Arabic Lessons for Beginners: Verb Tenses

March 31, 2024
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Before starting to learn Arabic, it is essential to know that it will not be easy. As a beginner in Arabic, you must deal with a new alphabet, learn new sounds, memorize new words and phrases, etc. There are several ways for a beginner to learn Arabic like attending an Arabic class or using some programs and apps to learn Arabic. We made a series of Arabic lessons to make your learning journey easier. In this article, we highlight the lesson of verb tenses.

Arabic Lessons for Beginners

There are several ways for a beginner to learn Arabic like attending Arabic lessons for beginners or using some programs and apps to learn Arabic. Online Arabic lessons for beginners are better when you have a tight schedule. It gives you the ability to choose your teacher, to boost your Arabic skills through your learning journey. If you want to learn Arabic online then you've come to the right place! eArabic contains 100+ Arabic lessons that cover most Arabic grammar and Arabic morphology topics needed to help you learn Arabic quickly.

Verb Tenses in Arabic

Many people who want to learn the Arabic language find it difficult to start learning Arabic. Beginners may have the feeling that they have a variety of aspects of the Arabic language that they need to know more about, and as a result, they will not be able to determine where to start. Let's start with building the sentences with Arabic verbs, and to achieve that you have to know how to use the appropriate verb to form the sentence correctly. Let's learn more about the verb tenses in Arabic.

Past Tense Verb

The past tense verbs usually closely resemble the root of the word. Sometimes they are derived from the root, with minor additions to create related meanings. The past tense verbs are divided into different forms based on person, gender, and number.

Examples for Past tense verb:

  1. The student (male) wrote the lesson. (َكَتَبَ الفَتى الدْرسَ)
  2. The student (female) wrote the lesson. (َكَتَبَتْ الطَّالِبَةُ الدْرسَ)
  3. The students (male) wrote the lesson. (كَتَبُوا الطَّلَابُ الدْرسَ)

Singular

(مُفْرَد)

Dual

(مُثَنّى)

Plural

(جَمْع)

Gender

(ْنَوع)

First Person

I wrote (كَتَبْتُ)

-

We wrote (كَتَبْنَا)

M & F

Second Person

You wrote (كَتَبْتَ)

You wrote (كَتَبْتُما)

You wrote (كَتَبْتُم)

M

You wrote (كَتَبْتِ)

You wrote (كَتَبْتُما)

You wrote (كَتَبْتُنَّ)

F

Third Person

He wrote (كَتَبَ)

They wrote (كَتَبَا)

They wrote (كَتَبُوا)

M

She wrote (كَتَبَتْ)

They wrote (كَتَبَتَا)

They wrote (كَتَبْنَ)

F


Present Tense Verb

The imperfect verb is used to describe the present and is also derived from the root in predictable patterns.

Examples for present tense verb:

  1. He writes the lesson. (َيَكْتُبُ الدْرسَ)
  2. She writes the lesson. (َتَكْتُبُ الدْرسَ)
  3. They write the lesson. (يَكْتُبُونَ الدْرسَ)

Singular

(مُفْرَد)

Dual

(مُثَنّى)

Plural

(جَمْع)

Gender

(ْنَوع)

First Person

I write (أَكْتُبُ)

We write (نَكْتُبُ)

We write (نَكْتُبُ)

M & F

Second Person

You write (تَكْتُبُ)

You write (تَكْتُبَانِ)

You write (تَكْتُبَونَ)

M

You write (تَكْتُبِينَ)

You write (تَكْتُبَانِ)

You write (تَكْتُبْنَ)

F

Third Person

He writes (يَكْتُبُ)

They write (يَكْتُبَانِ)

They write (يَكْتُبُونَ)

M

She writes (تَكْتُبُ)

They write (تَكْتُبَانِ)

They write (يَكْتُبْنَ)

F


Future Tense

To indicate the future tense, سَ ‘sa’ or سَوفَ ‘sawfa’ means, 'Will' and is simply added to the beginning of the imperfect verb.

Examples for the future tense verb:

  1. I will go to the university. (ِسأَذهَبُ إلى الجَامِعْة)
  2. They (male/plural) will return home. (سَيعودون للمَنزِل)
  3. They (female/dual) will visit their grandmother. (ستزوران جدتهما)

Command Tense / Imperative

The imperative or command tense verb is always used in the second person. Therefore each verb can occur in all these forms:

Pronoun

(الضمير)

Imperative
(صيغة الأمر)

Gender

(النوع)

You = أنتَ

Write (اُكّتُبْ)

M

You = أنتِ

Write (اُكْتُبِي)

F

You = أنتما

Write (اُكْتُبَا)

M & F

You = أنتم

Write (اُكْتُبُوا)

M

You = أنتنَّ

Write (اُكْتُبْـنَ)

F

Arabic Lessons for Beginners: Verb Tenses

We have collected various examples for each verb conjugation, as follows:

Future

Command

Present

Past

Ali will visit his grandfather (سَيَزُورُ عَلِيٌّ جَدَّهُ)

Visit your grandfather, O Ali (زُرْ يَا عَلِيٌّ جَدَّكَ)

Ali visits his grandfather (يَزُورُ عَلِيٌّ جدَّهُ)

Ali visited his grandpa (زَارَ عَلِيٌّ جدَّهُ)

The children will go to bed early (سَيَنَامُ أَلأَطْفَالُ مُبَكِّرَاً)

Sleep early! (نَاموا مُبَكِّرَاً!)

Children go to bed early (يَنَامُ الأَطْفالُ مُبَكِّرَاً)

The children slept early (نَامَ الاطْفالُ مُبَكِّرَاً)

We will read the book (سَنَقرَأُ الكِتَابَ)

Read the book (اِقْرَؤا الكِتَابَ)

We read the book (نَحْنُ نَقْرَأُ الكِتَابَ)

We read the book (نَحْنُ قَرَأنَا الكِتَابَ)


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