Arabic/Verbs

A textbook about Arabic verbs and their conjugations and paradigms.

Paradigms

Conjugation of weak verb رَمَى ramaa to shoot

first form

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Number	English pronoun	Arabic pronoun	perfect	indicative	subjunctive	jussive	emphatic 1	emphatic 2	simple imperative	imperative emphatic 1	imperative emphatic 2	agent noun
3rd masc. sing.	he	هو	مَدَّ	يمُدُّ	يَمُدَّ	يَمْدُدْ	يَمُدَّنَّ	يمُدًّا	na	na	na	مَادَّ
3rd fem. sing.	she	هی	مَدَّتْ	تمُدُّ	تمُدَّ	تَمْدُدْ	تمُدَّنَّ	تَمُدًّا	na	na	na	مَادَّة
3rd masc. dual		هما	مَدَّا~~
2nd fem. dual		هما	رَمَتَا	تَرْمِيَانِ	تَرْمِيَا	ibid.	ترمِيَانِّ	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
3rd masc. plur.	they	هم	رَمَوْا	يَرْمُونَ	يرمُوا	ibid.	يَرْمُنَّ	يرمُنْ	n/a	n/a	n/a
3rd fem. plur.		هنّ	رَمَيْنَ	يَرْمِيْنَ	ibid.	ibid	يَرْمِيْنَانِّ	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
2nd masc. sing.	thou	أنتَ	رَمَيْتَ	تَرْمِيْ	ترْمِيَ	ترْمِ	تَرْمِيَنَّ	تَرْمِيَنْ	اِرْمِ	إِرْمِيَنَّ	اِرْمِيَنْ
2nd fem. sing.		أنتِ	رَمَيْتِ	تَرْمِيْنَ	تَرْمِيْ	ibid	تَرْمِنَّ	تَرْمِنْ	اِرْمِنْ
2nd dual		أنتما	رَمَيْتُمَا	تَرْمِيَانِ	تَرْمِيَا	ibid	تَرْمِيَانِّ	n/a	اِرْمِيَا	اِرْمِيَانِّ	n/a
2nd masc. plur.	ye	أنتم	رَمَيْتُمْ	تَرْمُوْنَ	تَرْمُوْا	ibid	تَرْمُنَّ	تَرْمُنْ	اِرْمُوْا	اِرْمُنَّ	إِرْمُنْ
2nd fem. plur.		أنتنّ	رَمَيْتُنَّ	تَرْمِيْنَ	ibid.	ibid	تَرْمِيْنَانِّ	n/a	إِرْمِيْنَ	اِرْمِيْنَانِّ	n/a
1st sing.	I	أنا	رَمَيْتُ	اَرْمِيْ	أَرْمِيَ	اَرْمِ	اَرْمِيَنَّ	اَرْمِيَنْ	n/a	n/a	n/a
1st plur.	we	نحن	رَمَيْنَا	نَرْمِيْ	نَرْمِيَ	نَرْمِ	نَرْمِيَنَّ	نَرْمِيَنْ	n/a	n/a	n/a

Other approach

A verb is a word that tells us that someone or something is doing something. For example, "I went to school." In that sentence the word "went" is a verb. A verb tells us what action is happening, that is why verbs are called "action words".

In Arabic, like English, verbs are conjugated. This means that the verb changes depending on who is doing the action. For example:

"I went to school"

"He went to school"

In an Arabic translation of the above two sentences, the word for "went" would differ between the sentences. In one it would be ذهبت (dhahabtu) and in the other it would be ذهب (dhahaba). This is what conjugation is all about. When the person doing the action is different (for example I, instead of he) the verb also changes in Arabic. They differ depending on the pronoun.

For example, in English:

I go. BUT He goes. NOT He go.

Just like in Arabic. (a-na adh-hab (u))أنا أذهب BUT (hu-wa yadh-hab(u)) هو يذهب Not (hu-wa adh-hab (u)) هو أذهب

So why can't one use the same verb? Because verbs conjugate. If you do not conjugate the verb properly two things can happen:

• People don't understand who you are talking about (because the way the verb is conjugated doesn't match up to what you are talking about)
• People don't understand what verb you are using, conjugating improperly, might make people think you meant something else.

So

• Conjugation is important
• Conjugation happens in English as well as Arabic

Here is a table of pronouns: Verbs are conjugated according to the pronoun that represents the one who is doing the action.

نحن		أنا			I	we
أنتم أنتن	أنتما	أنتَ أنتِ			you guy you girl	you two	you guys you girls
هم هن	هما	هو هي			he she	them two	those guys those girls

Pronunciation key (non-pausal)

نـَحْنُ		أَنَا			a-na	naH-nu
أَنْتُمْ أَنـْتـُنَ	أَنـْتـُمَا	أَنـْتَ أَنـْتِ			an-ta an-ti	an-tu-maa	an-tum an-tun-na
هـُمْ هـُنّ	هُمَا	هُوَ هِيَ			hu-wa hi-ya	hu-maa	hum hun-na

أنا is always normally prounced a-na even though it's spelling indicates a-naa. The exception to this rule is in specific places of the Quran (qur'aan).

See also

• Fa3ala (to do)