In addition to negating a verb, the word ما is a key component of “before” and “after” sentences in Levantine Arabic. When constructing a sentence describing a sequence of actions of events,  ما must be added to the sentence. The ما indicates that the verb following it is conditional on another verb taking place first.

Let’s look at a few examples:

بعد ما سرقوا اللوحة طلعوا من المتحف وساقوا بسيارة بيضة
After they stole the painting, they left the museum and drove [away] in a white car

رح نتخرج بعد ما نخلص الامتحانات
We will graduate after we finish our exams

بحث عن المُشرحين قبل ما أصوت
I research the candidates before I vote

قبل ما تموت صراب قالت أني أنا يلي لازم أرث البيت
Before Sarab died, she said that I should be the one who inherits the house

Notice that تموت (she dies) is in the present tense here. Because Sarab was alive when she said this, we say تموت in the present tense, rather than ماتت in the past tense. In Arabic, when something happened before an event in the past, the secondary action is in the present tense (unlike in English). Essentially, we are speaking in the tense of the moment in which the first action happened. In this case, Sarab had not yet died when she told me this information, so we say, “when she dies,” rather than, “when she died”.

These types of بعد ما and قبل ما sentences happen all the time in daily conversation. Listen for it next time you’re watching a show or eavesdropping on a conversation and you’re likely to hear many examples!