Lesson 43
The Doer Fāʿil
الفاعل
The فَاعِل (fāʿil) is the subject of a verbal sentence the one performing the action. It always takes the nominative case. Its agreement with the verb is governed by specific rules.
The Fāʿil in Arabic Grammar
In a verb-first sentence (الْجُمْلَة الْفِعْلِيَّة), the verb comes first, followed by the فَاعِل (doer) in the nominative case. Critically, the verb agrees in gender with the fāʿil but is always singular even if the fāʿil is plural.
Fāʿil typeExampleNote
Explicit nounذَهَبَ الطَّالِبُNoun in nominative after verb
Attached pronounذَهَبَ + تَ = ذَهَبْتَPronoun suffix = hidden fāʿil
Hidden pronounذَهَبَ (هو hidden)3m sg: fāʿil is implied
Masdar clauseيَسُرُّنِي أَنَّكَ نَجَحْتَأَنَّ clause as fāʿil
ذَهَبَ الطَّالِبُ (مفرد) ذَهَبَ الطُّلَّابُ (جمع verb stays singular)
Dhahaba ṭ-ṭālibu Dhahaba ṭ-ṭullābu
The student went. The students went. (verb singular even with plural fāʿil)
جَاءَتِ الطَّالِبَةُ (f) جَاءَتِ الطَّالِبَاتُ (f pl verb still feminine singular)
Jāʾati ṭ-ṭālibatu Jāʾati ṭ-ṭālibātu
The student (f) came. The students (f pl) came. (feminine verb both times)
- When verb PRECEDES subject: verb is always singular (agrees in gender only).
- When subject PRECEDES verb (nominal sentence): full agreement in gender and number.
- The fāʿil is always nominative if you see a nominative noun after a verb, it is likely the fāʿil.
- Non-human plurals (broken plurals, inanimate things) are treated as feminine singular for verb agreement: كَتَبَتِ الْكُتُبُ (the books were written).
- A fāʿil can be a whole clause: يَسُرُّنِي أَنَّكَ نَجَحْتَ "It pleases me that you succeeded" the أَنَّ clause is the fāʿil.