And they both raced to the door, and she tore his shirt from the back, and they found her husband at the door. She said, "What is the recompense of one who intended evil for your wife but that he be imprisoned or a painful punishment?"
Sahih International
وَٱسْتَبَقَا
wa-is'tabaqā
And they both raced
Word breakdown
و
Harf · Conjunctionand
اسْتبق
Fi'l · VerbAnd they both raced
to get in advance, precede, overtake, to pass, come first to the goal
37× in the Quran · Occasional
ا
Ism · Personal pronounthem two/their
Grammar rules
وَٱسْتَبَقَا (And they both raced) is a past tense verb — the action already happened and is complete.
We translate it in past tense — "did", "created", "said", etc.
Lesson 8 · Verbs — Past & Presentوَٱسْتَبَقَا (And they both raced) uses form VIII (إِفْتَعَلَ) — it means doing the action for yourself or by yourself.
We translate it as "to [verb] for oneself".
Lesson 13 · Verb Families V–Xوَٱسْتَبَقَا (And they both raced) starts with وَ, the most common Arabic word — it means "and".
We add "and" to connect this to what came before.
Lesson 4 · Particles