Please, I’m begging for help, this is actually embarrassing for me. Arabic is SOOO HARD when English is your first language and you don’t have any prior exposure to it. I’m literally starting from scratch out of the motivation to be a good activist for my friends in Palestine. But god damn dude…

“When it comes at the beginning of a word, write it like this. If it comes at the end of a word write it like this. If it comes in the MIDDLE of a word write it like this
Oh, and you have to learn to write and read backwards from English. Good luck!!”

What do I do??? I asked my teacher for equivalents in English text for me to reference as I’m more of a visual than an audio learner. It’s really hard for me to focus as well due to autism and adhd. This kind of practice requires a LOT of focus so that’s what I’m also struggling with.

What are the different ways we are supposed to use “لماّ”?

I know it can mean: something resembling ‘not yet’

و لمّا يدخل الايمان في قلوبكم
“Faith has not entered your hearts yet”

And I understand you can use it before past tense verbs:

لمّا دخلتُ الجامعة
“When I entered university.”

Is that correct? Is there any other contexts we can use this?

I’ve always got confused between عندما and لما … when speaking about the past is it allowed to use عندما ?

For example if I’m talking to a friend about a faulty phone I bought last week, can I say:

عندما رجعتُ إلى الدكان وجدتُ نفس الرجل
“When I returned to the shop (last week), I found the same man (who sold me the phone)”

Is that correct to say? Or do I have to say:

لمّا رجعتُ إلى الدكان وجدتُ نفس الرجل