Basic Arabic Grammar for Beginners

8/8/2019 Basic Arabic Grammar for Beginners

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THE VERB

The Perfect tense

The Perfect is declined by adding to the stem the following endings:

PLURAL DUAL SINGULAR

In the simple triliteral verb, the first and third root consonants (or radicals) are vowelled with fatha; but

the second radical may be vowelled with fatha, kasra, or dwamma; e.g:

(to write) (to drink) (to become big or great)

Conjugation of verb (to write)

PLURAL DUAL SINGULAR


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Conjugation of verb (to drink)

Conjugation of verb (to become big ,old)

Agreement of the verb with its subject

The normal order in an Arabic verbal sentence is verb - subject - direct object - adverbial and other

matter. Even if the subject is not mentioned separately, it is already implicit in the verb as a pronoun.

For example, we may say (Zad arrived). Here Zad is the subject. But if we merely say

, this is still a complete sentence, meaning he arrived.

(The father beat his son at once)

Adverbial obj. subj. Verb


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When the verb in the 3rd person comes before the subject it is always in the singular.

(the teacher wrote)

(the two teachers wrote)

(the teachers (masc) wrote)

The verb preceding its subject, however, will agree with it in gender

(the boy grew)

(the girl grew)

(the pupils (fem) grew)

(the two girls grew)

NOTE: the kasra added to is due to the hamzatul wasl which follows.

For this purpose, broken plurals are considered to be feminine, unless they refer to male human beings.

E.g (the stars appeared) but (the men appeared). However, in classical

Arabic, a feminine verb will often be found with a broken plural, even referring to male human beings

(the men appeared)

Note that it is the actual gender which counts, not the form of the word. Thus (caliph) , is masculine,though it has a feminine ending.

(the caliph sat down)

When the verb follows the subject it agrees with in number and gender

(the boys opened the door)

(the girls entered)

When the sentence begins with averb

it is known as averbal sentence

e.g (the man went out). But if it does not begin with a verb it is called a nominal sentence

whether or not a verb is found in the sentence.

e.g (the boy is small) (the boy came in)

Since, as we have already noted, the normal sentence order in Arabic is for the verb (in the singular) to

come first, the question of when the 3rd person plural verb is used arises. There are three situations in

which it is required:

(a) The subject may not be mentioned by name, e.g (they have gone)


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(b) The subject may be placed first for stress or emphasis,

(when the girls arrived, the boys went away)

(c) The subject may already have been mentioned in the preceding sentence,

(the girls arrived and sat down in the classroom)

The particle is sometimes placed before the Perfect verb. It is a confirmatory

particle, which may make the verb definitely Past Perfect , (he has arrived)

However, this particle may also make the verb Pluperfect, so that the verb given might also mean he had

arrived, according to the context.

The Imperfect Tense

The Imperfect Tense )expresses an action still unfinished at the time to which referenceis being made . It is most frequently translated into English by the Present or the Future. It has prefixes

and suffixes to denote number and gender.The prefixes and suffixes (for the triliteral form) are as follows:

Plural Dual Singular

We (m&f) We (m&f) I (m&f)

you (m) you (m) you (m)

you (f) you (f) you (f)

they (m) they (m) he

they (f) they (f) she

It will be noted that after the pronominal prefix the first radical or consonant of the verb has sukun. Asfor the second radical it may takes dwamma or fatha or kasra and in the majorityof verbs only the

dictionary will show which vowelling is used with any particular verb . But here we will indicate whichvowel must be used by writing it immediately after any given verb.


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Full form of Imperfect Indicative of (to write):

Full form of Imperfect Indicative of (to open)

Full form of Imperfect Indicative of (to sit)


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The imperfect in itself denotes only unfinished action, but it may be made to indicate the future by putting

the independent word or the prefix before it. E.g or (he willwrite).

But where it is clear from the context that the imperfect has a future meaning, these particles need not be

inserted.

E.g (he will go tomorrow)

Here the use of the word tomorrow makes it clear that the verb refers to the future time.

When used with a Present significance, the Imperfect may give the meaning of the continuous presentorthe Habitual present, e.g

(he is going now) continuous (he goes everyday) habitual

Exercise: Conjugate the following verbs in the Imperfect tense:

(to look at) (to listen) (to understand) (to enter)

(to break) (to cut)

THE IMPERATIVE

We are going to study the Conjugation of the imperative for the first group of the triliteral verb; and as wehave already learned, the vowel of the middle radical of the verb in the Imperfect tense varies from one

verb to another. And this will help us to form the imperative; which may be considered a modification ofthe Jussive by taking away the pronominal prefix, and replacing it by an alif, e.g.

(to write) jussive (let him write)

Imperative (write!)

This alif may be vowelled with dwamma or kasra.

a. Verbs having dwamma on the middle radical in the Imperfect take dwamma also on the alif of the

imperative,e.g.

(i) see above.

(ii) (to be distant), Imperative (keep at a distance!)

b. All other verbs (those taking fatha or kasra on the middle radical of the Imperfect) take kasra on the

alif of the imperative, e.g.

(i) (to break), imperative (break!)

(ii) (to open), imperative (open!)

The vowellings of the alif of the imperative only apply at the beginning of a statement, or of a directspeech. Otherwise, this alif takes the vowel of the end of the previous word, e.g.


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(go to the door and open it)

(sit down and write)

But in a direct speech

(the father said to his son: study well in order that

you may succeed )

Here are the full conjugation of the Imperative (all second person):

(to sit) (to go) (to look at)

Mas Sing.

Fem. Sing

Dual masc.

& fem

Masc.Plur

Fem.Plur

Exercice: Conjugate the following verbs in the imperative: -

(to kill) (to cut) (to return)


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VERBS HAVING HAMZA

Hamza as the first radical

The hamza is a consonant, and, as such, may be the initial or first consonant, as in (to eat), and

(to take); the middle or second radical, as in (to ask), (to be disgusted at); and the final or

third radical as in (to read).

a. At the beginning of a word hamza is invariably written over or under the alif (except in certain Quranic

usages), e.g (he took) (Ishaaq)

b. When this initial hamza is followed by an alif of prolongation (long vowel), the latter is replaced by a

madda over the initial alif, e.g for

c. Otherwise, the hamza tends to be written over the semi - consonant corresponding to the vowel of thepreceding letter.

(he takes) (he or it is taken) verbal noun of (to appeal)

Where the previous consonant has soukoun, the hamza tends to be written over the semi - consonant

coinciding with its own vowel.

(asked, responsible) (questions) (he despairs)

In the Perfect of verbs with medial hamza, this rule is applied instead of (c) above, even though the

previous radical is vowelled, because otherwise there would be no visible difference between the varied

vowellings of the middle radical. Thus, bausa,(to be brave) is written as and saima(to be

disgusted with) is written .

In certain verbs : (to take); (to command); (to eat), the initial hamza is

dropped in the imperative, and we have:


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Conjugation of (to be accustomed to)

The Imperfect

The Perfect

The Imperative


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Conjugation of to quote - report)

The Imperfect

The Perfect

The Imperative


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Conjugation of (to hope)

The Imperfect

The Perfect

The Imperative


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Hamza as the middle radical

The middle radical may be vowelled with fatha, dwamma, or kasra. This means that the hamza may be

written over alif, waw, or ya.

Conjugation of (to ask)

The Imperfect

The Perfect

The Imperative


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Example of the form (to be cast down):

Imperfect (also written ) Imperative (also written )

Example of the form : (to be brave):

Imperfect Imperative

Hamza as the final radical

Conjugation of (to read)

The Imperfect

The Perfect

The Imperative


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Example of the form (to be healthy)


Example of the form (to make mistake, to sin)


Example of the form (to be slow)


WEAK VERBS

The weak verbs are those in which one radical is one of the two semi-vowels and .

They are of three classes:

a. Those with a weak initial radical , sometimes called in English the Assimilated verb.

b. Those with a weak middle radical , the Hollow verb.

c. Those with weak final radical , sometimes called the defective verb in English.

The Assimilated Verb

The initial may be or , but the latter (being rarer) will be dealt first.

The assimilated verb with :

Conjugation of the verb (to be dry)The Imperfect

The Perfect


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THE HOLLOW VERBHollow verbsare those in which the middle radical is or

Conjugation of verb (to say):

The Imperfect

The Perfect

The Imperative


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Conjugation of verb (to become)

The Imperfect

The Perfect

The Imperative


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Conjugation of verb (to fear)

The Imperfect

The Perfect

The Imperative


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THE DEFECTIVE VERB

Defective verbs are those with weak final radicals. The weak radical may be considered to have been

originally either or , but it may be written as (alif) according to the following rules:

a. When the Perfect has (alif), the imperfect musthave

e.g. to call; Imperfect

b. When the Perfect has , the Imperfect also must have . This occurs in the following types:

(i) to throw (of the form )

(ii) to meet (of the form )

Conjugation of verb to call (of the form )

The Perfect

The Imperfect


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The Imperative

Conjugation of verb to be pleased with (of the form )

The Perfect

The Imperfect


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The Imperative

Conjugation of the verb to throw (of the form )

The Perfect

The Imperfect


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The Imperative

Exercise:

Conjugate the following verbs in all the tenses:

(to hope - request) (to approach) (to meet) (to forget) (to

be pure, clear) (to go away) (to remain) (to build) (to decide -

judge)

DERIVED FORMS OF THE VERB

The great majority of the Arabic verbs are triliteral, i.e they consist of three radical letters only. Thequadriliteral verbs, which consist of four radical letters are less in number.The triliteral verbs are of two kinds:

1. Those which contain merely the three radical letters which are known as e.g

(to go out).

2. Those which contain one, two or three additional letters, besides the three radical letters. These are

known as e.g (to take out). These in fact are the derived forms of the triliteral

verbs. They differ from the original, in meaning, to some extent. In the Arabic dictionaries, the triliteralverb as such finds the first place and the meaning of its derived forms follow one by one.The derived forms of the triliteral verb are twelve in number:A. Forms increased by one letter :

B. Forms increased by two letters :


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C. Forms increased by three letters :

FORM

This is formed by prefixing Hamza as a result of which the first radical loses its vowel. It implies causing

an act. It makes intransitive verbs transitive, and transitive verbs doubly transitive : (to sit)

(to make one sit)

There are a few intransitive verbs of this form , e.g (to become a muslim) (to approach)

Conjugation of verb (to seat)

The Perfect

The Imperfect


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The Imperative

FORM

This is formed by doubling the second radical. It implies that an act is done with intensity e.g (to

cut) (to cut into pieces)

Conjugation of verb (to break into pieces)

The Perfect

The Imperfect


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The Imperfect

The Imperative


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FORMS AND

Derived forms and form a pair. They tend to be reflexives of Forms and , from

which they are formed by prefixing . Moreover, they are both vowelled entirely by fatha in the

imperfect, but take dwamma on the middle radical in the verbal noun.

FORM

Conjugation of (to take over, to receive)

The Perfect

The Imperfect

The Imperative


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MEANING PATTERNS

a. This is most frequently the reflexive of form

to separate; (to separate oneself), to scatter

to teach; (to teach oneself), to learn

to remind; (to be reminded), to remember

b. It is also used to form verbs from nouns, especially nouns of quality or status, e.g, a christian;

to become a christian a jew; to become a jew

c. Closely related to meaning (b) is that of thinking or representing oneself to have a certain quality orstatus :

great; to think oneself great, to be proud

prophet; to represent oneself to be a prophet

FORM

This only differs from in having the alif after the first radical. It is conjugated as follows:

Conjugation of (to fight with each other) :

The Perfect


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The Imperfect

The Imperative

MEANING PATTERNS

a. The reflexive of ,e.g.

to fight; to fight each other

to co operate with; to co operate together

to agree with; to agree together

In this sense, this form of verb must always have a dual or plural subject, though, of course, when thethird personverb comes first it will always be in the singular

the two armies fought each other

But the subject is sometimes a collective word such as or (people)

the people co-operated (together)

b. Even more than Form , Form is used with the meaning of simulating a state or status, or

representing oneself to have it, e.g

ignorant; affect ignorance busy; to pretend to be busy


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Form

This is formed by prefixing Hamza tul wasl and adding after the first radical which loses its vowel

thereby e.g (to set apart) (to avoid)

Conjugation of verb (to assemble)

Imperfect

Perfect

Imperative


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Form

This is formed by prefixing and . It has a reflexive signification and is generally used as a passive

e.g ( to uncover) (to be uncovered)

( to break - transitive) (to break -intransitive)

to overturn) (to be overturned or reversed)

Conjugation of (to go off, depart)

Imperfect

Perfect

Imperative


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Basic Arabic Grammar for Beginners