All The Arabic

G: كانَ

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 I hollow verbs. Please note that كان, like سكن , has a ن as a final radical. Whenever any verb has a ن as a final radical, that ن is written with a shadda whenever a suffix beginning with a ن is added to the verb. For example سكن conjugated in the perfect for نحن is سكنّا. The ن of the verb is combined with the ن of the suffix. The same thing happens with كانَ. Thus we have كنّا for the first person plural conjugation. So, other than the fact that the last radical of

كانَ is written with a shadda for certain conjugations, this verb should pose no problem for you with respect to its conjugations. The conjugations for this verb will be given at the end of this section.

كانَ works exactly like ليس in that it also takes a direct object. The object of كانَ is always in the accusative.

كانَ is the Arabic verb “to be.” One major function of this verb is to pit an equational sentence into the past tense. For example, أنا طالبٌ “I am a student” becomes كنتُ طالباً “I was a student” with كانَ added with the correct conjugation. طالباً is in the accusative just as it would have been had we used ليس instead of كانَ. (The meaning of such a sentence would be, of course, “I am not a student.”) كانَ used in a sentence will always have its object in the accusative in just the same way ليس does. Whatever would be the object of ليس in an equational sentence if ليس were inserted, will also be the object of كانَ if it were inserted.

The object of كانَ will always be accusative, no matter what tense or mood of كانَ is used in the sentence. Examine the sentences below.

1. You were the new student.	١. كُنتَ الطالبَ الجديدَ.
2. You were not the new student.	٢. لم تَكُنْ الطالبَ الجديدَ.
3. You will be the new student.	٣. شَوفَ تكونُ الطالبَ الجديدَ.
4. You want to be the new student.	٤. تُريدُ انْ تَكونَ الطالبَ الجديدَ.

As you can see, whenever كان is used in a sentence you must be extra careful in determining the subject and object of the verb, just as with ليس. If you have the ليس business down, you should have no problem with كان.

كان is used to form a number of compound tenses (with horrible names) such as the pluperfect, the future perfect, past future, past habitual and past progressive. Below are some examples.

1. I had studied Arabic.	١. كنتُ درستُ اللغة العربية.
2. Samir had studied Arabic.	٢. كان سمير (قد) درس اللغة العربية.
3. We were going to go to the Middle East.	٣. كنّا سنذهب الى الشرق الاوسط.
4. The professors will have killed their lazy students.	٤. يكون الاستاذة (قد) قتلوا طلابهم الكسالى.
5. Samir used to visit his relatives in Jordan every year.	٥. كان سمير يزور اقاربه في الاردن كل سنة
6. Samir was sitting on the chair drinking tea when the policeman entered and arrested him and he was taken to jail where he died under mysterious circumstances.	٦. كان سمير يجلس على الكرسي يشرب الشاي عندما دخل الشرطي واعتقله وأُخذ الى السجن حيث مات تحت ظروف غامضة

Sentences one and two give examples of the pluperfect. The particle قد can be inserted between the two verbs in the pluperfect, but it is not required. If the subject is included in the sentence, it will appear between the two verbs. This is the case for any of the compound tenses.

Sentence three is an example of the past future. Again, if the subject is written into the sentence it appears between the first verb and the second. Sentence four gives an example of this.

Sentence four is an example of the future perfect. Note that the subject appears in this sentence. The first verb is singular since it comes before the subject, but the second verb is plural because the subject is plural. Again قد is optional here as it is for the pluperfect.

Sentence five is an example of the past habitual. Usually some sort of time indicator will appear in the sentence revealing when something was being done. This will help you distinguish between past habitual and past progressive.

Sentence six is an example of the past progressive. The combination of the perfect of كان plus an imperfect verb is the same as for the past habitual. However, past progressive sentences usually include some other past tense event that happened while the past progressive action was going on. In this case, the policeman entered while poor Samir was sitting down and drinking his tea.

Usually when compound tenses are employed, the context will tell you what is going on. The best way to get used to them is to use them.

Below are charts for كان, يكون in the perfect, present tense, and jussive. Take a look at them and then do the drills on the following pages. You will then have completed the most complex chapter of this book! It is much easier form here on out – but you will still have to work.

Past Tense

Plural		Dual		Singular
كُنّا	نَحْنَ	كُنتُما	أنتُما	كُنتُ	أنا
كُنتُم	أنتُم	كانا	هما (m)	كُنتَ	أنتَ
كُنتُنَّ	أنتُنَّ	كانَتا	هما (f)	كُنتِ	أنتِ
كانوا	هم			كانَ	هو
كُنَّ	هنَّ			كانَت	هي

Present Tense

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَكونُ	نَحْنَ	تَكونانِ	أنتُما	أكونُ	أنا
تَكونونَ	أنتُم	يَكونانِ	هما (m)	تَكونُ	أنتَ
تَكُنَّ	أنتُنَّ	تَكونانِ	هما (f)	تَكونينَ	أنتِ
يَكونونَ	هم			يَكونَ	هو
يَكُنَّ	هنَّ			تَكونُ	هي

The Jussive

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَكُنْ	نَحْنَ	تَكونا	أنتُما	أكٌنْ	أنا
تَكونوا	أنتُم	يَكونا	هما (m)	تَكُنْ	أنتَ
تَكُنَّ	أنتُنَّ	تَكونا	هما (f)	تَكوني	أنتِ
يَكونوا	هم			يَكُنْ	هو
يّكُنَّ	هنَّ			تَكُنْ	هي

F: لَيْسَ

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 same as those of the past tense of all other verbs even though ليس has only preset tense meaning, and it takes a direct object. For the new student who knows little or nothing about the Arabic verb system, all of these items are too much to deal with at once. The usual result is that the student never is comfortable even with the conjugations of the verb, never mind, with using it in speech or in writing.

However, you have, by now, been through the most difficult aspects of the Arabic verb system. From now on, it gets easier. ليس will be no exception.

Wright points out that ليس is a combination of لا and the unused أيْس meaning “being” or “existence.” Thus the verb ليس means “not to be” or “is not.” The verb is most often used in order to negate an equational sentence. For example محمد في البيت is negated ليس محمد في البيت

لَيْسَ is a hollow verb; however, the hollow root, the letter ي, is preceded by a fatha but followed by a sukuun. Therefore, it does not disappear and become an alif. Remember, when we talked about hollow verbs, we mentioned that the middle radical, whether a waaw or a yaa’, would disappear into an alif due to the presence of a fatha on both sides. The verb زارَ was used as an example. Theoretically, that verb in the third person masculine singular is زَوَرَ. The j is then eliminated by the two fathas, which then form an alif and we get the past زارَ.

When we conjugate the verb ليس, we add the same suffixes to it that we use when we conjugate any verb in the past tense. Of course, we will only have present tense meaning with ليس. Below is a chart with the conjugations for ليس. Enjoy.

Plural		Dual		Singular
لَسْنا	نَحْنَ	لَسْتُما	أنتُما	لَسْتُ	أنا
لَسْتُم	أنتُم	لَيْسا	هما (m)	لَسْتَ	أنتَ
لَسْتُنَّ	أنتُنَّ	لَيْسَتا	هما (f)	لَسْتِ	أنتِ
لَيْسوا	هم			لَيْسَ	هو
لَسْنَ	هنَّ			لَيْسَت	هي

The rules we learned for hollow verbs apply to ليسَ .Whenever a suffix begins with a consonant, we are left with two sukuuns in a row. For example, the suffix for the first person singular is تٌ. If we add it to the stem of ليس we get the theoretical conjugation of ليْسْتُ. This gives us two sukuuns in a row. Therefore the first sukuun is dropped, just as with any hollow verb, and the letter with that sukuun is also dropped, as with any hollow verb. Thus, we are left with لستُ once the sukuun and the yaa’ are dropped. The stem vowel is always a fatha. This is the fatha from the third person masculine singular form with which we started.

Whenever the suffix beings with a vowel, the hollow radical remains, just as with any hollow verb.

Now that you are able to conjugate ليس , the fun begins. As I said above, ليس can take a direct object. (See note 1 below) The direct object is put into the accusative case. For example انا طالب means “I am a student.” We will now negate the sentence. The subject of the sentence is انا; therefore ليس is conjugated as لسْتُ. Now we have to deal with the word طالب . It is the predicate of the sentence we are now negating. The subject of the new sentence we are creating is انا . The verb, conjugated for the first person singular, is لسْتُ Thus, we already have the subject and verb of this sentence – which is now a verbal sentence. طالب cannot remain in the nominative because it is not the subject of a sentence, nor is it any longer the predicate of an equational sentence. It cannot be genitive because it is not in an idaafa nor is it preceded by a preposition. It is in the accusative because it is the object of the verb لسْتُ. Thus, the negated sentence is لسْتُ طالباً meaning “I am not a student.”

Whenever you are dealing with ليس, you must always be aware of what is the subject and what is the predicate. The predicate of ليس should be considered its object. Sometimes this can be a little tricky. Examine the two sentences below.

1. The director is not in this office	١. لَيْسَ المديرُ في المكتبِ
2. He is not the director in this office.	٢. لَيسَ المديرَ في هذا المكتبِ

In the first sentence المديرُ is the subject. There is no object of لَيْسَ . The remainder of the sentence is a prepositional phrase.

In the second sentence هو is the subject. المديرَ is the predicate and is thus in the accusative case. If المديرَ were written in the nominative case, then the second sentence would be the same as the first.

The following two sentences may also help in understanding ليس

1. Samir saw the student.	١. شاهدَ سمير الطالبَ
2. Samir is not the student	٢. ليْسَ سمير الطالبَ

In the two sentences above we have a direct correspondence between verb, subject and direct object. شاهدَ, is the verb in the first sentence, ليس is the verb in the second. Samir is the subject in both sentences. الطالبَ is the direct object in both sentences. In other words, ليْسَ is working just as any other transitive verb works.

ليْسَ can also be used with the preposition بِ instead of having its predicate in the accusative. For example ليْسَ سمير بطالبٍ meaning “Sarni is not a student.” This construction is somewhat rare these days.

In literary contexts, you may see ليس used to negate a present tense verb. For example, لستُ ادْري means “I don’t know” and is sometimes used instead of لا ادْري. This usage is rare today, but you may still see it in literary works and in poetry.

Note 1 – Arab grammarians and most textbooks do not say that ليس or كان (the next section) take direct objects. They say instead that the predicate of these two verbs is put into the accusative. Here I am taking the liberty of using different terminology for explanatory purposes.

E: Doubled Verbs, Form I: Jussive of Doubled Verbs

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 the past tense these verbs are very easy to handle. Whenever the suffix begins with a vowel, the second and third radicals remain together with a shadda written above. Only the pronouns هما , هي , هو and هم give us suffixes beginning with a vowel.

In the remaining past-tense conjugations for Form I doubled verbs, the last two radicals are separated by the stem vowel. For example, the conjugation for أنا begins with a consonant, the letter ت. If we attach the suffix to شَكَّ we would have the theoretical conjugations of شَكّتُ which would give us three consonants in a row – the two ك `s followed by a sukuun and then by the ت . As you know, Arabic does not allow for such a situation. (Note also “three consonants in a row” means that there will be two sukuuns in a row as well. The first sukuun would be on the first ك, the second sukuun would be on the second ك. The first sukuun is dropped and is replaced by the imperfect stem vowel.) Therefore the final radical is separated from the middle radical by the heretofore missing stem vowel (in this case, and in most cases, a fatha), and a sukuun is placed over the third radical just as it would be for any sound Form I verb. Therefore, the conjugation is شَكَكْتُ and looks perfectly normal. Below are the conjugations for the verb شَكَّ in the past tense.

Plural		Dual		Singular
شَكَكْنا	نَحْنَ	شَكَكْتما	أنتُما	شَكَكْتُ	أنا
شَكَكْتم	أنتُم	شَكّا	هما (m)	شَكَكْتَ	أنتَ
شَكَكْتُنَّ	أنتُنَّ	شَكَّتا	هما (f)	شَكَكْتِ	أنتِ
شَكَّوا	هم			شَكَّ	هو
شَكَكْنَ	هنَّ			شَكَّتْ	هي

Note that for this verb the stem vowel in the past tense is a fatha. Such will be the case for the majority of these verbs. However, occasionally a verb will have a kasra as a stem vowel, for example, وَدّ. Therefore its conjugation for أنا is وَدِدْتُ.

In the present tense doubled verbs are easily conjugated. Usually the stem vowel is a dhamma in the imperfect. Just as for the past tense, if the suffix in the present begins with a consonant, the second and third radicals are separated, the stem vowel is written between them, and a sukuun is placed over the last radical. For example, the conjugation for هن is يَشكُكْنَ

Now when the imperfect suffix begins with a vowel, as it does in every case but two, a funny thing happens. While the second and third radicals remain together with a shadda above, the stem vowel appears immediately after the first radical. That is, it moves over one position to the right. For example, the conjugation for هو is يَشُكُّ. The dhamma of the imperfect stem radical appears between the first and second radicals. Below are the present tense conjugations for the verb يَشُكُّ , شَكَّ.

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَشُكُّ	نَحْنَ	تَشُكّانِ	أنتُما	أَشُكُّ	أنا
تَشُكّونَ	أنتُم	يَشُكّانِ	هما (m)	تَشُكُّ	أنتَ
تَشْكُكْنَ	أنتُنَّ	تَشُكّانِ	هما (f)	تَشُكّينَ	أنتِ
يَشُكّونَ	هم			يَشُكُّ	هو
يَشْكُكْنَ	هنَّ			تَشُكُّ	هي

Jussive of Doubled Verbs

Below is a chart with the verb يَشُكُّ , شَكَّ conjugated in the jussive. Please note that there are two jussive conjugations for the pronouns I sometimes refer to as “the big five” هي , هو , أنتَ انا , and نحن.

Below the chart is an explanation of these conjugations.

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَشْكُكْ \ نَشُكُّ	نَحْنَ	تَشُكّا	أنتُما	أَشْكُكْ \ أَشُكُّ	أنا
تَشُكّوا	أنتُم	يَشُكّا	هما (m)	تَشْكُكْ\ تَشُكُّ	أنتَ
تَشْكُكْنَ	أنتُنَّ	تَشُكّا	هما (f)	تَشُكّي	أنتِ
يَشُكّوا	هم			يَشْكُكْ \ يَشُكُّ	هو
يَشْكُكْنَ	هنَّ			تَشْكُكْ \ تَشُكُّ	هي

Take a look at the conjugations for the big five. You should be able to see, after all the explanations you have read by now, what is going on here. The first conjugation listed in the chart for each of these five pronouns requires a sukuun, so the second and third radicals are separated. (Just as they are separated for the feminine plural conjugations in the present tense and the jussive since these conjugations begin with a consonant which is preceded by a sukuun.) However, in Modern Standard Arabic, the true jussive conjugations for these five pronouns are rarely used. Instead, the doubled radical is kept together, as it is for the present tense in these conjugations, and a fatha replaces the dhamma these conjugations take in the present. Thus, the second conjugation you see for each of these five pronouns is what you will normally see and is what I would like you to use. However, the true jussive conjugations do appear sometimes and they are, of course, correct. So, to say “I did not doubt” please use لم أَشُكَّ .

You will learn in the next chapter that the fathas used above for the “big five” pronouns are also the identifying feature of the subjunctive for virtually all verbs. So the conjugations normally used in the jussive of doubled verbs for the “big five” pronouns happen to be indentical to their subjunctive conjugations.

D: Assimilated Verbs, Form I

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 verbs. Therefore, this section will only deal with assimilated verbs in Form I. The derived forms of these verbs will be dealt with in the chapters treating Forms IV and X.

Assimilated verbs in Form I are very common. All you have to do is look under the waaw in your copy of Hans Wehr to see that they are indeed numerous. They can be divided into several sub-classes based upon the behavior of the stem and the waaw. However, the needs of the American student do not necessitate any sort of complicated division. Here they will be treated in much the same way that we treated sound verbs. For a more detailed analysis (that is, if you are a nut about grammar and morphology as I am) see Wright starting at the bottom of page 77. In fact, the explanation below will make Wright’s more meaningful to you.

First of all, assimilated verbs in the past tense conjugate exactly like sound verbs. There is no difference whatsoever. Therefore you will be expected to conjugate them with no problem.

In the present tense and in the jussive, however, the waaw of the stem is dropped from the conjugations. For example, the verb وَجَدَ is يَجِدُ in the present tense. It may have something to do with the stem vowel in the imperfect which is usually, but not always, a kasra. (For some Form I assimilated verbs in which the imperfect stem vowel is a fatha, the waaw remains, as in وَحِلَ, يَوْحَلُ) It may just be that the diphthong was just dropped for easier pronunciation. In any event, the initial waaw is dropped in the present tense for the vast majority of these verbs. Any exception will be noted in this text. As a practical matter, you will rarely see such exceptions in use today.

Below are the conjugations for the verb وَجَدَ, يَجِدُ in the present tense.

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَجِدُ	نَحْنَ	تَجِدانِ	أنتُما	أَجِدُ	أنا
تَجِدونَ	أنتُم	يَجِدانِ	هما (m)	تَجِدُ	أنتَ
تَجِدونَ	أنتُنَّ	تَجِدانِ	هما (f)	تَجِدينَ	أنتِ
يَجِدونَ	هم			يَجِدُ	هو
يَجِدْنَ	هنَّ			تَجِدُ	هي

Note that the stem vowel for this verb is a kasra in the imperfect. This will be the case for most verbs of this type. In fact, many of these verbs have a kasra for the stem vowel in the past tense and maintain the kasra for the stem vowel in the present tense. Examples of such verbs are يَثقَ , وَثِقَ , يَرِثُ , وَرِثَ and يَفقُ , وَفَقَ This breaks the general rule used with sound verbs such as َرِبَ With sound verbs, if the kasra is the stem vowel in the past tense, a fatha will be the stem vowel in the present tense almost invariably.

A few verbs of this type have a fatha for the stem vowel in the imperfect. For example يَقَعُ , وَقَعَ and يهبُ , وَهَبَ

There are also a few verbs, those with an imperfect stem vowel of dhamma and some with a fatha, which do not lose the waaw in the imperfect. For example, there is يوجعُ , وَجعَ . As I said above, these verbs occur only rarely today. We will not be dealing with them in this text.

You should also be aware of Form I assimilated verbs which are also defective such as يَفي , وفى and يَعى , وعى These verbs tend to have a present tense conjugation like that of the verb يَجري , جرى regardless of their past tense vowel pattern. For example وَليَ is يَلي in the present even though it has the same past tense pattern as يَلقى , لَقيَ I love verbs which are both assimilated and defective.

Aside from the dropping of the waaw in the imperfect, the conjugations for assimilated verbs are completely regular for the imperfect and the jussive. For the sake of completeness, below are the jussive conjugations for يَجِدُ , وَجَدَ .

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَجِدْ	نَحْنَ	تَجِدا	أنتُما	أَجِدْ	أنا
تَجِدوا	أنتُم	يَجِدا	هما (m)	تَجِدْ	أنتَ
تَجِدْنَ	أنتُنَّ	تَجِدا	هما (f)	تَجِدي	أنتِ
يَجِدوا	هم			يَجِدْ	هو
يَجِدْنَ	هنَّ			تَجِدْ	هي

Also for the sake of completeness, here are the jussive conjugations for the assimilated and defective verb يَفي , وَفى (“to fulfill s.th.”).

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَفِ	نَحْنَ	تَفِيا	أنتُما	أَفِ	أنا
تَفوا	أنتُم	يَفِيا	هما (m)	تَفِ	أنتَ
تَفينَ	أنتُنَّ	تَفِيا	هما (f)	تَفي	أنتِ
يَفوا	هم			يَفِ	هو
يَفينَ	هنَّ			تَفِ	هي

Note that the conjugations for the above defective verb are perfectly regular for a defective verb, with the exception that the first radical, the waaw, is also dropped. Note also, that for this type of verb, one that is assimilated and defective in Form I, the imperfect conjugations are those of يَجري , جرى regardless of the voweling pattern of the past tense.

Now you can see why I like verbs of this type.

C: Defective Verbs, Form I: Present Tense and Jussive

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 understanding the conjugations. In terms of learning the conjugations, however, they are slightly more difficult than hollow verbs, but only slightly. If you can learn the defective conjugations for Form I, you will have no trouble with the conjugations for the derived forms. (Forms II-X are referred to as the “derived forms”).

Defective verbs are those verbs whose last radical is either a waaw or a yaa’. You will see that, just as for hollow verbs, there is a principle of shortening the defective radical. However, due to the nature of the suffixes of Arabic verb conjugations, sometimes the suffix and the final radical will blend together. This is a major part of the difficulty that students have with defective verbs.

Past Tense

Defective verbs, like hollow verbs, are divided into three sub-classes for the purposes of conjugation: those whose last radical is a waaw, those whose last radical is a yaa’, and those whose last radical is a waaw or a yaa’ but whose conjugations do not reflect the identity of the last radical.

The verb نَجا (to be rescued) has a last radical of waaw. In theory, the verb exists as نَجَوَ This gives us the pattern of fatha-waaw-fatha, which does not exist in Arabic. Thus, as with hollow verbs, the two fathas obliterate the waaw and form an alif. The conjugation for this verb for the pronoun هي would be, in theory, نًجَوَتْ which would also give us the fatha-waaw-fatha combination. In this case, the waaw and the second fatha are dropped and the ت of the third person feminine is added. The result is نَجَتْ

You could also look at the هي conjugation in the following way. Since the هو conjugation is نجا , the feminine conjugation should yield نجاتْ . However, the alif has a hidden sukuun نجاتْ giving you two sukuuns in a row. Thus, the first sukuun is dropped along with the long vowel, just as we have seen so many times before. The fatha, the short counterpart of the alif, remains. Thus the result is نَجَتْ.

For any conjugation whose suffix begins with a consonant, these verbs are regular. For example, for the first person singular, انا , the conjugation is نَجوتُ Here the past stem shows up as نجوْ, and the suffix تُ is added. The same will be the case for any suffix beginning with a consonant. Reflect on the conjugations on the next page.

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَجَوْنا	نَحْنَ	نَجَوْتما	أنتُما	نَجَوْتُ	أنا
نَجَوْتُم	أنتُم	نَجَوا	هما (m)	نَجَوْتَ	أنتَ
نَجَوْتُنَّ	أنتُنَّ	نَجَتا	هما (f)	نَجَوْتِ	أنتِ
نَجَوْا	هم			نَجا	هو
نَجَوْنَ	هنَّ			نَجَتْ	هي

You can see here that whenever the suffix beings with a consonant, you have no problem. For example, look at the conjugation for هن. It consists of the stem نَجَوْ with the suffix نَ attached. It is pronounced “najawna.”

When the suffix begins with a vowel, however, as is the case with هم, there is a problem (except in the dual). Theoretically the conjugation would be نَجَووا. This would sound absolutely ridiculous. Also, it includes a combination of a fatha followed by two waaws, which does not exist in Arabic. Therefore, the first waaw is dropped to eliminate the forbidden sequence and to prevent you from sounding silly. This leaves you with نَجَوْا, pronounced “najaw.” Remember that the final alif is merely a spelling convention and is not pronounced.

In the dual conjugations, you see that the conjugation for أنتُما is regular since the suffix begins with a consonant. For هما (f) we lose the last radical just as we do for هي and for the same reason. For هما (m) we have an interesting situation. I told you that the combination of fatha-waaw-fatha does not exist in Arabic and that the two fathas will combine and obliterate the waaw. For هما (m) we have a fatha-waaw-alif combination. This combination, for a change, is permissible; thus the conjugation is نَجَوا which is perfectly regular. It is pronounced “najawa” and should not be confused with the third person masculine plural نَجَوْا, which is pronounced “najaw.”

In the past tense, five pronouns have a suffix which begins with a vowel, هو, هي , هما (m), هما (f) and هم. Of these five, one pronoun, هما (m) yields a regular conjugation. The other four are irregular as you have now seen. All of the remaining conjugations (those whose suffix begins with a consonant) are all quite regular. So out of thirteen conjugations, nine are regular.

Now we come to defectives which have a yaa’ as their final radical. The verb جرى. is an example. This verb will conjugate exactly as نجا except that a yaa’ will show up in the conjugations instead of a waaw. Ponder the conjugations in the past tense for جرى, below.

Plural		Dual		Singular
جَرَيْنا	نَحْنَ	جَرَيْتما	أنتُما	جَرَيْتُ	أنا
جَرَيْتم	أنتُم	جَريَا	هما (m)	جَرَيْتَ	أنتَ
جَرَيْتُنَّ	أنتُنَّ	جَرتَا	هما (f)	جَرَيْتِ	أنتِ
جَرَوا	هم			جَرى	هو
جَرَيْنَ	هنَّ			جَرتْ	هي

Notice that the conjugations for هو and هي are the same for this verb as for نجا, whose final radical is a waaw. For the . هو conjugation, the only difference is that instead of writing an alif, an alif maqsuura is written, indicating the presence of a yaa’ as a final radical. Notice also that all of the other conjugations for this verb follow the exact same pattern as نجا, with the exception that the yaa’ appears whenever the waaw does for نجا. With practice, these defective verbs should be no more difficult than any other verb in the language.

Unfortunately, as I have noted previously, Albert Einstein did not invent this language. So not only do defective verbs exist, as we have just reviewed, but there is also a category of defective verbs, which, like hollow verbs, do not indicate the identity of the last radical in their conjugations. For example, the verb نَسِيَ (to forget) has a yaa’ as its last radical and رَضِيَ (to be pleased) has a waaw as its last radical.These two verbs will conjugate the same way. Below is a chart for the past tense conjugations of نَسِيَ

See if you can draw inspiration from it.

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَسِينا	نَحْنَ	نَسِيتُما	أنتُما	نَسِيتُ	أنا
نَسِيتُم	أنتُم	نَسِيا	هما (m)	نَسِيتَ	أنتَ
نَسِيتُنَّ	أنتُنَّ	نَسِيتَا	هما (f)	نَسِيتِ	أنتِ
نَسوا	هم			نَسِيَ	هو
نَسِينَ	هنَّ			نَسِيَت	هي

First, let’s take a look at the conjugations for هو and هي . For both of these conjugations we see the pattern kasra-yaa’-fatha which, lo and behold, is PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE in Arabic. Therefore this verb is completely regular for those two conjugations. Likewise, both third-person dual conjugations are regular.

Now, look at all of the conjugations which have a consonant as the first letter of the suffix. These conjugations are also completely regular. For example, the conjugation for أنا is نَسيتُ. Here you see all three radicals of the root of the verb, just as you would for a sound verb such as درس. Remember also that any long vowel in Arabic always has a sukuun immediately following it. Therefore, the theoretical conjugation emphasizes the regularity of this verb for such conjugations as نَسيتُ

The only conjugation which is irregular is the conjugation for هم. Here we would have a combination of يو which does not exists in Arabic. This is because the letter ي in this situation tends to take on its vowel quality. This would give you two long vowels in a row, which is not permitted in Arabic. Here the ي drops and the waaw of the suffix remains. This conjugation is pronounced “nasu.” Remember that the alif is just a spelling convention.

Note:

Sometimes students become confused between the rules governing the ي in verbs such as نَسِيَ and the rules for the يّ which is used in nisba adjectives. When a word ends with a nisba ending it has two yaa’s. The two yaa’s are indicated by the writing of one yaa’ and placing a shadda above it, i.e. يَ. The letters و and ي can be added to the nisba ending as you have seen previously in such words as مصريّونَ and مصريّينَThe nisba ending does not drop out – unlike the ي in نَسِيَ which does drop if a و is added to the end of a verb.

You will see in Chapter Two of Part II that any word ending with a ي with a shadda such as مَبْنِيّ (“built”), or ending with a و and a shadda such as مَدْعُوّ (“invited”) will never lose the final يّ or وّ no matter what may be appended to the word.

Defective Verbs. Form I. Present Tense

No doubt by this point you are probably getting a little tired of conjugating verbs with waaws and yaa’s as part of their root. Keep in mind that hollow and defective verbs form a surprisingly large number of verbs which are commonly used in newspapers and in everyday speech. The more control you have over them, the more control you will have over the language as a whole.

At the end of this section, there will be another exercise using authentic Arabic. You will have an article and will identify all of the hollow and defective verbs included in it. This may help drive home the point about how important these verbs are. In fact, if you have an Arabic newspaper at hand, you ought to take a few minutes on your own and scan the front-page articles for these kinds of verbs and see how many you find.

Another thing to keep in mind, is that Form I verbs as a class are the most difficult to master. Once they have been learned (and you are almost there now) you will find that Forms II-X are much easier. This is even and especially true with Forms II-X of hollow and defective verbs. If you master these verbs in Form I, they’ll be an awful lot easier for you in the derived Forms.

Anyway, the show continues. On to the present tense.

In the present tense, defective verbs of the first two classes indicate the identity of the last radical in their conjugations. However, the final radical for some of the conjugations blends with the suffixes. For the third group, the final radical is an alif maqsuura which tends to disappear when suffixes begin with long vowels.

Final Radical Waaw

Take a look at the present tense conjugations for يَنْجو , نجا below.

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَنْجو	نَحْنَ	تَنْجوانِ	أنتُما	أنْجو	أنا
تَنْجونَ	أنتُم	يَنْجوانِ	هما (m)	تَنْجو	أنتَ
تَنْجونَ	أنتُنَّ	تَنْجوانِ	هما (f)	تَنْجينَ	أنتِ
يَنْجونَ	هم			يَنْجو	هو
يَنْجونَ	هنَّ			تَنْجو	هي

Look at the conjugation for the pronoun أنا In theory, the conjugation should be أنجُوُ. However, the final dhamma blends into the waaw and disappears. Another way to look at it is that the two dhammas on either side of the waaw combine into a waaw. In either case, the final dhamma which we usually see in the present tense is gone. The same thing happens for the pronouns هي , هو , أنتَ, and نحن (These are the five conjugations which normally end in a dhamma in the present tense and which I have asked you to try to associate together.) For the pronoun أنتِ the waaw disappears completely.

The dual conjugations are regular. The ending انِ does not cause problems when appended to the last radical of any defective verb.

Now look at the conjugations for هم and هن The theoretical conjugation for هم is يَنْجوونَ Here the two waaws blend into one waaw and give us يَنْجونَ For هن the conjugation is actually regular. The suffix نَ simply follows the waaw of the root. All you are doing is taking the imperfect stem يَنْجو and adding نَ The result is a regular conjugation يَنْجونَ . So the two third person plural conjugations look and sound exactly the same. However, the roads to their production are different.

For the pronouns أنتم and أنتن exactly the same processes take place that we have just seen for هم and هن herefore, these two conjugations also look and sound alike.

Final Radical Yaa’

Look at the conjugations for the verb يَجْري , جرى below. Ruminate on their inner significance. Then read the comments below.

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَجْري	نَحْنَ	تَجريانِ	أنتُما	أجْري	أنا
تَجْرونَ	أنتُم	يَجْريانِ	هما (m)	تَجري	أنتَ
تَجْرينَ	أنتُنَّ	تَجريانِ	هما (f)	تَجرينَ	أنتِ
يَجْرون	هم			يَجْري	هو
يَجْرينَ	هنَّ			تَجري	هي

Do I have to go through the conjugations for this verb as I did for يَنْجو , نَجا or can I just give you a brief synopsis? Let’s try the brief synopsis.

Notice that for ALL conjugations which resulted in a waaw for يَنْجو , نَجا we now have a yaa’. So far no problem. Note also that for أنتِ the yaa’ of the root and the yaa’ of the suffix combine, leaving only one yaa’. Note that this gives the same conjugation as we had for ينجو , نجا

Now look at the conjugations for هم and هن . For the theoretical conjugation would be يَجْريْون. This would give us two long vowels in a row, which is not possible. Therefore the ي drops completely. The result is pronounced “yajruuna.” For هن the conjugations is regular. The suffix نَ is appended to يَجْري giving us يَجْرينَ, which is pronounced “yajriina.” For the pronouns أنتم and أنتن the same principles are applied.

If you are using EMSA (the orange books) as a reference, you should be aware of an error on page 134 of volume two. On that page the verb يبني , بنى, is used as model for verbs with a yaa’ for the final radical. For the second and third person feminine plural pronouns they give the conjugations as having a diphthong (تَبْنيْنَ and يَبْنيْنَ which would be pronounced “tabnayna” and “yabnayna”) instead of the correct conjugations which I have just given you. For verification see both Wright and Cowan.

Verbs With a Final Radical of Waaw or Yaa’ (Schizophrenic Defective Verbs)

The final category of defective verbs is made of those verbs whose final radical is either a waaw or a yaa’ but whose conjugations do not necessarily reflect the identity of the final radical. These verbs all have a kasra for the stem vowel in the past tense. The verb نَسِيَ is an example. In the present tense, the stem vowel becomes a fatha. (Remember, earlier I pointed out that if a verb has a kasra as a stem vowel for the past tense, it will have a fatha in the present tense.) The fatha causes the final radical to be written as an alif maqsuura in the present tense. For your consideration, here are the present tense conjugations of يَنْسى , نَسِيَ

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَنْسَى	نَحْنَ	تَنْسَيانِ	أنتُما	أَنْسى	أنا
تَنْسَوْنَ	أنتُم	يَنْسَيانِ	هما (m)	تَنْسى	أنتَ
تَنْسَيْنَ	أنتُنَّ	تَنْسَيانِ	هما (f)	تَنْسيْنَ	أنتِ
يَنْسَوْنَ	هم			يَنْسَى	هو
يَنْسَيْنَ	هنَّ			تَنْسَى	هي

Observe that for the five conjugations which yielded either a final waaw or a final yaa’ in the previous two categories, we now have an alif maqsuura. This is the result of a fatha-yaa’-dhamma pattern. For our model verb, for example, the conjugation for أنا is theoretically أَنْسَيُ. This gives us the pattern of fatha-yaa’-dhamma (fatha-waaw-dhamma if the last radical is a waaw) which is not possible in Arabic. In such cases neither a yaa’ nor an alif is the result. Instead we get a sort of average between the two, the alif maqsuura, which is an alif that looks like a yaa’.

For أنتِ we have a combination of تَنْسَى and the suffix ينَ . The alif maqsuura is dropped, but the fatha remains. When the ينَ suffix is added you get نَنْسَينَ which gives you a diphthong so a sukuun confirming this is written over the ي. The result is pronounced “tansayna.”

The dual conjugations are regular. The last radical will always be written as a yaa” with the dual suffixes attached. Note that the stem vowel is a fatha and that the combination of fatha-yaa’-alif works just as the combination of fatha-waaw-alif we saw using the model verb ينجو , نجا

Now look at the conjugation for همTheoretically the conjugation is يَنْسَيونَ. This theoretical conjugation gives us a suffix as an independent syllable beginning with a vowel. In Arabic, no word or syllable begins with a vowel. So the ي with its sukuun and the و starting the suffix are incompatible. The yaa’ and the sukuun are dropped. The fatha over the middle radical remains. The result is يَنْسَوْنَ (“they forget”) which is pronounced “yansawna.” Don’t forget this. The same thing happens for the conjugation for the pronoun أنتم.

On the feminine plural side, the conjugations are regular. We add the suffix نَ to either يَنْسَى or تَنْسَى The alif maqsuura becomes a ي when attached to a consonant (the same principle as we saw putting pronoun suffixes onto على and إلى) so we get يَنْسَيْنَ and تَنْسَيْنَ

There is also a fourth category of Form I defectives. These verbs conjugate in the past tense just like جرى . However, in the present tense they conjugate like the verb نسيَ These verbs are few in number. The most common of them is the verb يسعى , سعى (to strive). You will also encounter .يَرعى , رَعى and يَطغى , طغى and a couple of others. If you read classical texts you will encounter more verbs of this category.

Now, before you go on to the next section which deals with the jussive of defective verbs, take a break and look through the article on the next page and follow the directions which accompany it.

The Jussive of Form I Defectives

You are going to love this. Below is a chart for the jussive conjugations for each of the three defective verbs we have used as models. Afterward there is an explanation of what is going on. In all seriousness, the principles are quite simple and can easily be internalized. Once you get this down nothing else in this book will seem difficult.

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَنْجُ	نَحْنَ	تَنْجوا	أنتُما	أَنْجُ	أنا
تَنْجوا	أنتُم	يَنْجوا	هما (m)	تَنْجُ	أنتَ
تَنْجونَ	أنتُنَّ	تَنْجوا	هما (f)	تَنْجي	أنتِ
يَنْجوا	هم			يَنْجُ	هو
يَنْجونَ	هنَّ			تَنْجُ	هي

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَجْرِ	نَحْنَ	تَجْرِيا	أنتُما	أجْرِ	أنا
تَجْروا	أنتُم	يَجْرِيا	هما (m)	تَجْرِ	أنتَ
تَجْرينَ	أنتُنَّ	تَجْرِيا	هما (f)	تَجْرِي	أنتِ
يَجْروا	هم			يَجْرِ	هو
يَجْرينَ	هنَّ			تَجْرِ	هي

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَنْسَ	نَحْنَ	تَنْسَيا	أنتُما	أَنْسَ	أنا
تَنْسَوْا	أنتُم	يَنْسيَا	هما (m)	تَنْسَ	أنتَ
تَنْسَيْنَ	أنتُنَّ	تَنْسَيا	هما (f)	تَنْسَىْ	أنتِ
يَنْسَوْا	هم			يَنْسَ	هو
يَنْسَيْنَ	هنَّ			تَنْسَ	هي

Let’s first look at the conjugations for the pronouns هي , هو , أنتَ , أنا and نحن. These are the pronouns which always give us a long vowel at the end of the present tense conjugations for defective verbs. As you have seen, that long vowel is either a waaw, a yaa’, or an alif maqsuura, depending upon the type of the verb. In theory, all of those conjugations end with an unwritten sukuun placed after the final long vowel. Now in the jussive, as you know, a sukuun replaces the final dhamma when we are dealing with sound verbs (as in لم يَدْرُسْ ). Here there is no final dhamma, but we still add a sukuun and the principle of shortening still applies.

For example, the imperfect indicate of the نجا for the pronoun هو is يَنْجو . The final waaw in the word is a long vowel and thus is actually followed by a sukuun . Thus if the word were completely vocalized it would appear as يَنْجو In the jussive we are adding, in theory, a second sukuun to the end of the word. This gives us two sukuuns in a row. The first sukuun and its long vowel are then removed with a dhamma now in place of the و. Thus the jussive conjugation is يَنْجُ Another way to look at it is to say that we have moved the unwritten sukuun of the present tense of these defectives over one space to the right. This eliminates the long vowel and leaves its short counterpart. Whichever way you look at it, the point is that those defectives which end in a waaw in the present tense end in a dhamma for the jussive.

The same principle applies to the other two groups of defective verbs. Thus for the verb يَجْري , جرى we see the yaa’ shortened to a kasra just as the waaw is shortened to a dhamma for يَنْجو , نجا Likewise, the alif maqsuura for the schizophrenic defective verb is shortened to its counterpart, the fatha, for the same conjugations that require shortening with the other two verbs. With this principle in mind, learning the jussive conjugations for these verbs is not too difficult.

Now look at the conjugations for the pronoun أنتِ The final nuun and fatha are cut off just as they are for sound verbs. What remains after the cutting off is the conjugation for the second person feminine singular. (Note the diphthong for the third group of verbs.)

The dual conjugations are derived in regular fashion. Merely drop the final نِ as you would with any
verb.

Now let’s look at the masculine plural pronouns هم and أنتم. The jussive is derived herein regular fashion as well. The final nuun and fatha are again cut off and are here replaced by an unpronounced alif. Thus, we now have the ending of waaw and alif that we are accustomed to seeing with sound and hollow verbs. Of course, the way the waaw and alif come into being with the defectives is somewhat different than for sound verbs, but at least the conjugations look somewhat normal. Note that for the third class of verbs, the masculine plural conjugations contain a diphthong. The diphthong should be pronounced. In other words, the verb in this case should be pronounced “yansow”” and not “yansu.”

Now look at the feminine plural conjugations. Just like sound verbs, the plural feminine conjugations are the same for the jussive as they are for the present tense. So there is nothing new to learn for them in the jussive.

Time to Preach
One way to help get these conjugations down is to pick up a pen and paper from time to time (maybe each day for a while), and write down the conjugations for these defectives from memory. If you get stuck, refer to the charts in this text or to those in other texts. It only takes about three minutes to write out the present tense and jussive conjugations for one verb. So if you spend ten minutes or so you can go through the conjugations of all three types of defective verbs. This is exactly what I did when I had to learn this stuff.

Another way to get used to these verbs, aside from doing drills, is to read texts which contain them and write paragraphs in which you use them as much as possible. This text will incorporate reading materials which use these verbs to a considerable extent. You must get used to dealing with them. These verbs are very, very common. If you ever want to be able to read an Arabic text with any degree of fluency, you must learn them. You cannot just ignore them and hope that you will not see them very often. You will see them very often regardless of the kind of texts you wish to read. There will be more on this subject in a later chapter.

B: Hollow Verbs, Form I: Present Tense and Jussive

You have now learned how to deal with Form I verbs in both tenses as well as how to produce the jussive. Up to this point we have focused only on Form I verbs and only on Form I verbs which do not have a waaw or a yaa’ as one of their radicals. This part of Chapter One will treat Form I verbs whose middle radicals are either a waaw or a yaa’. These verbs are known as hollow verbs because the middle consonant disappears and is replaced by an alif. Often, these verbs are not taught to American students until they have had a considerable amount of Arabic and are already seriously contemplating giving up the language forever. Then, when these verbs are taught, the students drop like flies from class.

In reality, hollow verbs are only slightly more difficult to learn than sound verbs and can be mastered in about ten per cent more study time. Remember that for the past tense, suffixes for ALL verbs in Arabic are exactly the same. Remember also that in the present tense, the prefixes for ALL verbs are the same and the suffixes are usually the same. Therefore, you do not need to learn to generate completely new conjugations when learning hollow verbs.

By the way, hollow verbs are extremely common and some of them are among the most widely-used verbs in the language. There is no escaping them.

A hollow verb has either a waaw or a yaa’ as its middle radical. For example, the verb زَارَ is, in theory, زَوَرَ. However the pattern of fatha waaw fatha (وَ) does not exists in Arabic. (Why? Probably because it is too hard to say. Who knows?) Instead, the two fathas combine into an alif (in reality, an alif is one fatha lengthened by another) and obliterate the waaw. Along the same lines, سارَ exists in theory as سَيَر . Here the sequence of fatha yaa’ fatha also does not exist in Arabic. Here, too, the two fathas form an alif which obliterates the yaa’. The result in both cases is the same.

Below are the verb conjugations for the verb زارَ in the past tense. Look at them carefully. Following the conjugations is an explanation.

Plural		Dual		Singular
زُرْنا	نَحْنَ	زُرْتُما	أنتُما	زُرْتُ	أنا
زُرْتُم	أنتُم	زارا	هما (m)	زُرْتَ	أنتَ
زُرْتُنَّ	أنتُنَّ	زارَتا	هما (f)	زُرْتِ	أنتِ
زاروا	هم			زارَ	هو
زُرْنَ	هنَّ			زارتْ	هي

First, look at the conjugations for هو and هي They differ in no way at all from the conjugations of sound verbs you have seen. Notice that the suffixes on those two conjugations begin with a vowel (the fatha in both cases). Now look at the conjugation for أنا. Note that the suffix is the same here as it would be for any other verb. However, the alif has disappeared and been replaced by a dhamma. Yaa habiibi, what has happened?

The suffix for this conjugation begins with a consonant (the ت). A sukuun, as usual, precedes this suffix. In Arabic, any long vowel is considered to be immediately followed by a sukuun. Therefore, the theoretical conjugation of this verb for أنا would be زارتُ . In that situation there would be two sukuuns in a row – this cannot happen in Arabic. Thus, one sukuun has got to go. The alif and hence its sukuun are dropped and replaced by a short vowel. Since the middle radical of زارَ is a waaw, its short counterpart, the dhamma, replaces the alif. The principle of shortening the alif to a short vowel holds whenever the suffix begins with a consonant. When the suffix begins with a vowel, the alif remains. Since زارَ has a waaw as a middle radical, the alif is always replaced by a dhamma when the situation calls for the alif s replacement.

Study the other conjugations ofزارَ and see how the eternal truths in the above paragraph apply.

سارَ (to walk, to march) is also a hollow verb. It has a yaa’ for its middle radical. For this verb, the alif will be replaced by a kasra in exactly the same way that the alif was replaced by a dhamma for زارَ
Look at the conjugations below.

Plural		Dual		Singular
سِرْنا	نَحْنَ	سِرتٌما	أنتُما	سِرْتُ	أنا
سِرْتُم	أنتُم	سارا	هما (m)	سِرْتَ	أنتَ
سِرْتُنَّ	أنتُنَّ	سارَتا	هما (f)	سِرْتِ	أنتِ
ساروا	هم			سارَ	هو
سِرْنَ	هنَّ			سارَت	هي

We see, then, that there are two classes of hollow verbs in Form I, those whose middle radical is a waaw and those whose middle radical is a yaa’. In most cases you can tell the middle radical from the voweling of the past-tense conjugations. That is, most verbs with a waaw as a middle radical conjugate exactly like زارَ in the past tense. Verbs whose middle radical is a yaa’ conjugate just like سارَ in the past tense.

Some verbs, however, conjugate just as سار does in the past tense, even though their middle radical is a waaw. Two such verbs are خافَ and نامَ . This class of verbs will be treated in detail when we come to the present tense conjugations of Form I hollow verbs, which we will do as soon as you finish the drills.

Hollow Verbs, Form I, Present Tense

The conjugations for Form I hollow verbs in the present tense follow rules analogous to the conjugations for the past tense. Whenever the suffix of the conjugations begins with a consonant, the middle radical is shortened. Whenever the suffix begins with a vowel, the middle radical will be a long vowel. We will separate these verbs into three categories in the manner alluded to in the previous section: verbs whose middle radical is a waaw,, those whose middle radical is a yaa’, and those whose middle radical is either a waaw or yaa’ but whose present conjugations do not reflect the identity of the middle radical.

Middle Radical Waaw

We now return to the verbزارَ to illustrate this class of verbs. In the present tense the middle radical waaw actually appears in most of the conjugations for the verb. When it does not, it is replaced by a dhamma. As I have said, whenever the suffix of the present tense conjugation begins with a vowel, the waaw will be reflected in the conjugation. For example, the conjugation for أنا is أزورُ . The suffix is a dhamma, of course, so the waaw appears as a long vowel.

Now we know that the suffix for any verb conjugated for هن in the present tense begins with a ن. Any suffix for either the past tense or present tense, that begins with a consonant, always places a sukuun immediately before that consonant. Therefore, the theoretical conjugation for زارَ for the third person feminine plural would be يَزوْرْنَ,, Note the sukuun following the waaw and remember that in Arabic, any long vowel is always followed by a sukuun. Thus we have two sukuuns, which, as you know, is forbidden in Arabic. In such a case, the first sukuun and its long vowel disappear and are replaced by a dhamma. For the present tense, this shortening only takes place for the pronouns هي and أنتن. Look at the conjugations below for the verb يَزورُ , زارَ

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَزورُ	نَحْنَ	تَزورانِ	أنتُما	أزورُ	أنا
تَزورونَ	أنتُم	يَزورانِ	هما (m)	تَزورُ	أنتَ
تَزُرْنَ	أنتُنَّ	تَزورانِ	هما (f)	تَزورينَ	أنتِ
يَزورونَ	هم			يَزورُ	هو
يَزُرْنَ	هنَّ			تَزورُ	هي

Note that this verb conjugates exactly like any sound verb with respect to the prefixes and suffixes used in the conjugations. The only difference is in the shortening of the middle radical in two conjugations. Think of the hollow radical as a sort of combination of the middle radical and the stem vowel. When I refer to verbs like this in the future, I’ll refer to them using the past and present conjugations for هو as I do for sound verbs. For example, the verb in the chart above will be referred to as زارَ , ‘ يَزورُ You should also think of hollow verbs in this way; it will help you to remember whether to put a waaw, a yaa’, or an alif in the middle.

Middle Radical Yaa’

The verb يَسير , سارَ ُhas a yaa” as its middle radical. The yaa’ is reflected in the present tense conjugations for this type of verb, just as the waaw is reflected in the conjugations for زارَ , ‘ يَزورُ. Below are the conjugations for يَسير , سارَ in the present tense.

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَسيرُ	نَحْنَ	تَسيرانِ	أنتُما	أسيرُ	أنا
تَسيرونَ	أنتُم	يَسيران	هما (m)	تَسيرُ	أنتَ
تَسِرْنَ	أنتُنَّ	تَسيرانِ	هما (f)	تَسيرينَ	أنتِ
يَسيرونَ	هم			يَسيرُ	هو
يَسِرْنَ	هنَّ			تَسيرُ	هي

As you can see, the principle of shortening the long vowel to its short counterpart applies here just as it does for verbs with waaw as the middle radical. The only difference here is that the middle radical is a yaa’ which is shortened to a kasra. When such verbs are referred to in the text, their character will be indicated in the same way as for verbs with middle radical waaw, i.e. يَسير , سارَ

By now you should feel a little bit less concerned about conjugating hollow verbs. You can see that they conjugate pretty much as do sound verbs. Remember, the prefixes and suffixes for all of the conjugations for every verb you have seen are the same. The only difference is the principle of shortening the middle radical.

This is perhaps a good time to point out that Form I verbs, for all their fine qualities, are the most difficult of all verbs in Arabic with respect to conjugations and forming their verbal nouns. In other words, Arabic does not actually get harder than it is right now. Forms II-X have patterns which are entirely uniform within each form and are very easy to learn. If you can get Form I verbs down now as you go through this part of the text you will have no trouble with the rest of the verbs. A pleasant thought, is it not?

Schizophrenic Form I Hollow Verbs

We now come to the third class of hollow verbs for Form I. An example of this type of verb is خافَ , يَخافُ These verbs can have either a waaw or a yaa’ as a middle radical. In the past tense these verbs conjugate just like يسير , سار . In other words, the alif is replaced by a kasra for certain conjugations. We have noted this phenomenon when we dealt with the past tense of hollow verbs.

In the present tense for these verbs, the alif remains in the conjugations. In the conjugations for هن and أنتن , the alif is shortened to a fatha. Look at the conjugations for يخاف , خاف below.

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَخافُ	نَحْنَ	تَخافانِ	أنتُما	أَخافُ	أنا
تخافونَ	أنتُم	يَخافانِ	هما (m)	تَخافُ	أنتَ
تَخَفْنَ	أنتُنَّ	تَخافانِ	هما (f)	تَخافينَ	أنتِ
يَخافونَ	هم			يخافُ	هو
يَخَفْنَ	هنَّ			تَخافُ	هي

The verbs in this class are all conjugated exactly the same way, regardless of whether the middle radical is a waaw or a yaa’. In the past tense a kasra shows when the alif is shortened. In the present tense, the alif remains and is shortened to a fatha when shortening takes place. Whenever a verb of this type is referred to, it will be noted in the following manner: يَنامُ , نامَ.

Why do these schizophrenic hollow verbs exist? The only reason I can think of is to refute the assertion of Orientalists that Arabic is a logical, robot-like language. Wilfred Cantwell Smith, a noted Harvard Orientalist, used to love to say that if Albert Einstein had invented a language it would have been Arabic. In reality, if Einstein had invented a language, none of the words would have had a waaw or yaa’ as part of its root.

Hollow Verbs. Form I, The Jussive

Here is where hollow verbs really become fun. Before you look at the charts I have included below, let’s talk about how and why these verbs look the way the do in the jussive.

Let’s start with the conjugation for هو for the verb يَزورُ , زارَ The present tense is, obviously, يَزورُ. Now let’s put it into the jussive step by step. The first step is to replace the dhamma at the end of the verb with a sukuun, so we would get this يَزورْ Now remember what I said earlier about every long vowel having a sort of hidden sukuun attached. So what we really have here is يَزوْرْ. This gives us two sukuuns in a row – a no-no in Arabic. So, as before, the first sukuun and its long vowel are dropped. The long vowel is replaced by its short counterpart. Since the long vowel in this case is a waaw, the short counterpart is a dhamma. So we remove the waaw and replace it with a dhamma and we get يَزُرْ

This principle of shortening will apply to:

1. The five conjugations which in the present tense end in a dhamma. These conjugations are the singular conjugations, with the exception of أنتِ , plus the conjugation for نحن You should recall that I asked you to try to associate these five conjugations in your mind. This is one of the reasons.

2. The two feminine plural conjugations, because the suffixes for these begin with a consonant and thus give us two sukuuns in a row as well. For example, for هن the theoretical conjugation would be يَزوْرْنَ . Here we have two sukuuns in a row, so the waaw is replaced by a dhamma. The result is: يَزُرْنَ

For the rest of the conjugations, the final ن is dropped as it would be for any verb in the jussive.

Below is a chart for the jussive conjugations for يَزورُ , زارَ Study it with the comments above in mind, and once again see how these eternal verities apply.

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَزُرْ	نَحْنَ	تَزورا	أنتُما	أزُرْ	أنا
تَزوروا	أنتُم	يَزورا	هما (m)	تَزُرْ	أنتَ
تَزُرْنَ	أنتُنَّ	تَزورا	هما (f)	تَزوري	أنتِ
يَزوروا	هم			يَزُرْ	هو
يَزُرْنَ	هنَّ			تَزُرْ	هي

Look at the singular conjugations and look at the conjugation for نحن All of the singular conjugations except for أنتِ have shortened the waaw to a dhamma as is also the case for the conjugation for نحن The jussive suffix for these conjugations requires a sukuun which replaces the dhamma these conjugations had in the present tense. This gives you two sukuuns in a row. So the hidden sukuun over the waaw is dropped. When it goes the waaw goes. A dhamma is put in place of the waaw

For the two feminine plural conjugations, the jussive suffix begins with a consonant. This too means that you have two sukuuns in a row. So the waaw is dropped and a dhamma is put in its place.

All of the rest of the conjugations, when in the present tense, begin with a long vowel and end in a ن followed by a short vowel. For these, the jussive requires removing that ن and its vowel, as usual.

For verbs of the category of يَسيرُ , سارَ the principle of shortening is exactly the same. This time, though, the ي will be replaced by a kasra. Additionally, for verbs of the category يَنامُ , نامَ the alif is replaced by a fatha for the same reason and in the same conjugations.

Below are two practice charts. In the first, put in the fully voweled, jussive conjugations for سارَ,يَسيرُ and in the second put in the jussive conjugations for يَنامُ , نامَ Use the above chart and the comments as your guide. Then when you are finished, compare your charts to the charts on the next page.

Write in the jussive conjugations for the verb سارَ, يَسيرُ am in the chart below.

Plural		Dual		Singular
	نَحْنَ		أنتُما		أنا
	أنتُم		هما (m)		أنتَ
	أنتُنَّ		هما (f)		أنتِ
	هم				هو
	هنَّ				هي

Write in the jussive conjugations for the verb يَنامُ , نامَ in the chart below.

Plural		Dual		Singular
	نَحْنَ		أنتُما		أنا
	أنتُم		هما (m)		أنتَ
	أنتُنَّ		هما (f)		أنتِ
	هم				هو
	هنَّ				هي

Now compare what you have written in the two charts above with the charts Below.

Here are the jussive conjugations for the verb سارَ, يَسيرُ

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَسِرْ	نَحْنَ	تَسيرا	أنتُما	أَسِرْ	أنا
تَسيروا	أنتُم	يَسيرا	هما (m)	تَسِرْ	أنتَ
تَسِرْنَ	أنتُنَّ	تَسيرا	هما (f)	تَسيري	أنتِ
يَسيروا	هم			يَسِرْ	هو
يَسِرْنَ	هنَّ			تَسِرْ	هي

Here are the jussive conjugations for the verb يَنامُ , نامَ ,

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَنَمْ	نَحْنَ	تَناما	أنتُما	أَنَمْ	أنا
تَناموا	أنتُم	يَناما	هما (m)	تَنَمْ	أنتَ
تَنَمْنَ	أنتُنَّ	تَناما	هما (f)	تَنامي	أنتِ
يَناموا	هم			يَنَمْ	هو
يَنَمْنَ	هنَّ			تَنَمْ	هي

A: Sound Verbs, Form I: The Jussive

You have already learned the past tense for sound, Form I verbs. In this section you will learn the imperfect indicative (present tense) and jussive conjugations.

The Arabic imperfect requires that a prefix and a suffix be attached to the radicals of the verb. Let’s take the verb دَرَسَ. The third person masculine singular conjugation for that verb in the imperfect is يَدْرُسُ Here your prefix is a yaa’ followed by a fatha. Your suffix is a dhamma. Note two other changes. First, note the sukuun over the first radical. Now look at the short vowel over the second radical. The short vowel is a dhamma. In the perfect tense, the short vowel over the middle radical was a fatha. The vowel that goes over the middle radical in the perfect or imperfect is called the “stem” vowel. The stem vowel for a Form I verb in the imperfect cannot be predicted. You must memorize the stem vowel for the imperfect for each new Form I verb. A common way to do this is to think of each verb as a combination of the perfect and imperfect third person singular conjugations. What do I mean by this?

Let’s say the verb دَرَسَ is a new verb to you. You need to know this verb in the perfect and imperfect. From now on, whenever you learn a new Form I verb, the stem vowel for the imperfect will be provided at the same time. When you memorize the verb , think of the verb not just as دَرَسَ but as دَرَسَ ,يَدْرُسُ This will help you remember the stem vowel for that verb. This is often done in the Arab world as well when children are taught Modern Standard Arabic.

Now look at the chart below for all of the conjugations for the verb دَرَسَ; يَدْرُس in the imperfect indicative (which we will simply call the imperfect or refer to as the present tense from now on).

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَدْرُسُ	نَحْنَ	تَدْرُسانِ	أنتُما	أَدْرُسُ	أنا
تَدْرُسونَ	أنتُم	يَدْرُسانِ	هما (m)	تَدْرُسُ	أنتَ
تدْرٌسْنَ	أنتُنَّ	تَدْرسانِ	هما (f)	تَدْرُسينَ	أنتِ
يَدْرُسونَ	هم			يَدْرُسُ	هو
يَدْرُسْنَ	هنَّ			تَدْرُسُ	هي

Let’s examine the conjugations above more closely. First, we will look at the prefixes attached to the conjugations. Each prefix is composed of a consonant and a vowel. The consonants used as prefixes are ت ي , ن , and أ (a hamza, which is a consonant, seated on an alif which here has no phonetic value.) The أ is the prefix for the pronoun أنا. This will be the case for every present tense conjugation for every verb in the language, regardless of the Form of the verb or whether it is sound, hollow, defective, assimilated or doubled.

The ت is the consonant used as a prefix for هما , انتما , هي , أنتِ , أنتَ.” in the feminine, أنتم, and أنتنَّ This same ت will be used for the conjugations for these pronouns for every verb in the language.

The ي is the prefix for the pronouns هو , هما in the masculine,هم , and هنَّ. The ي will be used as the prefix for the conjugations for these pronouns for every verb in the language.

The ن is used a the prefix for the pronoun نحن .This ن will be used for this conjugation for every verb in the language.

In Form I verbs, a fatha is used as the vowel which goes with each of these prefixed consonants. In this book, I will refer to the vowel on the prefix as the prefix vowel. The fatha is the prefix vowel for all Form I verbs and for all verbs in Forms V-X. In Forms II-IV, as you will see, the prefix vowel is always a dhamma.

The first radical in the chart above always has a sukuun. This will be the case for the first radical on every present tense Form I sound verb.

The stem vowel in the chart above is a dhamma. As previously stated, for other verbs, the stem vowel could be a kasra and for others it could be a fatha. For example يَرْجِعُ , رَجَعَ has a stem vowel of kasra and يَذْهّبُ , ذَهّبّ has a stem vowel of fatha.

Remember, the imperfect stem vowel of a Form I verb can rarely be predicted. You must learn the imperfect stem vowel for each verb as you learn the verb. The only time you can predict the stem vowel for the imperfect is when the stem vowel for the perfect is a kasra. For such verbs the imperfect stem vowel is almost always fatha. For example, the verb شَرِبَ becomes يَشْرَبُ in the imperfect.

The suffixes in the chart above are either a dhamma, ينَ , انِ , ونَ or نَ . While there are some exceptions, these suffixes will be the same for the vast majority of verbs in the language regardless of the form of the verb. We will deal with the exceptions as we come to them.

What the above tells you is that you can look at almost any present-tense verb, no matter whether it is Form I or Form X and tell who the subject is. For example, any present-tense verb beginning with a ن must have نحن as its subject. If the prefix is a ت and the suffix is a dhamma (which usually will not even be written in) then the subject must either be انتَ or هي (third person feminine singular.) In fact, you should note that the conjugations for انتَ and هي will always look like one another.

Below is a chart with two columns. Don’t look at it yet. On the far right are verbs in various Forms conjugated in the present tense. The short vowels are not included. On the far left are the pronouns for which they are conjugated. Cover up the left side and see if you can tell what the pronouns should be for each verb as it appears.

هم	يتكلمون
نحن	نستقبل
انتِ	تجتمعين
أنا	أساعد
انتنَّ	تخرجن

I hope the above exercise helps illustrate my point. The conjugations are easy to recognize and are not difficult to internalize.

The Meaning of the Imperfect Indicative

The imperfect indicative corresponds in meaning to either the English present tense, the present continuous, or refers to habitual action. In other words أنا أَدْرُسُ can mean “I study,” “I am studying” or “I study (every day)”. It can also be used to refer to the future. Look at the sentences below.

I study Arabic.	(أنا) أَدْرُسُ اللغة العربية.
I am studying now.	أدرس الآن.
I study Arabic every day.	ادرس اللغة العربية كلّ يوم.
I will study this problem tomorrow.	ادرس هذه المشكلة غدا.

The key point to keep in mind is that the imperfect refers to actions which are unfinished. The context will tell you the meaning and how it should be translated.

The imperfect indicative is negated by placing لا (“no”) immediately before the verb. For example: انا لا أَدْرُسُ الآن “I am not studying now.” (Note that using the subject pronoun, in this case أنا, is optional for all of these sentences. Usually the pronoun is not used except for emphasis.

Make sure you can conjugate a Form I sound verb in the imperfect indicative (I will usually use the term “present tense”) and then do the drill on the next page. Then go on to the next section which covers the jussive.

Sound Verbs. Form I: The Jussive

We have now covered the two tenses of the Arabic verb, the perfect, and the imperfect. In this section I’ll talk a little (very little) about the “moods” of the imperfect. Then I will show you how to negate a verb with past tense meaning.

Most textbooks like to talk about the four “moods” of the imperfect. These moods are the imperfect indicative (the present tense), which we have already studied, the jussive (one of the worst grammatical terms ever used anywhere), the subjunctive, and the energetic. All these moods include very minor adjustments to the present tense conjugations (adjustments which often cannot even be seen in unvocalized texts) in order to say different things. One important use of the jussive is to negate a verb with past tense meaning, the subjunctive is used after certain particles most of which mean “in order to” and also follows verbs which express some sort of wish or desire. The energetic you do not even need to know. It is rarely used in MSA, but is rather common in classical texts. It adds a certain emphasis to the verb, as in “he shall (definitely) go to Egypt.” I am not going to cover the energetic in this book.

Since the two other moods you need to learn are both based on the imperfect indicative, the conjugations you have to learn for them will be easy to master. Here we go with the jussive.

There are two ways to negate a verb with past tense meaning. The first of the two is extremely easy and is also essentially what is done in colloquial Arabic as well. The word ما is placed before the past tense conjugation. Therefore ما درستُ , means “I did not study.” No other changes need to be made in a sentence in the past tense if ما is used to negate it^.

In Modern Standard Arabic, however, another method of negating past-tense meaning is employed much more often than using ما plus the past tense. The particle لَم is placed before the verb instead of ما and the verb is conjugated in what is known as the “jussive mood.” The evil, horrible word “jussive” is from Latin and refers to the form of a word used in commands. (You will see later that the jussive is used in deriving Arabic command forms.) As far as I can tell, the term “jussive” is used in most English language texts teaching MSA due to a lack of a better term in English. Arabs, not surprisingly, have, their own name for the jussive, which, as you will soon see, makes perfect sense. The term used is حالةٌ الجزْم . which means the “condition of cutting off (or cutting short).” However, in this text I will use the term jussive as it is the most widely used in this country.

The jussive is actually derived from the imperfect, not unlike English. In English we do not say “I no studied.” Rather, we take the infinitive form of the verb (which is what we use in the present tense) and put “did not” before it. Hence we say “I did not study.” Arabic does much the same thing. Understand لم as a particle meaning “did not” which is placed before a modified form of the imperfect verb. The modification required is actually a cutting off of a sound or two at the end of the verb. Hence the term used by Arab grammarians. Below are the conjugations for the verb يدرس , درس in the jussive. Take a look at them and see the comments which follow.

Plural		Dual		Singular
نَدْرُسْ	نَحْنَ	تَدْرُسا	أنتُما	أَدْرُسْ	أنا
تَدْرُسوا	أنتُم	يَدْرُسا	هما (m)	تَدْرُسْ	أنتَ
تدْرٌسْنَ	أنتُنَّ	تَدْرسا	هما (f)	تَدْرُسي	أنتِ
يَدْرُسوا	هم			يَدْرُسْ	هو
يَدْرُسْنَ	هنَّ			تَدْرُسْ	هي

Compare these conjugations with those of the present tense. First, look in the singular column. The conjugations for four of the five pronouns in that column end in a sukuun. The conjugations for these pronouns in the present tense end in a dhamma. That dhamma has been cut off and replaced by a sukuun.

For the conjugation for أنتِ in that column the final نَ has been cut off, so the conjugation ends in a ي.

Now look in the column for the dual. All three conjugations have lost the final نِ and all end with just the alif.

Now look at the plural column. The conjugation for نحن has lost its dhamma and a sukuun is put in its place – just as happened to four of the five conjugations in the singular column. So you have five conjugations which in the present tense end in a dhamma, but in the jussive end in a sukuun. These five are هي , هو , انتَ , انا and نحن (Try to keep these five pronouns in mind and associate their conjugations. This will come in handy when we study the subjunctive and when we look at hollow and defective verbs.)

Now let’s look at the rest of the plural column. The conjugations for أنتم and هم lose the نَ of the present tense. The ن is replaced by an unpronounced alif. These conjugations are pronounced “tadrusu” and “yadrusu” respectively. In addition, this alif is dropped if a pronoun suffix is attached. For example: لم يّدْرُسوها “They did not study it.”

The feminine plural conjugations in the jussive are the same as they are for the present tense.

It should now be easy to see why the Arabs gave the jussive the name they did. It should also be easy to see that the jussive is not some horrible impossible grammatical concept developed by people with nothing better to do. The suffixes for the jussive (called “mood markers” by those who write the textbooks today) are the same for all verbs in the language. So if you can do one sound, Form I verb, you can do any sound, Form I verb and many other verbs as well.

Here is a quick run down of the rules for going from the present tense to the jussive.

1. If the conjugation in the present tense ends in a dhamma, then the dhamma is replaced by a sukuun.

2. If the conjugation in the present tense ends in a ن preceded by a long vowel, the ن is dropped. If the long vowel preceding the ن is a waaw, an alif is written in place of the ن.

3. The two feminine plural conjugations are not changed at all.

In general, the jussive with لَم is used much more than ما followed by a verb in the perfect, in order to negate for past-tense meaning in MSA. Therefore it is essential that you not only become familiar with it but also become very accustomed to using it yourself in writing and speaking MSA. That being said, look at the chart below and the comments which follow.

Below is a chart with sentences in the present tense on one side and those same sentences negated with لم plus the jussive on the other.

I did not understand this lesson.	أنا لم أفْهَمْ هذا الدرس	I understand this lesson.	١. انا أَفْهَمُ هذا الدرس.
Samir did not studyArabic.	لم يدرس سمير اللغة العربية.	Samir studies Arabic	٢. يدرس سمير اللغة العربية.
They did not go to the restaurant.	لم يذهبوا الى المطعم.	They are going to the restaurant.	٣. يذهبون الى المطعم.

Note that for sentences two and three, I did not vowel the verbs. It is always clear from context whether or not they are jussive. Knowing context will help you greatly in reading comprehension. You do not have to be consciously aware of the placement of every single vowel in order to be able to read. However, in the drills in this text, I will usually ask you to fully vowel all verbs in your answers. If you learn how things are voweled, you will have more control over the language. The more control you have over the language, the better you will become. Nonetheless, I encourage you to pick up newspapers and magazines and try to read them for comprehension. The jussive, for example, should be easy to spot. Even if the verb is new to you or you don’t know how to vowel it, you’ll at least know that it’s negated for past-tense meaning. So read.

More detailed notes on reading comprehension will come later.

E: The Preposition لِ Meaning “belonging to”

لِ has another meaning in addition to “to.” It is used to mean “to belong to.” Normally, when we want to say the Arabic equivalent of “to have” in English, لِ and a pronoun suffix will be used. For example, “I have a car” becomes in Arabic لي سيارة. The Arabic sentence literally means “To me is a car.” The Arabic sentence is an equational sentence سيارة is the subject of the sentence. لِ and its pronoun suffix function as the predicate. This is a different construction and uses different syntax than English does, so Americans tend to get the cases confused in sentences using لِ. Just remember that the item owned is the subject of the sentence.

If the item owned is indefinite then لِ and the suffix appear first in the sentence. Thus sentences such as “We have a house” or “He has a dog” have the opposite syntax of English. Look at the sentences below.

1. He has a house in Cairo	١. لَهُ بيتٌ في القاهرة.
2. We have a new car.	٢. لنا سيارةٌ جديدةٌ.
3. You have many universities in your country.	٣. لكم جامعاتٌ كثيرةٌ في بلدِكم.

If the item which is possessed is definite then it appears first in the sentence and is followed by لِ and the pronoun or the person or thing which possesses the object. See below.

1. This house belongs to him	١. هذا البيتُ لَهُ.
2. This exploding car belongs to us.	٢. هذه السيارة السفةُ لَنا.
3. This office belongs to Samir.	٣. هذا المكتبُ لِسمير.
4. The new office belongs to the director.	٤. المكتبُ الجديدُ لِلْمديرِ.

Sentences 1 and 2 should be clear. They reflect the change in syntax when the subject is made definite. Sentence 3 reminds you that when لِ is attached to anything but a pronoun, its vowel will always be a kasra. Sentence 4 is to show you what happens when لِ is combined with a word which has the definite article. Whenever لِ is attached to the definite article, the alif of the definite article is omitted so you will have two ل’s in a row. They will be separated by the kasra which comes with لِ.

D: Prepositions with Pronoun Suffixes

Well, guess what. Those same pronoun suffixes which we have used for possession (non-demonic) and as direct object pronouns can also be written with prepositions. The combining of these pronouns with prepositions is very common since many verbs have their objects attached to prepositions. When prepositions are written with pronoun suffixes, some changes occur in certain situations. Therefore, I am now going to present you with a few charts. At first it will seem to be a lot. But once you do the drills, you will see that it is not difficult to learn the combinations and the resulting changes.

The Prepositions عَن and مِن

When the pronouns are attached to these prepositions, no changes are made except for the pronoun ي. When the ي is added, the ن is written with a shadda. Here is the chart for the مِن below. عَن works exactly the same way.

منّي منْكَ مْنْكِ منْكُما منْهُ منْها منْهما منّا منْكم منْكن منْهم منْهُنَّ

The only change here is when we add ي to either of these two prepositions. When we do so we add a shadda over the ن of these two words. This shadda will usually be omitted in most newspaper articles and books. Note that when we add نا to these two words we indicate the presence of two ن’s by also writing a shadda.

The Prepositions في and ب

Look at the chart below.

فيّ فيكَ فيكِ فيكُما فيهِ فيها فيهِما فينا فيكُنَّ فيهِم فيهِنَّ

Notice first that the combination of ي and في gives us فيَّ pronounced “fiyya.” Also note that the pronoun suffixes which begin with the letter ه and are followed by a dhamma have their dhamma changed to a kasra.

The preposition بِ works just like في except that we need no shadda or fatha over the ي when we add it to ب. See below.

بي بكَ بكِ بكُما بهِ بِها بهِما بنا بِكْم بكُنَّ بهِم بِهِنَّ

The Prepositions علي and إلى

These two prepositions both end in an alif magsuura. When a pronoun suffix is attached to them, the alif maqsuura becomes a ي which is preceded by a fatha. That is why the phrase السلام عليكم is written and pronounced the way it is. Also, when we add ي to على or إلى we get a ي with a shadda followed by a fatha. For example, ي plus على. Becomes عَلًيَّ and is pronounced “alayya.” Below is the chart for على and إلى

علَيَّ علَيَّكَ علَيَّكِ علَيَّكُما علَيَّهِ علَيْها علَيْنا علَيْكُم علَيكُنَّ علَيهِم علَيْهِنَّ

إلَيَّ إلَيْكَ إلَيْكِ إلَيْكُما إلَيْهِ إلَيْها إلَيْنا إلَيْكُم إلَيْكُنَّ إلَيْهِم إلَيْهِنَّ

Note that those suffixes with ه and a dhamma have the dhamma changed to a kasra with these two prepositions.

The Preposition لِ

This preposition, when used with verbs, usually has the meaning of “to” as in “I listened to the radio.” It also has an independent meaning which is discussed in part E of this chapter. With one exception, whenever this preposition has a pronoun suffix, the vowel of the preposition changes from a kasra to a fatha. See the chart below.

لي لَكَ لَكِ لكُما لَهِ لَها لَهُما لَنا لَكْم لَكُنَّ لَهُم لَهُنَّ

When ي is added to لِ the result is pronounced “lii,” just as happened with the preposition بِ

C: Direct Object Pronouns

The possessive pronouns which we studied in Chapter Three are also used as direct object pronouns.

They are written at the end of the verb. For example, “I studied it” (if “it” is masculine) is درستهُ . If “it” is feminine, then you have درستها . “I saw them (masc) is شاهدتهم. However, you should note the following points.

1. When a verb is conjugated for هم , it ends, as you know, in وا. For example درسوا “they studied.” The alif at the end is just a spelling convention. When we attach a direct object pronoun to this ending the alif is dropped. For example درسوهُ”They studied it.”

2. When a verb is conjugated for أنتم we add تُم as a suffix. For example درستُم Whenever a direct object pronoun is attached to this suffix we place a و between the verb conjugation and the pronoun. So to write, for example, “You (masc. plural) studied it,” we write درستموهُ.

3. All the possessive pronoun suffixes and direct object pronoun suffixes are the same except one. The one that is different is for the first person singular. The possessive pronoun suffix for the first person singular is ي but the direct object pronoun for it is ني. Thus “He saw me” is شاهدني

١. كُنتَ الطالبَ الجديدَ.

٢. لم تَكُنْ الطالبَ الجديدَ.

٣. شَوفَ تكونُ الطالبَ الجديدَ.

٤. تُريدُ انْ تَكونَ الطالبَ الجديدَ.

١. كنتُ درستُ اللغة العربية.

٢. كان سمير (قد) درس اللغة العربية.

٣. كنّا سنذهب الى الشرق الاوسط.

٤. يكون الاستاذة (قد) قتلوا طلابهم الكسالى.

٥. كان سمير يزور اقاربه في الاردن كل سنة

٦. كان سمير يجلس على الكرسي يشرب الشاي عندما دخل الشرطي واعتقله وأُخذ الى السجن حيث مات تحت ظروف غامضة

Past Tense

كُنّا

نَحْنَ

كُنتُما

أنتُما

كُنتُ

أنا

كُنتُم

أنتُم

كانا

هما (m)

كُنتَ

أنتَ

كُنتُنَّ

أنتُنَّ

كانَتا

هما (f)

كُنتِ

أنتِ

كانوا

هم

كانَ

هو

كُنَّ

هنَّ

كانَت

هي

Present Tense

نَكونُ

نَحْنَ

تَكونانِ

أنتُما

أكونُ

أنا

تَكونونَ

أنتُم

يَكونانِ

هما (m)

تَكونُ

أنتَ

تَكُنَّ

أنتُنَّ

تَكونانِ

هما (f)

تَكونينَ

أنتِ

يَكونونَ

هم

يَكونَ

هو

يَكُنَّ

هنَّ

تَكونُ

هي

The Jussive

نَكُنْ

نَحْنَ

تَكونا

أنتُما

أكٌنْ

أنا

تَكونوا

أنتُم

يَكونا

هما (m)

تَكُنْ

أنتَ

تَكُنَّ

أنتُنَّ

تَكونا