Arabic XL 1A
Fall 2007
FSHUAYB
UCLA Arabic Instructor
– ‫ الفعل الثالثي المجرد‬- Triliteral verb system
The Imperfect (present) tense verb (‫)الفعل المضارع‬
1. The majority of Arabic verbs are triliteral, having roots of three (3)
consonants or radical letters: e.g. ‫( فتح‬fataha), the Past Tense for “he opened”
or “to open” in the infinitive sense.
2. Conjugation of verbs in Imperfect Tense retains the original triliteral radicals
but is suffixed or prefixed with additional consonants. See chart below.
3. Additional consonants prefixed to Imperfect Tense triliteral verbs are ‫( أ‬alif),
‫( ت‬tā), ‫( ي‬yā), and ‫( ن‬nūn) as in the acronym: ‫( أنيت‬anaytu). See chart
below.
4. Additional consonants suffixed to the Imperfect Tense verb are ‫( أ‬alif), ‫و‬
(wāw), and ‫( ن‬nūn) in the Nominative Case (governed by the dammah). See
chart below.
5. Often the middle radical takes ِ- (kasrah) or ِ- (dammah) as in the verbs
‫( يكتب‬yaktubu), “he is writing,” and ‫( يضرب‬yadribu), “he is hitting” or “he
hits.”
6. Imperfect Tense indicates an incomplete action (hence the term “imperfect”)
and is therefore related to the Future Tense.
7. We use the consonants ‫ ف ع ل‬in exact order as the basic paradigm to
conjugate verbs as illustrated here:
Plural
‫يفعلون‬
‫يفعلن‬
‫تفعلون‬
‫تفعلن‬
Dual
‫يفعالن‬
‫تفعالن‬
‫تفعالن‬
‫تفعالن‬
Singular
‫يفعل‬
‫تفعل‬
‫تفعل‬
‫تفعلين‬
3rd person
Masculine
3rd Person
Feminine
2nd Person
Masculine
2nd Person
Feminine
‫نفعل‬
-
‫أفعل‬
1st Person
Masculine/Feminine