Arabic verbs are complex and have several forms depending on factors like tense (past, present, future), mood (indicative, imperative, subjunctive), voice (active, passive), and person (singular, plural). These verb forms are derived from a three-letter root that carries the basic meaning of the verb. Most Arabic verbs are based on a three-letter consonantal root that holds the core meaning. Vowels are added between these consonants to create different verb forms. For example, the root كتب (ka-ta-ba) carries the meaning of “writing.” By changing the vowels and adding prefixes/suffixes, you can create forms like “he wrote” (كتب – kataba), “they will write” (يكتبون – yaktuboona), or “be written” (كُتِبَ – kutiba) [1].
The semantic core of a verb in Arabic is a root consisting of consonants (usually three, sometimes four or more). All derivative forms of the verb are formed from the original root with additional letters and their combinations, interacting with the root according to certain patterns[2, p. 48]. For example, the root ك ت ب can be conjugated as أَكْتُبُ ‘I write’, تَكْتُبُونَ ‘you write’, كُتِبَ ‘it was written’, etc.
Groups of verbs with similar conjugation patterns are known as breeds (الأوزان awzan in Arabic). For example, Arabic type I includes verbs that are conjugated as ضَرَبَ, دَرَسَ, كَتَبَ, while verbs included in type III are conjugated as follows[2, p. 50]: عَامَلَ, سَافَرَ, كَاتَ بَ. Sometimes verb forms express one aspect of the verb’s meaning; for example, breed II is often used for causation (for example, دَرَّسَ ‘to teach’, وَقَّفَ ‘to interrupt’), and breed VII is often used for reflexive verbs (for example, تَكَاتَبَ ‘to correspond’, تَفَارَقَ ‘to break up’ ). There are fifteen types of verbs in Arabic, but only the first ten are widely used.
Within each breed, verbs can be conjugated differently depending on the presence of certain consonants in their roots. There are some differences in the conjugation of roots containing the consonants ي، و، ء (for example, the verb قَالَ ‘to say’ with the root ق و ل), roots ending in a double consonant (for example, حَبَّ ‘to love’ with the root ح ب ب), and roots containing four or more consonants (for example, تَرْجَمَ ‘to translate’ with the root ت ر ج م). In Reverso Conjugation, verbs that are conjugated in a similar way are grouped into verb patterns[3, p. 58]. For example, in Breed I, the verbs رَاحَ, مَاتَ, دَارَ, قَالَ belong to the same conjugation pattern because they are conjugated using the same pattern, they all have a middle consonant و in the root.
Arabic verbs are conjugated in two tenses: past (or perfect) and present (or imperfect), for example قَرَأَ ‘he read’, يَقْرَأُ ‘he reads’. The future tense is formed by adding the prefix سَـ (sa) or the word سوف (sawfa) before the present tense forms; for example, سيقرأ or سوف يقرأ ‘he will read’.
There is no infinitive in Arabic (as in Russian – ‘to see’, English – ‘to see’, French – ‘voir’, Hebrew – לראות). Instead, the 3rd person masculine past tense form of the verb should be used as the basic (dictionary) form of the verb, since this is the simplest form of the verb in Arabic[2, p. 62]. For example, the form قَرَأَ ‘he read’ will be shown as the base form of the verb “to read” in Reverso Conjugation.
Verbs in Arabic take the imperative form to express orders and requests. For example, اِقْرَأْ ‘read! (m.r., singular)’ Negation in the imperative is formed using the particle لا + jussive, for example لَا تَقْرَأْ ‘don’t read! (m.r., singular)’
In addition to the indicative (past and present) and imperative moods, Arabic verbs can be conjugated in the subjunctive mood and in the jussive (the mood of the verb expressing an indirect form of motivation) [4, p. 45]. Semantically, the subjunctive mood is used when the verb is used in the context of intention, purpose, expectation, permission, possibility or necessity. Syntactically, verbs in the subjunctive mood occur after certain particles and the subordinating conjunction أَن (an), for example, تُرِيدُ أَنْ تَقْرَأَ ‘you want to read’. It is also used to form the negative form of the future tense after the particle لَنْ, for example, لَنْ تَقْرَأَ ‘you will not read’.
Jussive verbs occur in four main contexts[4, p. 74]:
- After the negative particle lam لم to form a negative form, for example, لَمْ تَقْرَأْ ‘didn’t read’.
- After the imperative prefix lām (لام) for prohibitions, requests not to do something.
- As a prohibition (negative imperative) with the particle lā (لا).
- In conditional sentences after some particles such as إنْ ‘if’ and إِذَا ‘if’.
References
- Arabic Verbs – A Comprehensive Guide: https://www.fluentarabic.net/a-comprehensive-guide-to-arabic-verbs/
- Khalil, E. A. (2010). The Arabic verb conjugation handbook. Georgetown University Press.
- Wright, W. (1977). A grammar of the Arabic language (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1896)
- Selim, K. I. (2006). Advanced Arabic conjugation tables. Hippocrene Books.