Arabic Verb Forms

Arabic Verb Forms [Imperfective
Moods]Posted by Ibnulyemen ‫ ِابْنُ ال َي َمن‬ on Jun 15, 2017

in Grammar, Vocabulary
In most languages, mood is a grammatical and/or semantic,

i.e. meaning-related, term that is tied to verbs. It is a change
in the form of the verb that indicates a contrast of some sort.
For instance, the sentence “if he were you, he would buy that
car’ in English is in the subjective mood; that is, using ‘were’
instead of ‘was’ indicates that the sentence is unreal, i.e.
hypothetical. Generally, mood in Arabic pertains to the
imperfective form ‫ارع‬ ِ ‫ض‬
َ ‫الف ِْعل ال ُم‬.
Unlike the perfective form, the imperfective form ‫ارع‬ ِ ‫ض‬

َ ‫الف ِْعل ُ ال ُم‬ does
not refer to a specific tense. That is, it may express an event in the
past, present, or future. For this reason, it has three types of
mood: indicative, subjunctive, and jussive. So, how can we
recognize these moods?
Singular imperfective forms:
With singular imperfective forms, mood is recognized from the
diacritical marks assigned to the end of verbs. How? If the verb is
assigned dhammah ‫ض َّمة‬, َ it is in the indicative mood; if it is
assigned fatHah ‫ َف ْت َحة‬, it is in the subjective mood; and if it is
assigned sukoon ‫س ُكون‬ ُ or loses the weak letter, it is in
the jussive mood, as in:
َ ‫أَ ْح َم ُد إِ َلى‬ ‫َب‬
َ َّ ‫الجام َِع ِة ُكل‬
‫س ْبت‬ ُ ‫ َي ْذه‬. ‘Ahmed goes to the university every
Saturday.’—indicative
‫الس ْبت‬ َ ‫أَ ْح َم ُد إِ َلى‬ ‫َب‬
َّ ‫الجام َِع ِة ه ََذا‬ َ ‫ َي ْذه‬ ْ‫ َلن‬. ‘Ahmed will not go to the university this
Saturday.’—subjunctive
َّ ‫الجام َِعة ه ََذا‬

‫الس ْبت‬ ْ ‫ َت ْذه‬ ‫ال‬. ‘oh Ahmed, don’t go to the university this
َ ‫إِ َلى‬ ‫َب‬
Saturday.’—jussive
‫ َم ِر ْيض‬ ‫إِ َّن َك‬ ْ‫ال َتقُل‬. ‘don’t say that you are sick.’—jussive (ْ‫ال َتقُل‬ instead
of ْ‫ال َتقُ ْول‬, i.e. weak letter ‫ و‬is dropped).
Dual and plural imperfective forms:
In dual and plural imperfective forms, mood is recognized from the
retention or deletion of the ‫ن‬ at the end of verbs. That is, if the ‫ن‬ is
retained, the verbs are in the indicative mood, while the deletion of
the ‫ن‬ means that the verbs are either in
the subjective or jussive mood, as in:
َ ‫إِ َلى‬ ‫ َي ْذ َه َبان‬ ‫الطالِ َبان‬

َ َّ ‫الجام َِع ِة ُكل‬
‫س ْبت‬ َّ . ‘the two students go to the university
every Saturday’—indicative
َ ‫إِ َلى‬ ‫ َي ْذ َه ُبون‬ ‫الب‬

َ َّ ‫الجام َِعة ُكل‬
‫س ْبت‬ ُ ‫ال ٌّط‬. ‘the students go to the university every
Saturday’—indicative

‫الس ْبت‬ َ ‫إِ َلى‬ ‫ َي ْذ َه َبا‬ ْ‫الطالِ َبان َلن‬
َّ . ‘the two students won’t go to the
university this Saturday.’—subjunctive.

‫الس ْبت‬ َ ‫إِ َلى‬ ‫ َي ْذ َه ُبوا‬ ْ‫الب َلن‬
ُ ‫ال ٌّط‬. ‘the students won’t go the university
this Saturday.’—subjunctive

‫الس ْبت‬ َ ‫إِ َلى‬ ‫ َت ْذ َه َبا‬ ‫ال‬. ‘you both, don’t go to the university this

‫الس ْبت‬ َ ‫إِ َلى‬ ‫ َت ْذ َه ُبوا‬ ‫ال‬. ‘you all, don’t go to the university this
َ ‫إِ َّن ُكما َم ِر‬ ‫ َتقُ ْواَل‬ ‫ال‬. ‘you both, don’t say that you are sick.’—
‫يضان‬
jussive (weak letter is not dropped due to change in internal
diacritics of the verb).
‫إِ َّن ُكم أَ ْم َراض‬ ‫ َتقُ ْولوا‬ ‫ال‬. ‘you all, don’t say that you are sick.’—
jussive (again, weak letter is retained owing to internal diacritics of
the verb).
So, what is the significance mood?
Semantically, i.e. with respect to the meaning, indicative means that
the action takes place in the present, i.e. at the time of speaking,
while subjunctive and jussive mean that the action will take place in
the future.
What if the verb is not assigned final diacritical marks as oftentimes
the case in modern written and spoken Arabic?
If verbs have no final diacritical marks, we resort to structural hints.
If a verb is not preceded by subjunctive or jussive particles (or
certain nouns in case of jussive), it is in the indicative mood. If it is
preceded by one, it is in the subjective or jussive mood.
What are the subjunctive particles?
The most commonly used in Modern Arabic are:
 ْ‫أَن‬ ‘to’—e.g.’ ‫أَ َت َز َّو َج‬ ْ‫أ ُ ِر ْي ُد أَن‬ ‘I want to get married.’

 ْ‫ َلن‬ ‘will not’—e.g. ‫يخ َب ْعدَ ال َي ْوم‬ َ ‫الب ِّط‬
ِ َ ‫ َيأ ُكل‬ ْ‫ َلن‬. ‘he will not east
watermelon from today on.’
 ‫ َك ْي‬ (or ‫‘ )لِ َك ْي‬to, in order to’—e.g. ‫افر‬ َ ‫س‬ َ ُ ‫أ‬ ‫ض ال ِّنقُود َك ْي‬ َ ‫أَدْ ِخ ُر َب ْع‬. ‘I save
some money in order to travel.’
 ِ‫لـ‬ ‘to, in order to’—e.g. ‫ َو ْب ًرا‬ َ‫ص َطاد‬ ْ ُ ‫أل‬ ‫الج َب ِل‬
َ ‫َب إِ َلى‬ ُ ‫أَ ْذه‬. ‘I go to the
mountain to hunt a hyrax.’
 ‫ح َّتى‬ ‘until,
َ so that, in order to’—e.g. ‫الوا ِجب‬ َ َ ‫أ ُ ْك ِمل‬ ‫ َلنْ أَ َنا َم َح َّتى‬. ‘I won’t
sleep until I finish the homework.’
ْ َ‫أ‬ ,‫ساف َِر‬
The verbs َ‫ص َطاد‬ َ ٌ ‫أ‬ ,َ ‫ َيأ ُكل‬ ,‫أَ َت َز َّو َج‬, and َ ‫أ ُ ْك ِمل‬ are in
the subjunctive mood, hence the actions they represent will occur in
the future.
What are the jussive particles?
The most commonly used jussive particles (that has future meaning)
in Modern Arabic are:
 ‫ال‬ ‘don’t’—e.g. ‫ار ٌد ِجدً ا‬ ِ ‫فالط ْقس َب‬ َّ ‫ ِبال َق َطار‬ ‫سا َف ْر‬ َ ‫ ُت‬ ‫ال‬. ‘don’t travel by train as
it (the weather) is very cold.’
 ْ‫إِن‬ ‘if’—e.g. ‫ َت ْن َجح‬ ‫س‬ ْ ‫إِنْ َتدْ ُر‬. ‘if you study, you may pass.’
 ‫إِ َذا‬ ‘if’—e.g. ‫ َت ْن َج ْح‬ ‫إِ َذا َتدْ ُرس‬. ‘if you study, you will pass.’
 ْ‫ َمن‬ ‘whoever’—e.g. ‫ َي ْن َج ْح‬ ‫ َمنْ َيدْ ُرس‬. ‘whoever studies, he will pass.’
 ‫ َم ْهما‬ ‘whatever’—e.g. ْ‫شل‬ َ ‫ َت ْف‬ ْ‫ َم ْه َما َت ْع َمل‬. ‘whatever you do, you will
lose.’
 ‫ح ْي ُثما‬ ‘wherever’—e.g.
َ ‫أَ ْجلِس‬ ‫ِس‬ ْ ‫ َح ْي ُثما َت ْجل‬. ‘wherever you sit, I will sit.
 ‫ َم َتى‬ or ‫ َم َتى ما‬ ‘when, whenever’—e.g. ‫َم َتى ما‬
‫ َم ْعك‬ ‫ساف ِْر‬َ ُ ‫أ‬ ‫ساف ِْر‬
َ ‫ ُت‬. ‘whenever you travel, I travel with you.’
What is the difference between ْ‫إِن‬ and ‫ ?إِ َذا‬In using ْ‫إِن‬, you are not
sure if the action in the second clause, i.e. ‘passing’ in the example
above, will be fulfilled, whereas ‫إِذا‬ indicates that the action will be
fulfilled.
The second verbs in each of the clauses above are in
the jussive mood which means that their respective actions will take
place in the future.
To recap, indicative mood signifies a present action. Subjunctive
mood and jussive mood, on the other hand, denote a future action.
In Modern Arabic dialects, the mood is a bit different and more
complex. This will be explained in the next post.

Arabic Verb Forms

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Arabic Verb Forms [Imperfective

Moods]Posted by Ibnulyemen ‫ ِابْنُ ال َي َمن‬ on Jun 15, 2017

In most languages, mood is a grammatical and/or semantic,

Unlike the perfective form, the imperfective form ‫ارع‬ ِ ‫ض‬

َّ ‫الجام َِعة ه ََذا‬

َ ‫إِ َلى‬ ‫ َي ْذ َه َبان‬ ‫الطالِ َبان‬

َ ‫إِ َلى‬ ‫ َي ْذ َه ُبون‬ ‫الب‬

َّ ‫الجام َِعة ه ََذا‬

َّ ‫الجام َِعة ه ََذا‬

َّ ‫الجام َِعة ه ََذا‬

َّ ‫الجام َِعة ه ََذا‬

 ْ‫أَن‬ ‘to’—e.g.’ ‫أَ َت َز َّو َج‬ ْ‫أ ُ ِر ْي ُد أَن‬ ‘I want to get married.’

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