Part 2 – Chapter 1 – 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 FormContinue reading “G: كانَ”

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 theContinue reading “F: لَيْسَ”

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). InContinue reading “E: Doubled Verbs, Form I: Jussive of Doubled Verbs”

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 IContinue reading “D: Assimilated Verbs, Form I”

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 ofContinue reading “C: Defective Verbs, Form I: Present Tense and Jussive”

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. ThisContinue reading “B: Hollow Verbs, Form I: Present Tense and Jussive”

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 conjugationContinue reading “A: Sound Verbs, Form I: The Jussive”