Lesson 28الدَّرْسُ الثَّامِنُ وَالْعِشْرُونَ

Conjugation of Verbs in Arabic: Past, Present and Imperative - تَصْرِيف الْفِعْلِ: الْمَاضِي وَالْمُضَارِعُ وَالأَمْرُ

Differences between Verbs, Nouns and Particles

  • We are still in lesson twenty eight of our free Arabic language course. This Arabic course with images and audios will help you learn Arabic.
  • The Arabic sentence is composed of a number of types of words. A word in Arabic can be a noun, a verb, or a particle. Key parts of speech in Arabic:
  • Below are some examples of the different types of words in Arabic:

الاسْمُ

Noun

الْفِعْلُ

Verb

الْحَرْفُ

Particle

مُحَمَّدٌ

Muhammad

يَكْتُبُ

(he wrote) – yaktubu

فِي

(in) – fi

تِلْمِيذٌ

Pupil

يَجْلِسُ

(he sat) – yaĵlisu

عَلَى

(on) – ξala

A-  Noun الاسْمُ:

  • We have already studied Arabic nouns in previous lessons and learnt some of their signs, as follows:

Picture

Translation

الْجُمْلَةُ

Sentence

الْعَلامَةُ

Sign

الاسْمُ

Noun

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Muhammad is generous

مُحَمَّدٌ كَرِيمٌ

Muhammadu-n karimu-n

التَّنْوِينُ

The tanwīn

مُحَمَّدٌ

Muhammadu-n

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The food is delicious

الطَّعَامُ لَذِيذٌ

Al- ŧaξāmu
ladhīdhu-n

اتِّصَالُ الْكَلِمَةِ بِـ(ال)

The word prefixed with definite article (al-)

الطَّعَامُ
Aŧ-ŧaξāmu

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Fatima is generous

فَاطِمَةُ كَرِيمَةٌ

Fāŧimat-u karīma-tun

التَّاءُ الْمَرْبُوطَةُ تَكُونُ فِي الاسْمِ الْمُؤَنَّثِ

The affixed -ta' in the feminine noun

فَاطِمَةُ

Fāŧimatu

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Success lies in study

النَّجَاحُ فِي الْمُذَاكَرَةِ

Al-Naĵāħu fil-Mudhākara-ti

مَجِيء حَرْفِ الْجَرِّ قَبْلَهَا
Preceded by a preposition

الْمُذَاكَرَةِ

Al-Mudhākara-ti

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I had dinner

تَنَاوَلْتُ طَعَامَ العَشَاءِ
Tanāwaltu taξāma al-ξAshā’i

بِسَبَبِ الإِضَافَةِ

Due to annexation

الْعَشَاءِ

Al-ξashā’i

  • In the first example, the word (Muhammad مُحَمَّدٌ) is a proper noun (i.e. a name of a person or thing) and the sign on its final letter is the tanwīn of đammah (–ٌ) on the final letter of the word.
  • In the second example, the noun is the word (aŧ-ŧaξām الطَّعَامُ) and the sign of this is the prefix (al-) before the noun.
  • In the third example, the noun is the word (Faŧimah (فَاطِمَةُ and its sign is the affixed (ة) ta' marbūŧah تَاءٌ مَرْبُوطَةٌ that is attached to the feminine noun.
  • In the fourth example, the noun is (al-mudhākara الْمُذَاكَرَةِ) and the sign here is –in addition to the prefixed (al-) it is in the genitive case (Maĵrūr مَجْرُورٌ) as it is preceded by the preposition (fi فِي) – hence the last letter takes a Kasrah.
  • In the fifth example, the noun is the word (al-ξashā’ الْعَشَاءِ) and the sign of the noun here is that it is also in the genitive case (Maĵrūr). It is Maĵrūr due to the annexation as the genitive has also to do with nouns only.

B-  Verb الْفِعْلُ:

  • Verbs have their own signs that distinguish them from nouns. This is what we are going to discuss in this lesson. See the following examples:

نَوْعُ الْفَاعِلِ

Type of doer

الضَّمِيرُ

Pronoun

نَوْعُ الْفِعْلِ

Type of verb

مُضَارِعٌ

Present

مَاضٍ

Past

أَمْرٌ

Imperative

singular

أنَا

ana (I)

أَكْتُبُ

aktubu ( I  write)

كَتَبْت ُ

katabtu ( I  wrote)

 

أَنْتَ

anta (you – masculine)

تَكْتُبُ

taktubu (you write)

كَتَبْتَ

katabta (you wrote)

اُكْتُبْ

uktub (write)

أنْتِ

anti (you – feminine)

تَكْتُبِينَ

taktubīna (you write)

كَتَبْتِ

katabti (you wrote)

اُكْتُبِي

uktubi (write)

هُوَ

huwa (he)

يَكْتُبُ

yaktubu (he writes)

كَتَبَ

kataba (he wrote)

 

هِيَ

hiya (she)

تَكْتُبُ

taktubu (she writes)

كَتَبَتْ

katabat (she wrote)

 

dual

هُمَا (الْمُذَكَّرُ)

humā (they - masculine)

يَكْتُبانِ

yaktubāni (they write)

كَتَبَا

katabā (they  wrote)

 

هُمَا (الْمُؤَنَّثُ )

humā (they – feminine)

تَكْتُبانِ

taktubāni ( they write)

كَتَبَتَا

katabata (they  wrote)

 

أَنْتُمَا (مُذَكَّرٌ)

antumā (you - masculine)

تَكْتُبانِ

taktubāni (you write)

كَتَبْتُمَا

katabtumā (you wrote)

اُكْتُبَا

uktubā (write)

أَنْتُمَا (مُؤَنَّثٌ)

antumā (you – feminine)

تَكْتُبانِ

taktubāni (you write)

كَتَبْتُمَا

katabtumā (you  wrote)

اُكْتُبَا

uktubā (write)

plural

نَحْنُ

naħnu (we)

نَكْتُبُ

naktubu (we are writing)

كَتَبْنَا

katabnā (we wrote)

 

هُمْ (الْمُذَكَّرُ)

hum (they - masculine)

يَكْتُبُونَ

yaktubūna (they are writing)

كَتَبُوا

katabū (they wrote)

 

هُنَّ (الْمُؤَنَّثُ)

hunna  (they – feminine)

يَكْتُبْنَ

yaktubna (they are writing)

كَتَبْنَ

katabna (they wrote)

 

أَنْتُمْ (الْمُذَكَّرُ)

antum  (you – feminine)

تَكْتُبُونَ

taktubūna  (you write)

كَتَبْتُمْ

katabtum (you wrote)

اُكْتُبُوا

uktubū (write)

أَنْتُنَّ (الْمُؤَنَّثُ)

antunna  (you – feminine)

تَكْتُبْنَ

taktubna  (you are writing)

كَتَبْتُنَّ

katabtunna (you wrote)

اُكْتُبْنَ

uktubna (write)

  • The verb has certain signs through which we can identify it and distinguish it from the noun.  To illustrate, verbs do not have the signs of nouns we have mentioned above – e.g.:
    • The tanwīn.
    • The prefix (al-).
    • The genitive case (being preceded by a preposition).
    • The affix (ة).
  • We already learnt that there are three types of verbs: past, present and imperative. The imperative has the same formula in English as in Arabic, which distinguishes it from the present and past forms.
  • If we look at the table above, we see what is typically called the present verb signs. All present verbs start with one of the following letters (أ، ي، ت، ن), which are called the present form letters حُرُوفُ الْمُضَارَعَةِ, that is the letters that have to do with the present verb only. A present verb cannot start with any other letters but those four ones.

جِذْرُ الْفِعْلِ

Verb radicals

الْفِعْلُ

Verb in present tense

حُرُوفُ الْمُضَارَعَةِ

Present verb letters

Pronoun

كَتَبَ

kataba (to write)

نَكْتُبُ

naktubu (we are writing)

نَ

nūn

نَحْنُ

We

كَتَبَ

kataba (to write)

يَكتبون

yaktubūna (they are writing)

يَـ

ya'

هُمْ

they

كَتَبَ

kataba (to write)

أَكْتُبُ

aktubu (I am writing)

أَ
hamza

أَنَا

I

كَتَبَ

kataba (to write)

تَكْتُبُون

taktubūna (you write)

تَ

Ta’

أَنْتُمْ

You

كَتَبَ

kataba (to write)

يَكْتُبان

yaktubāni (they write)

يـَ

ya

هُمَا

They (dual)

i.e. two of them (masculine)

  • The present verb is always prefixed with the present form letter حَرْفُ الْمُضَارَعَةِ. It is not necessary to be affixed with a letter. In case it is affixed with letters like -āni as in (antumā taktubāni  أنتما تَكْتُبانِ), -ūna as in(antum taktubūna أنتُم تكْتُبونَ) and -īna as in (anti taktubīna أنتِ تَكْتُبِينَ), these letters indicate either the dual, plural or feminine.
  • If we have another look at the above table in the previous section – i.e. showing present and past tense verbs, we will see clearly the past tense verb signs, because all past verbs are suffixed and not prefixed with letters – i.e. the letter to indicate the pronoun comes after the verb.  This pronoun is the doer (person performing the action) in the verbal sentence, as in the following examples:

الْفِعْلُ

Verb

الضَّمِيرُ

Pronoun

كَتَبْتُ

katabtu (I wrote)

كَتَبَ +أنا

kataba + ana (I)

كَتَبْتَ

katabta (you wrote)

كَتَبَ + أنتَ

kataba + anta (you)

كَتَبْتِ

 katabti (you wrote)

كَتَبَ + أنتِ

kataba + anti (you)

كَتَبْنَا

katabnā (We wrote)

كَتَبَ + نَحْنُ

kataba + naħnu (we)

كَتَبَ

katabta (He wrote)

كَتَبَ + هُوَ

kataba + huwa (he)

كَتَبَتْ

katabat (She wrote)

كَتَبَ + هِيَ

kataba + Hiya (she)

C-  Particle الْحَرْفُ:

  • The third part of speech in Arabic mentioned above is the particle. The meaning of a particle is often understood in the context of the sentence and words before and after the particle. The sign of the particle is that it does not accept the signs of nouns or verbs. Every Arabic word that does not have the signs of either nouns or verbs is a particle.  Prepositions are examples of particles. There are many prepositions in Arabic. Some examples of particle are below:

Particle - Transliteration

Particle -Arabic

Type (English)

Type (Arabic)

min, ilā, fī

مِنْ، إلَى، فِي

Prepositions

حُرُوفُ جَرٍّ

wa, fa- aw, thumma

وَ، فَ، أَوْ، ثُمَّ

Conjunctions

حُرُوفُ الْعَطْفِ

hal, a-

هَلْ، أَ

Interrogative particles

حُرُوفُ اِسْتِفْهَامٍ

ya

يَا

vocative particle

حَرْفُ نِدَاءٍ