And they swore by Allāh their strongest oaths that if a warner came to them, they would be more guided than [any] one of the [previous] nations. But when a warner came to them, it did not increase them except in aversion
Sahih International
وَأَقْسَمُوا۟
wa-aqsamū
And they swore
Word breakdown
و
Harf · Conjunctionand
أقْسمُ
Fi'l · VerbAnd they swore
to divide, distribute; to swear, take an oath
33× in the Quran · Occasional
وا
Ism · Personal pronounthem/their
Grammar rules
وَأَقْسَمُوا۟ (And they swore) 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 & Presentوَأَقْسَمُوا۟ (And they swore) uses form IV (أَفْعَلَ) — the أ at the start makes it causative ("to make someone do something").
We translate it as "to make [someone] do" or "to cause [action]".
Lesson 12 · Verb Families II–IVوَأَقْسَمُوا۟ (And they swore) starts with وَ, the most common Arabic word — it means "and".
We add "and" to connect this to what came before.
Lesson 4 · Particles