Lesson 30
Strong (Sound) Verbs and their Conjugation
الأفعال الصحيحة
Sound verbs (أَفْعَال صَحِيحَة) have no weak letters (wāw, yāʾ, hamza) in their root they conjugate regularly and predictably. Mastering these forms is the baseline for all Arabic verb knowledge.
Sound Verb Practice ذَهَبَ / دَرَسَ / فَتَحَ
RootMeaningPast 3sgPresent 3sg
ذ-ه-بto goذَهَبَيَذْهَبُ
د-ر-سto studyدَرَسَيَدْرُسُ
ف-ت-حto openفَتَحَيَفْتَحُ
ج-ل-سto sitجَلَسَيَجْلِسُ
خ-ر-جto exitخَرَجَيَخْرُجُ
د-خ-لto enterدَخَلَيَدْخُلُ
س-م-عto hearسَمِعَيَسْمَعُ
ك-ت-بto writeكَتَبَيَكْتُبُ
Present-Tense Vowel Patterns
PatternExamplesNote
a-u (فَعَلَ → يَفْعُلُ)كَتَبَ / يَكْتُبُ ذَهَبَ / يَذْهَبُMost common pattern
a-i (فَعَلَ → يَفْعِلُ)جَلَسَ / يَجْلِسُ ضَرَبَ / يَضْرِبُSecond most common
a-a (فَعَلَ → يَفْعَلُ)فَتَحَ / يَفْتَحُ سَمِعَ / يَسْمَعُLess common; throat letters favour this
دَرَسَ الطُّلَّابُ اللُّغَةَ الْعَرَبِيَّةَ يَذْهَبُونَ إِلَى الْمَعْهَدِ كُلَّ يَوْم
Darasa ṭ-ṭullābu l-lughata l-ʿarabiyya Yadhhabūna ilā l-maʿhadi kulla yawm
The students studied Arabic. They go to the institute every day.
دَخَلَ الطَّالِبُ الْفَصْلَ سَمِعَتِ الطَّالِبَةُ الدَّرْسَ وَكَتَبَتْهُ
Dakhala ṭ-ṭālibu l-faṣla Samiʿati ṭ-ṭālibatu d-darsa wa-katabathu
The student entered the classroom. The female student heard the lesson and wrote it.
- The middle root vowel (u/i/a) in the present tense must be memorised per verb no rule predicts it.
- Strong verbs: the three root letters are always present and never change shape.
- Quranic frequency: فَتَحَ, دَخَلَ, خَرَجَ, جَلَسَ, ذَهَبَ all common sound verbs appear throughout the Quran.
- Throat letters (ع ح غ خ ه أ) tend to take the a-a vowel pattern in the present: سَمِعَ → يَسْمَعُ, فَتَحَ → يَفْتَحُ.
- When you encounter a new verb in a dictionary, note both the past form and the present form they together define the complete paradigm.