قُلْ. Past negative: لَمْ يَقُلْ, he did not say.

قَالَ ← قُلْتُ / يَقُولُ ← قُلْ

qāla → qultu / yaqūlu → qul

Was/were: explicit forms

He was كَانَ; she was كَانَتْ; I was كُنْتُ; you were كُنْتَ (one male), كُنْتِ (one female); we were كُنَّا. Use a place: أنا كنتُ في البيت. Nominal noun/adjective predicates after كان take accusative case, as after ليس; that wider pattern is not drilled here.

كُنْتُ / كُنْتَ / كُنْتِ / كُنَّا

Keep the identifying vowel

Typing must retain the vowel on ت in قلتُ and كنتُ. Bare قلت or كنت could represent several persons. Unvocalized variants are deliberately not accepted for those targets.