Book 4 Complex Grammar and Extended Communication: As-Salaamu 'Alaykum Arabic Series

Past Tense Full Conjugation Table الفعل الماضي

The past tense uses suffixes (not prefixes). The dictionary form is 3rd person masculine singular هُوَ which is also the base you look up in any Arabic dictionary.

PersonPronounPast (wrote)Suffix

3rd m. sing.هُوَكَتَبَ–a

3rd f. sing.هِيَكَتَبَتْ–at

2nd m. sing.أَنْتَكَتَبْتَ–ta

2nd f. sing.أَنْتِكَتَبْتِ–ti

1st sing.أَنَاكَتَبْتُ–tu

3rd m. pl.هُمْكَتَبُوا–ū

3rd f. pl.هُنَّكَتَبْنَ–na

2nd m. pl.أَنْتُمْكَتَبْتُمْ–tum

1st pl.نَحْنُكَتَبْنَا–nā

Future Tense المستقبل

Arabic expresses the future with prefixes on the present-tense verb. سَـ (sa-) for near/definite future; سَوْفَ (sawfa) for a more distant or emphatic future.

TenseArabicTransliterationMeaning

Presentيَكْتُبُyaktubuhe writes

Near futureسَيَكْتُبُsa-yaktubuhe will write (soon)

Definite futureسَوْفَ يَكْتُبُsawfa yaktubuhe will (certainly) write

Kāna and its Sisters كَان وَأَخَوَاتُهَا

كَانَ (was) is the head of a family of "deficient verbs" that take a nominative subject but pull the predicate into the accusative case. They all express states in the past.

VerbTransliterationMeaning

كَانَkānawas

صَارَṣārabecame

أَصْبَحَaṣbaḥabecame / came to be (in the morning)

لَيْسَlaysais not (present negation)

مَا زَالَmā zālastill is / continues to be

كَانَ الطَّالِبُ مُجْتَهِداً فَصَارَ عَالِماً Kāna ṭ-ṭālibu mujtahidan fa-ṣāra ʿāliman The student was hardworking and so became a scholar. (Both predicates: accusative مُجْتَهِداً and عَالِماً.)

لَيْسَ الْجَهْلُ عُذْراً Laysa l-jahlu ʿudhrān Ignorance is not an excuse.

Inna and its Sisters إِنَّ وَأَخَوَاتُهَا

إِنَّ (inna) is placed at the start of a nominal sentence and pulls its subject into the accusative. It adds emphasis ("indeed / verily"). Its sisters modify the sense further.

ParticleTransliterationMeaning / Function

إِنَّinnaindeed / verily (emphasis)

أَنَّannathat (in reported speech)

كَأَنَّkaʾannaas if / as though

لَعَلَّlaʿallaperhaps / maybe

لَكِنَّlākinnabut / however

إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِين Inna llāha maʿa ṣ-ṣābirīn Indeed, Allah is with the patient ones. (Qurʾān 2:153 اللَّهَ accusative after إِنَّ.)

Relative Pronouns الأَسْمَاء الْمَوْصُولَة

PronounUsed ForTransliteration

الَّذِيmasculine singularalladhī

الَّتِيfeminine singularallatī

الَّذِينَmasculine pluralalladhīna

اللَّوَاتِيfeminine pluralallawātī

الطَّالِبُ الَّذِي يَدْرُسُ بِجِدٍّ يَنْجَحُ Aṭ-ṭālibu lladhī yadrusu bijiddin yanjaḥu The student who studies seriously will succeed.

Broken Plurals جَمْع التَّكْسِير

Most Arabic nouns form their plural by changing the internal vowel pattern (not just adding a suffix). These must be memorised pattern by pattern.

SingularPluralPatternMeaning

كِتَابكُتُبفُعُلbook / books

بَيْتبُيُوتفُعُولhouse / houses

رَجُلرِجَالفِعَالman / men

مَسْجِدمَسَاجِدمَفَاعِلmosque / mosques

طَالِبطُلَّابفُعَّالstudent / students

عَالِمعُلَمَاءفُعَلَاءscholar / scholars