prep.; conj.

1.

a. wa-múgšem bóˁor díˀʸheʰ be-ḥteʰ ˁaf yešmɛríˀin diˀáḷ díˀʸheʰ bíyyoʰ ‘And the boy walked on that very night till he reached his mother’ (CSOL II 1:69)

b. tóuʸhors ˁaf tetέyk wáľľa ˁaf teksέ di-kések ‘Follow it (the snake) till it devours you or till you find what you will find’ (CSOL I 25:23)

c. íhin aḷ-kɔnš énhi ˁaf ḷaˁrέb inέm deš šégreʰ ‘You won’t be with me until I’ve learned what kind of tree that is’ (CSOL II 4:17)

d. déme ˁaf ḷe-ˁóŝi éṣbaḥ ŝíbɛb di-degdέgeʰ ‘They went to sleep till, in the morning, the old man went to the barren place’ (CSOL I 6:21)

e. wa-ḳáḷaˁk toʸh wa-kášaḥk toʸh ˁaf yetέbor ‘And I threw (a stone) against it (the glass) and knocked it down so that it was broken to pieces’ (CSOL II 1:140)

f. ḷéḥe ˁag ẓ̂áˀteʰ mέḷḥo ˁaf yeraḳáḥʸhen men ŝáḳar wa-ḷaṭ ṣéme fáḥre ‘A man had three of his goat kids suckle at a goat other than their mother in order to save them from starvation, but eventually they all died’ (CSOL I 17:49)

2. 

a. déme ˁaf ḷe-ˁóŝi ‘He went to sleep until the next morning’ (CSOL II 14:12)

b. wa-γarb ḥadíbo ḳáẓ̂ub wa-kedáḥ ˁaf ḳaľansíyeʰ ‘And to the west of Hadibo: Qaẓ̂ub, and Kedaḥ, up to Qalansiyya’ (CSOL II 11:15)

c. ˁéyyek ṭeʸh šɔm ḷeṭhór ˁaf ḳáẓ̂i ‘One day I wanted to go to the judge’ (CSOL II 1:69)

Conjunction:

‘untiľ (1a, 1b, 1c, 1d)

‘so that’ (causal) (1e)

‘In order to’ (1f).

Preposition:

‘tilľ (temporal) (2a)

‘tilľ (spatial) (2b)

‘towards’ (2c).

The subordinate verb immediately preceded by the temporal conjunction ˁaf is either marked for the imperfect (referring to the action in the past (1a)) or the jussive (referring to the action other than in the past (1b, 1c)).  

The clause introduced by ˁaf is often used as a part of the so-called “tripartite construction”, asyndetically linking two main verbs (and semantically dependent on both of them):

tóˁod ˁaf teráḥš taˁámer hey... ‘Go till you come to him, (and) tell him...’ (CSOL II 1:20)

éremk fɔ́ne aḷ-ˀešḥárog súwa ˁaf tóˀo šeḳábitk táḳifk eḳáre wa-ˀekóteb ‘Formerly I was unable to read well, but then I went to study and attained perfection in both writing and reading’ (CSOL II 1:127).

ifúḷ ˁaf or ifúḷ ľákɛn ˁaf ‘How can it be that ...? How can it be achieved that ...?’:

ifúḷ ˁaf teráḥan še ‘How shall I make them (the she-camels) go with me?’ (CSOL II 1:81)

ifúḷ ľákɛn ˁaf aḷ-ˁad érhon tšemtέḷen ‘What can be done so the goats will stop talking?’ (CSOL II 21:4)

ˁaf + tóˀo + perfect ‘when’: 

ˁaf tóˀo kέrhe meḷóˀoʰ díˀseʰ ḳáŝˁer gedéḥes ˁag ‘As soon as she filled her water-skin, a man came up to her’ (CSOL I 7:5).

ˁaf + ḷaḷ + imperfect ‘when’: 

wa-ˁaf ḷaḷ yóuḳar ˁag terɛˀéʸhen ˁážeʰ men ŝḥaf ‘When the man came back in the evening, his wife asked him about the milk’ (CSOL II 13:19).

ˁaf sem di- + perfect ‘untiľ:

ten teṣóref dέnˁaʰ ˁaf sem di-gédaḥk ‘Use (pl.) this sparingly until I come back’ (CSOL I 29:15).

ˁaf (di-)sᵉkɛ ṭad ‘up to the last one’:

ḳénomk méʸhen serédhon wa-tóˀo šérḳeḥ di-ḥay ṣéme ˁaf sᵉkɛ ṭad ‘I fed my goat kids (artificially), but when they went out to the green fodder, they died, all of them’ (Naumkin et al. 2014c:539).

ˁaf óˀo ‘until where?’:

ˁaf óˀo tíˁid ɛ óˀoz ‘How far will you walk, oh goat?’ (CSOL I 15:8).

ˁaf míṭaʰ ‘until when?’:

ˁaf míṭaʰ ḥaʰ zóˁom ‘How long will you stay here?’ (CSOL II 17:13).

• ˁaf verily, indeed, even