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Arabic/Verbs

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A textbook about Arabic verbs and their conjugations and paradigms.

Paradigms

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Conjugation of weak verb رَمَى ramaa to shoot

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first form

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active

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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

Conjugation of weak verb مَدَّ madda to extend

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first form

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active

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Other approach

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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)

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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

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