And she took, in seclusion from them, a screen. Then We sent to her Our Angel [i.e., Gabriel], and he represented himself to her as a well-proportioned man.
Sahih International
فَٱتَّخَذَتْ
fa-ittakhadhat
Then she took
Word breakdown
ف
Harf · Conjunctionand then
اتخذتْ
Fi'l · VerbThen she took
to take, seize, grasp; to punish, hold accountable
273× in the Quran · Common
Grammar rules
فَٱتَّخَذَتْ (Then she took) 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 & Presentفَٱتَّخَذَتْ (Then she took) 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–Xفَٱتَّخَذَتْ (Then she took) starts with فَ, which means "and then" or "so" — it shows sequence or consequence.
We add "and then" or "so" to show the order of events.
Lesson 4 · Particles