Lesson 28 – الدَّرْسُ الثَّامِنُ وَالْعِشْرُونَ

Types of Verbs: Past, Present and Imperative - أَنْوَاعُ الْفِعْلِ: الْمَاضِي وَالْمُضَارِعُ وَالأَمْرُ

Introduction – مُقَدِّمَةٌ

  • This is lesson twenty eight of our free Arabic language course. This Arabic course with images and audios will help you learn Arabic.
  • In this lesson we will discuss the main parts of speech in the Arabic language:
  • We will also learn some signs عَلامَاتٌ through which we can identify nouns, verbs (past, present and imperative) and particles.  For example, in the verbs below we will be able to identify from the signs - i.e. letters - whether the verb is in past, present or imperative tense – i.e. based on the letters and pattern of the verb.

الْمَاضِي

Past

الْمُضَارِعُ

Present

الأَمْرُ

Imperative (Command)

كَتَبَ

Katabta

(he wrote)

يَكْتُبُ

Yaktubu

(he writes)

اُكْتُبْ

Uktub

(write)

بَعَثَ

Baξatha

(he sent)

يَبْعَثُ

Yabξathu

(he sends)

اِبْعَثْ

Ibξath

(send)

  • We will also discuss the types of verbs in Arabic - namely past, present and imperative form in more detail (we previously discussed this topic in lesson 4, part 12), as follows:

الْفِعْلُ

Verb

الْمَاضِي

Past

الْمُضَارِعُ

Present

الأَمْرُ

Imperative

كَتَبَ

Kataba

(to write)

كَتَبَ

Kataba

(he wrote)

تَكْتُبُ

Yaktubu

(she writes)

اُكْتُبْ

Uktub

(write!)

دَرَسَ

Darasa

(to study)

دَرَسَ

Darasa

(he studied)

يَدْرُسُ

Yadrusu

(he studies)

اُدْرُسْ

Udrus

(Study!)

نامَ

Nāma

(to sleep)

نامَ

Nāma

(he slept)

يَنَامُ

Yanāmu

(he sleeps)

نَمْ

Nam

(Sleep!)

اِسْتَيْقَظَ

Istayqađha

(to wake up)

اِسْتَيْقَظَ

Istayqađha

(he woke up)

يِسْتَيْقِظُ

Yastayqiđhu

(he wakes up)

اِسْتَيْقِظْ

Istayqiđh

(Wake up!)

  • We will also discuss the concept of radicals – i.e. the number of letters present in a verb.  The vowel of the first letter in the verb of the present tense changes based on the number of radicals of its past form.   The past form may be made up of three, four, five or six radicals, as shown in the following table – these are examples and we will go into the rules a bit later so you understand this:

عَدَدُ الْجُذُورِ فِي صِيغَةِ الْمَاضِي

Number of root letters of past form

الْمَاضِي

Past

الْمُضَارِعُ

Present

الأَمْرُ

Imperative

التَّرْجَمَةُ

Translation

Three

جَلَسَ

Ĵalasa

يَجْلِسُ

Yaĵlisu

اِجْلِسْ

Iĵlis

Sit down

Three

بَدَأَ

bada'a

يَبْدَأ

yabda'u

اِبْدَأْ

ibda'

Start

Four

أَصْلَحَ

Aŝlaħa

يُصْلِحُ

Yuŝliħu

أَصْلِحْ

Aŝliħ

Reform

Four

أَفْسَدَ

Afsada

يُفْسِدُ

Yufsidu

أَفْسِدْ

Afsid

Spoil

Five

اِقْتَرَبَ

Iqtaraba

يَقْتَرِبُ Yaqtaribu

اِقْتَرِبْ

iqtarib

Approach

Five

اِبْتَعَدَ

Ibtaξada

يَبْتَعِدُ

Yabtaξidu

اِبْتَعِدْ

Ibtaξid

Go away

Six

اِسْتَخْرَجَ

Istakhraĵa

يَسْتَخْرِجُ

Yastakhriĵu

اِسْتَخْرِجْ

Istakhriĵ

Extract

Six

اِسْتَعْلَمَ

Istaξlama

يَسْتَعْلِمُ

Yastaξlimu

اِسْتَعْلِمْ

Istaξlim

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