Lesson 38 – الدَّرْسُ الثَّامِنُ وَالثَّلاثُونَ

Indeclension of the present Verb – بِنَاءُ الْفِعْلِ الْمُضَارِعِ

Introduction - مُقَدِّمَةٌ

  • This is lesson thirty eight of our free Arabic language course. This Arabic course with images and audios will help you learn Arabic.
  • We learnt in Lesson 25 that the declinable words are those words whose endings are changeable according to their function/position in the sentence. Consider the following examples related to declinable words:

Function/ Grammatical position

الوَظِيفَةُ / الْمَوْقِعُ الإعْرَابيُّ

The sign of the last letter

حَرَكَةُ الحَرْفِ الأخِيرِ

Declinable word

الْكَلِمَةُ الْمُعْرَبَةُ

Sentence

الْجُمْلَةُ

English

Arabic

Doer in the nominative case

(ــــُــــ)

Dhammah

الوَلَدُ

The boy attended the lesson.

حَضَرَ الوَلَدُ الدَّرْسَ.

Direct object in the accusative case

(ــــَــــ)

Fatħah

الوَلَدَ

The mother likes (her) child.

تُحِبُّ الأُمُّ الوَلَدَ.

Genitive noun after preposition

(ـــــِـــ)

Kasrah

الوَلَدِ

The mother takes care of

(her) child.

تَعْتَنِي الأُمُّ بالوَلَدِ.

  • We also learnt in lesson 36 that the present verb is, originally (mostly), declinable, and it either comes in indicative (nominative) case, or in accusative case or in jussive case. When it comes in indicative case (rafξ) it should be, originally, signed with dhammah, while in the accusative case (Naŝb) it should be signed with fatħa, and it is signed, originally, with Sukoon, when it is in the jussive case. We also learnt the reason of each case: i.e. the verb comes in the indicative case (rafξ) when it is not preceded by any of the accusative or the jussive particles, and it comes in the accusative case (Naŝb) or jussive case (ĵazm) when it is preceded by an accusative or jussive article respectively. We have had an idea about some accusative articles (أنْ، لَنْ) and some jussive articles (لَمْ، لا النَّاهِيَة). The following revision examples may refresh what you learnt in that lesson:

Reason

السَّبَبُ

Sign

الْعَلامَةُ

Grammatical case

الحَالَةُ الإعْرَابِيَّةُ

Verb

الْفِعْلُ

Sentence

الْجُمْلَةُ

English

Arabic

There is not any accusative or jussive article preceding the verb.

Dhammah

Indicative

يَسْكُنُ

Adel lives in Egypt

عَادِلٌ يَسْكُنُ فِي مِصْرَ

The verb is preceded by the accusative article (أنْ)

Fatħah

Accusative

يَسْكُنَ

Adel will not live in Egypt

عَادِلٌ لَنْ يَسْكُنَ فِي مِصْرَ

The verb is preceded by the jussive article (لَمْ)

Sukoon

Jussive

يَسْكُنْ

Adel did not live in Egypt

عَادِلٌ لَمْ يَسْكُنْ فِي مِصْرَ

  • On the other hand, we learnt also in lesson 25 that the indeclinable words are those words coming with constant endings regardless their function/grammatical position in the sentence.
  • Consider the word (مَنْ) meaning (who or whom) in the following examples (for revision purpose):

Explanation

English

Arabic

The word (مَنْ) here is nominative subject, but it is indeclinable on Sukoon

Who is this?

مَنْ هذا؟

The word (مَنْ) here is an accusative object, but it is indeclinable on Sukoon   

Whom did you visit?

مَنْ زُرْتَ؟

The word (مَنْ) here is a genitive Mudhaaf Ilayh (annexed noun), but it is indeclinable on Sukoon   

Whose book is this?

كِتابُ مَنْ هذا؟

  • In our current lesson we will learn the cases in which the present verb is indeclinable. We have already learnt that the present verb is, originally, declinable. We have studied and practiced its three cases of declension in lesson 36. In this lesson we will learn the few cases of indeclension of the present verb, In-Shaa’-Allaah (god willing).
  • We will learn that there are only two cases in which the present verb is indeclinable.
    • The first case when it is attached to a pronoun of feminine plural, when it has a constant ending of (Sukoon) regardless its position/grammatical case. Consider the following examples:

English

Arabic

The believers treat their husbands with kindness

الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ يُعَامِلْنَ أَزْوَاجَهُنَّ مُعَامَلَةً كَرِيْمَةً

The girls play with the ball in the sporting club

الْبَنَاتُ يَلْعَبْنَ الْكُرَةَ فِي النَّادِي

The (female) doctors examine the patients

الطَّبِيبَاتُ يَفْحَصْنَ الْمَرْضَى

    • The second case in which the present verb is indeclinable, is when it is attached directly to the Noon of confirmation. In this case the present verb is indeclinable on the Fatħa on its ending, regardless it position or grammatical case.

لَيَكْتُبَنَّ الطَّالِبُ الدَّرْسَ

Indeed, the student have to write the lesson

لَيَسْتَيْقِظَنَّ الطَّالِبُ مُبَكِّرًا

Indeed, the student have to get up early

لَيَسْمَعَنَّ الولَدُ نَصِيحَةَ أَبِيهِ

Indeed, the child have to follow (listen) the advice of his father