He had been gone a long time

[Abu Talha]

Related to this thread: He has been gone a long time
If I want to to say that someone had been gone for a long time, i.e., this absence took place in the past, and I want to use غَيبة , which of these is better:

1. وكان قد طالت غيبتُه
2. وكانت قد طالت غيبتُه

In (1) the subject of كان is the person and the subject of طالت is غيبة . Is this allowed and/or preferred in Arabic?

Thanks.

 

[rayloom]

I don't think there's a preference of either over the other.
"وكان قد طالت غيبته وأبطأ على قريش"
"وكانت قد طالت غيبته، واتهمته قريش أنه قد أسلم"

 

[Abu Talha]

Thank you Rayloom.

 

[cherine]

I don't think there's a preference of either over the other.
"وكان قد طالت غيبته وأبطأ على قريش"
"وكانت قد طالت غيبته، واتهمته قريش أنه قد أسلم"

I'm not sure I agree with the second sentence. The اسم كان here would be هي , so why wouldn't the sentence simply be وكانت غيبته قد طالت?

 

[Abu Talha]

It's a good point Cherine. Grammatically both وكانت غيبته قد طالت and وكانت قد طالت غيبته should be ok, even though the former is more normal, at least for human agents. Right?

 

[rayloom]

I'm not sure I agree with the second sentence. The اسم كان here would be هي , so why wouldn't the sentence simply be وكانت غيبته قد طالت?

Hello Cherine
The 2 sentences are quoted from Classical texts speaking of the same story (i.e. same context).
Which basically demonstrate that there's no preference of a form over the other.
As for وكانت غيبته قد طالت, it works as well.

 

[cherine]

Ah, ok. I had to repeat it several time to "see" how it sounded and I still prefer the other. But it's just a personal preference of course.