Arabic Instructor
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The active participle is known in Arabic as اسم الفاعل The word فاعل refers to the form the participles take when derived from a Form I verb. The active participle (AP) is essentially an adjective closely related in meaning to the meaning of the verb. However, active participles are often also used as nouns. For…
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A verbal noun represents a change in the form of a verb which allows it to be used as a noun in a sentence. For example, the verbal noun in English for “to read” is “reading.” You would say, for example, “Reading is good for you.” In the previous sentence, “reading” is the subject. If…
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The subjunctive as a concept in grammar refers, in general, to that which is uncertain or related to emotion. Often it is used for things which are sought, desired, or feared, but which are not necessarily realized. In such situation, verbs in many languages reflect the somewhat uncertain nature of what is happening through changes…
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Form II Commands are as much fun to give people in Arabic as they are in other languages. Arabic commands are not quite so simple as they are in English, but they can be mastered easily now that you know how to do the jussive. As I stated in a previous chapter, the…
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We leave Form I verbs (at least for a while) and come now to the first group of what are called “derived” verbs. As noted earlier, there are fifteen forms of the Arabic verb. It is essential that Forms I-X be learned thoroughly; however, Forms XI-XV need never be learned. Forms II-XV are known…
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The verb يكون ,كانَ. is a Form I hollow verb which conjugates exactly like يَزورُ , زارَ Therefore, the conjugations for this verb for the perfect, imperfect indicative, jussive and subjunctive (once we deal with the subjunctive in a later chapter) should pose no problem for the student who has mastered the conjugation of Form…
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لَيْسَ is a verb which gives American students fits. I believe the reason for this is that the verb is introduced to students too early in their study of Arabic. Often it is the first verb they are taught. The verb poses several problems for the novice student. It is hollow, its conjugations are the…
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Now we come to the last category of Form I verbs. These are verbs whose second and last radical are the same consonant. In such situations the stem vowel disappears in the third person singular and the two radicals are written as one with a shadda above as in the verb شَكَّ (to doubt). In…
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This section deals with verbs whose first radical is a waaw. These verbs are often referred to as assimilated verbs because the waaw assimilates to a ت in Form VIII, and assimilates into a ي in Forms IV and X when the verbal nouns are generated. This chapter, as whole, only deals with Form I…
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American students generally consider defective verbs to be the most difficult verbs in the language to master. Furthermore, although defective Forms II-X are simpler than those for Form I, most students are not aware of any difference in difficulty. In all seriousness, defective verbs are not any more difficult than hollow verbs in terms of…