Arabic Verb Conjugation

How do you Conjugate Verbs in Arabic?

This tutorial deals with basic verbs in the different tenses. We discuss past, present, future, imperative or command, prohibition, and variations on these tenses. We also discuss how to conjugate Arabic verbs in each of these.

In Arabic, verb conjugation is the process of how verbs are derived from a set of base letters (usually 3) and how they change in the different tenses to reflect gender, plurality, voice, and other aspects.

For a more detailed picture of where this tutorial fits into Arabic morphology at Learn Arabic Online and an introduction to basic concepts, consult the introduction to this section entitled Introduction to Arabic Morphology.

A Cautionary Note on Arabic Verb Conjugation

It is not appropriate for a beginner to study this topic on Arabic verb conjugation, or any topic for that matter, exclusively from a tutorial. A student requires live instruction, real-time answers to questions, and practice with feedback. Therefore, one cannot read this tutorial and expect to have a complete and vivid understanding of the material. These readings are complements to extraordinary and time-tested Arabic courses taught by esteemed scholars.

 

The Conjugation Table

When conjugating verbs in Arabic, what should be kept in mind are the following 3 aspects of the subject (i.e. the one doing the verb):

· person (third, second, and first): The third person is used when you are talking about the subject and the subject is not present, the second person is used when you are addressing the subject, and the first person is used when you yourself are the subject.

· gender (masculine and feminine)

· plurality (singular, dual, and plural)

Arabic uses all three persons and it uses the masculine and feminine genders with no neutral. Furthermore, plurality in Arabic is of three types: singular, dual, and plural. Dual indicates on two entities and plural indicates on three or more entities.

Multiplying 3 persons with 2 genders with 3 pluralities yields 18 conjugations. So we would expect Arabic conjugation tables to look something like the following.

Conjugation			English Pronoun
3rd person	Masculine	Singular	He
		Dual	They (2 male)
		Plural	They (3+ male)
	Feminine	Singular	She
		Dual	They (2 female)
		Plural	They (3+ female)
2nd person	Masculine	Singular	You (1 male)
		Dual	You (2 male)
		Plural	You (3+ male)
	Feminine	Singular	You (1 female)
		Dual	You (2 female)
		Plural	You (3 female)
1st person	Masculine	Singular	I (1 male)
		Dual	We (2 male)
		Plural	We (3+ male)
	Feminine	Singular	I (1 female)
		Dual	We (2 female)
		Plural	We (3+ female)

However, not all of the conjugations for the first person exist. The actual template for Arabic conjugation tables is as given below.

Conjugation			English Pronoun
3rd person	Masculine	Singular	He
		Dual	They (2 male)
		Plural	They (3+ male)
	Feminine	Singular	She
		Dual	They (2 female)
		Plural	They (3+ female)
2nd person	Masculine	Singular	You (1 male)
		Dual	You (2 male)
		Plural	You (3+ male)
	Feminine	Singular	You (1 female)
		Dual	You (2 female)
		Plural	You (3 female)
1st person	Masculine & Feminine	Singular	I
		Plural	We

The Canonical Verb Within Arabic Verb Conjugation

When we start talking about how verbs look and how they change, we’re going to need an actual example to work with. Since the beginning of Arabic grammar over 14 centuries ago, the root letters ف، ع، ل have been used for this purpose.

So if we want to indicate, for example, that the letters ن، ص، ر should have a فتحة on all three letters and there should be an aleph between the first and second letter, we simply say that the word needs to be on the pattern فَاعَلَ. The canonical letters are replaced with the letters we’re working with and we get نَاصَرَ.

The Past Tense Verb

The first conjugation of the past tense verb is achieved by placing a given set of base letters on the pattern فَعَلَ, فَعِلَ, or فَعُلَ. For the duration of this tutorial, we will not concern ourselves with these three variations, how they work, and why they exist; that will be discussed in a later tutorial. For now, we assume that taking a set of base letters and placing them on the pattern فَعَلَ will give us the first conjugation of the verb in the past tense.

Let’s use the root letters ن، ص، ر which afford the meaning of “helping”. The word نَصَرَ, then, means “he helped”.

Conjugation			ن، ص، ر
3rd person	Masculine	Singular	نَصَرَ (he helped)

The rest of the conjugations are achieved by adding suffices to this most basic form. Read the table below, studying the endings in each conjugation.

Conjugation			Conjugation and Translation
3rd person	Masculine	Singular	نَصَرَ (he helped)
		Dual	نَصَرَا (they helped)
		Plural	نَصَرُوْا (they helped)
	Feminine	Singular	نَصَرَتْ (she helped)
		Dual	نَصَرَتَا (they helped)
		Plural	نَصَرْنَ (they helped)
2nd person	Masculine	Singular	نَصَرْتَ (you helped)
		Dual	نَصَرْتُمَا (you helped)
		Plural	نَصَرْتُمْ (you helped)
	Feminine	Singular	نَصَرْتِ (you helped)
		Dual	نَصَرْتُمَا (you helped)
		Plural	نَصَرْتُنَّ (you helped)
1st person	Masculine & Feminine	Singular	نَصَرْتُ (I helped)
		Plural	نَصَرْنَا (we helped)

Variation in the past tense verb happens in three aspects:

· voice (active and passive): when a verb is active, its subject is mentioned; when it is passive, its object takes the place of its subject. Compare, for example, “I helped” and “I was helped”. In the first instance “I” is the subject while in the second “I” is the object and the subject hasn’t been mentioned

· negation (affirmative and negative)

· distance (simple past, present perfect, past perfect): simple past is the past tense without any distance indicated, as in “I helped”; present perfect adds “has/have” to give “I have helped”; and past perfect adds “had” to give “I had helped”

Multiplying 2 voices with 2 parities of negation with 3 levels in distance, we get 12 conjugation tables. In reality, however, the active and passive tables for the negative present perfect tense are not used. In other words, we do not use “I have not helped” nor “I have not been helped”; these meanings are conveyed using other methods.

Active & Passive

An active past tense verb is rendered passive by using the following algorithm.

1. the last letter is left alone

2. the second last letter is given a كسرة

3. all other vowels are changed to ضمة

So نَصَرَ, for example, would become نُصِرَ. The resulting verb is conjugated in the exact same way as studied above. A small point to note here is that, in the beginning of this tutorial, mention was made of the fact that the past tense verb may be on one of three patterns. It is important to note that, despite which of those three a verb will use, the passive will always be constructed in the same way; the passive verbs from all three of those patterns look exactly the same.

Conjugation			Passive Conjugations
3rd person	Masculine	Singular	نُصِرَ (he was helped)
		Dual	نُصِرَا (they were helped)
		Plural	نُصِرُوْا (they were helped)
	Feminine	Singular	نُصِرَتْ (she was helped)
		Dual	نُصِرَتَا (they were helped)
		Plural	نُصِرْنَ (they were helped)
2nd person	Masculine	Singular	نُصِرْتَ (you were helped)
		Dual	نُصِرْتُمَا (you were helped)
		Plural	نُصِرْتُمْ (you were helped)
	Feminine	Singular	نُصِرْتِ (you were helped)
		Dual	نُصِرْتُمَا (you were helped)
		Plural	نُصِرْتُنَّ (you were helped)
1st person	Masculine & Feminine	Singular	نُصِرْتُ (I was helped)
		Plural	نُصِرْنَا (we were helped)

Affirmative & Negative

An affirmative past tense verb is negated simply by prefixing it with the particle ما.

Simple Past, Present Perfect & Past Perfect

A simple past tense verb is rendered into the present perfect tense by prefixing it with the particle قَدْ.

Similarly, rendering a verb into the past perfect tense is done by prefixing it with the verb كَانَ. There is an important point to note here. قد, like ما, is simply a particle and it always looks the same. كان, however, is a verb and it must therefore be conjugated alongside the main verb. كان is an advanced verb form and so its conjugation must simply be memorized for the time being.

 

The Imperfect Verb

The past tense verb is referred to as the perfect verb because the action has already taken place. The imperfect verb, on the other hand, is called such because the action has not yet completed. This tense alone is indicative of the present tense, the present continuous, and the future tense. Context will determine which of the three is intended.

Let’s take the base letters س، م، ع, which afford the sense of “hearing”. The imperfect verb is constructed by placing these letters on the pattern يَفْعَلُ; we get يَسْمَعُ. This verb can mean “he is hearing”, “he hears”, and “he will hear”.

Just as with the past tense verb, this pattern also has three variations. The pattern can be يَفْعَلُ, يَفْعِلُ, or يَفْعُلُ. For our purposes, we will simply work with يَفْعَلُ and ignore the other variations.

The conjugation table is given below. Notice that the imperfect verb has both a prefix and a suffix. The prefix is one of ي, ت, أ, or ن. Study the table below.

Conjugation			Conjugation and Translation
3rd person	Masculine	Singular	يَسْمَعُ (he hears)
		Dual	يَسْمَعَانِ (they hear)
		Plural	يَسْمَعُوْنَ (they hear)
	Feminine	Singular	تَسْمَعُ (she hears)
		Dual	تَسْمَعَانِ (they hear)
		Plural	يَسْمَعْنَ (they hear)
2nd person	Masculine	Singular	تَسْمَعُ (you hear)
		Dual	تَسْمَعَانِ (you hear)
		Plural	تَسْمَعُوْنَ (you hear)
	Feminine	Singular	تَسْمَعِيْنَ (you hear)
		Dual	تَسْمَعَانِ (you hear)
		Plural	تَسْمَعْنَ (you hear)
1st person	Masculine & Feminine	Singular	أَسْمَعُ (I hear)
		Plural	نَسْمَعُ (we hear)

There are a plethora of variations that can occur for the imperfect verb. Some of these include the following.

· voice (active and passive): compare “I am hearing”, “I hear”, and “I will hear” with “I am being heard”, “I am heard”, and “I will be heard”

· negation (positive and negative): compare “I am hearing”, “I hear”, and “I will hear” with “I am not hearing”, “I do not hear”, and “I will not hear”

· limiting to the future (near future and distant future): the only meaning conveyed by the verb now is “I will hear”, or “I will soon hear” in the case of near future

· emphatically negating the future: “I will never hear”

· emphatically negating the past: “I have never heard”

· forming the past continuous: “I used to hear”

· emphasizing the verb: “I definitely hear” or “I will definitely hear”

Appropriately multiplying the above sets of tables gives us a total of 16 conjugation tables.

Active & Passive

The active verb is rendered passive by applying the following algorithm.

· The prefix of the imperfect verb will be given a ضمة

· the very last letter will be left as is

· all the letters in between that have vowels will have their vowels changed to a فتحة

So يَسْمَعُ, for example, will become يُسْمَعُ. And this algorithm applies despite the variation in the middle letter that was mentioned in the beginning of this tutorial.

Conjugation			Conjugation and Translation
3rd person	Masculine	Singular	يُسْمَعُ (he is heard)
		Dual	يُسْمَعَانِ (they are heard)
		Plural	يُسْمَعُوْنَ (they are heard)
	Feminine	Singular	تُسْمَعُ (she is heard)
		Dual	تُسْمَعَانِ (they are heard)
		Plural	يُسْمَعْنَ (they are heard)
2nd person	Masculine	Singular	تُسْمَعُ (you are heard)
		Dual	تُسْمَعَانِ (you are heard)
		Plural	تُسْمَعُوْنَ (you are heard)
	Feminine	Singular	تُسْمَعِيْنَ (you are heard)
		Dual	تُسْمَعَانِ (you are heard)
		Plural	تُسْمَعْنَ (you are heard)
1st person	Masculine & Feminine	Singular	أُسْمَعُ (I am heard)
		Plural	نُسْمَعُ (we are heard)

Other Variations

This section briefly describes the method of forming the other variations without going into too much detail and without giving the resulting tables. The reader is highly encouraged to learn the Arabic language through courses and use this tutorial only as a supplement.

Both the active and passive tables are negated by simply adding the particle لا to the beginning of each verb. This results in an additional 2 tables for a total of 4.

The imperfect verb’s meaning can be limited to the future tense. Adding the prefix سـ (which is a particle that joins onto the verb) will limit the meaning to the near future, giving the meaning “I will soon hear”, and adding the particle سَوْفَ before the verb limits it to the distant future, giving the meaning “I will hear”. These particles are prefixed to both the active and passive verb, but they are not negated. This results in an additional 4 tables.

Furthermore, the imperfect verb can be used to emphatically negate the future. This is achieved by prefixing the active and passive verbs with the particle لَنْ. This results in an additional 2 tables. This particle actually has an effect on the verb in the following manner.

· The conjugations without a نون at the end (there are 5 of them) have a ضمة on their final letter. This ضمة will change to a فتحة.

· All the conjugations with a نون at the end except conjugations 6 and 12 (there are 7 of them) will lose their نون

· Conjugations 6 and 12 will remain as they are

Moreover, the imperfect verb can also be used to negate the past tense emphatically. This is achieved by adding the particle لَمْ before the active and passive verbs. This gives an additional 2 tables. Now لم also affects the verb, just as لن did, in the following manner.

· The conjugations without a نون at the end (there are 5 of them) have a ضمة on their final letter. This ضمة will change to a سكون.

· All the conjugations with a نون at the end except conjugations 6 and 12 (there are 7 of them) will lose their نون

· Conjugations 6 and 12 will remain as they are

Moving forward, the imperfect verb can be used to create the past continuous verb. This is achieved by bringing the verb كان (in its past tense form) before the active and passive imperfect verbs. Remember that, since كان is a verb, it will be conjugated alongside the main verb. This is actually tricky since كان will be conjugated in the perfect tense whereas the main verb will be conjugated in the imperfect. And both of these tables can be prefixed with ما to achieve the negative versions. This gives us an additional 4 tables.

Refer to the first conjugation of each table given below. Notice that the verb كان is conjugated in the active voice for both the active and passive tables.

Finally, the imperfect verb can be emphasized in one of two ways. Both of these forms of emphasis are actually used most commonly to emphasize the future tense. The first type of emphasis is achieved in the following manner.

· Prefix the verb with the particle لَـ

· There are 5 conjugations without a نون at their end. These have a ضمة on their last letter; change that ضمة to a فتحة. Now add the suffix ـنَّ

· There are 4 dual conjugations. Remove their نون suffix and replace it with the suffix ـنِّ

· For conjugations 3, 9, and 10, remove their نون suffix as well as the long vowel before it. Now add the suffix ـنَّ

· For conjugations 6 and 12, simply add the suffix ـَانِّ

This is done for both the active and passive tables, giving us an additional 2 tables.

Similar is the case with the other form of emphasis. The difference here is that the conjugations which have an aleph before the نّ will not be present, and the suffix is a نون ساكنة (نْ). These also exist for the active and passive voices, giving us 2 additional tables.

 

The Imperative Verb

The imperative verb, also called the command verb, is constructed from the imperfect conjugations. The table is divided into two sections, each with its own method of construction. The first is the active second person conjugations and the other is the third and first person conjugations as well as all the passives.

The method of constructing the first set is as follows.

· Start with the imperfect and remove the prefix. E.g. تَسْمَعُ becomes سْمَعُ

· Add the eliding Hamza. The vowel on this Hamza will be determined as follows

o   If the second base letter has a ضمة, the Hamza will be given a ضمة

o   If the second base letter has either of the other two vowels, the Hamza will be given a كسرة. So in our example, we have اِسْمَعُ

· The same procedure will be carried out to the end of the new verb as was carried out for the tables with لم. E.g. our example verb will become اِسْمَعْ

The method of constructing the other conjugations is as follows.

· Prefix the conjugations with لِـ. This لام may have a سكون in certain situations

· This لـ will do to the verb what لم did to it

Now the imperative can be emphasized using the same two methods of emphasis as in the imperfect verb. The method of construction is the same, except that the لَـ prefix is not added, and the meaning should be obvious. To gain a deep understanding of this, to learn it correctly and see and practice the conjugation tables, one is highly encouraged to learn Arabic through a course and use this tutorial only as a study resource.

The Prohibitive Verb

The meaning of the prohibitive verb is opposite that of the imperative verb. Where the imperative would mean “listen”, the prohibitive means “don’t listen.” And the other conjugations are similar.

The method of constructing this verb is quite simple; again, it too is constructed from the imperfect. The imperfect conjugations are prefixed with the particle لا, and the ending of the verb is the same as the ending given by لم.

Like the imperative, the prohibition can also be emphasized using the two methods of emphasis explained earlier.

The prohibitive verbs mark the end of simple verb conjugation in the language. This tutorial has been a quick overview and introduction. To gain true understanding, one is requested to look to Arabic language courses. And for practice, readers are encouraged to visit the Practice Verbs page.

Proceed to the next lesson: Derived Nouns

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