The Past Tense Verb

The first conjugation of the past tense verb is achieved by placing a given set of base letters on the
ََ َ‫فَع‬, ‫ل‬
pattern ‫ل‬ ََ ‫فَ ِع‬, or ‫ل‬
ََ ُ‫فَع‬. For the duration of this tutorial, we will not concern ourselves with these three
variations, how they work, and why they exist; that will be discussed in a later tutorial. For now, we
ََ َ‫ فَع‬will give us the first
assume that taking a set of base letters and placing them on the pattern ‫ل‬
conjugation of the verb in the past tense.

Let’s use the root letters ‫َر‬،‫َص‬،‫ ن‬which afford the meaning of “helping”. The word ‫ر‬
ََ ‫ص‬
َ َ‫ن‬, then, means
“he helped”.

Conjugation ‫ ر‬،‫ ص‬،‫ن‬

3rd person Masculine Singular ‫ص ََر‬
َ َ‫( ن‬he helped)

The rest of the conjugations are achieved by adding suffices to this most basic form. Read the table
below, studying the endings in each conjugation.

Conjugation Conjugation and Translation

Singular َ‫ص َر‬ َ َ‫( ن‬he helped)
Masculine Dual ‫ص َرا‬ َ َ‫( ن‬they helped)
Plural ‫ص ُر ْوا‬ َ َ‫( ن‬they helped)
3rd person
Singular َْ ‫ص َر‬
‫ت‬ َ َ‫( ن‬she helped)
Feminine Dual ‫ص َرتَا‬ َ َ‫( ن‬they helped)
Plural ََ‫ص ْرن‬ َ َ‫( ن‬they helped)
Singular ََ ‫ص ْر‬
‫ت‬ َ َ‫( ن‬you helped)
Masculine Dual ‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬ َ َ‫( ن‬you helped)
Plural ‫ص ْرت ُ َْم‬ َ َ‫( ن‬you helped)
2nd person
Singular َِ ‫ص ْر‬
‫ت‬ َ َ‫( ن‬you helped)
Feminine Dual ‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬ َ َ‫( ن‬you helped)
Plural َ‫ص ْرتُن‬ َ َ‫( ن‬you helped)
Masculine & Singular َُ‫ص ْرت‬ َ َ‫( ن‬I helped)
1st person
Feminine Plural ‫ص ْرنَا‬ َ َ‫( ن‬we helped)
Variation in the past tense verb happens in three aspects:

 voice (active and passive): when a verb is active, its subject is mentioned; when it is passive, its
object takes the place of its subject. Compare, for example, “I helped” and “I was helped”. In the
first instance “I” is the subject while in the second “I” is the object and the subject hasn’t been
mentioned
 negation (affirmative and negative)
 distance (simple past, present perfect, past perfect): simple past is the past tense without any
distance indicated, as in “I helped”; present perfect adds “has/have” to give “I have helped”;
and past perfect adds “had” to give “I had helped”

Multiplying 2 voices with 2 parities of negation with 3 levels in distance, we get 12 conjugation tables. In
reality, however, the active and passive tables for the negative present perfect tense are not used. In
other words, we do not use “I have not helped” nor “I have not been helped”; these meanings are
conveyed using other methods.

Active & Passive

An active past tense verb is rendered passive by using the following algorithm.

1. the last letter is left alone

2. the second last letter is given a ‫كسرة‬
3. all other vowels are changed to ‫ضمة‬

So ‫ر‬
ََ ‫ص‬ ِ ُ‫ن‬. The resulting verb is conjugated in the exact same way as
َ َ‫ن‬, for example, would become ‫ص ََر‬
studied above. A small point to note here is that, in the beginning of this tutorial, mention was made of
the fact that the past tense verb may be on one of three patterns. It is important to note that, despite
which of those three a verb will use, the passive will always be constructed in the same way; the passive
verbs from all three of those patterns look exactly the same.

Conjugation Passive Conjugations

rd
3 person Masculine Singular ِ ُ‫( ن‬he was helped)
َ‫ص َر‬
 Dual ‫ص َرا‬ ِ ُ‫( ن‬they were helped)
Plural ‫ص ُر ْوا‬ ِ ُ‫( ن‬they were helped)
Singular َْ ‫ص َر‬
‫ت‬ ِ ُ‫( ن‬she was helped)
Feminine Dual ‫ص َرتَا‬ ِ ُ‫( ن‬they were helped)
Plural ََ‫ص ْرن‬ ِ ُ‫( ن‬they were helped)
Singular ََ ‫ص ْر‬
‫ت‬ ِ ُ‫( ن‬you were helped)
Masculine Dual ‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬ ِ ُ‫( ن‬you were helped)
Plural ‫ص ْرت ُ َْم‬ ِ ُ‫( ن‬you were helped)
2nd person
Singular َِ ‫ص ْر‬
‫ت‬ ِ ُ‫( ن‬you were helped)
Feminine Dual ‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬ ِ ُ‫( ن‬you were helped)
Plural َ‫ص ْرتُن‬ ِ ُ‫( ن‬you were helped)
1st person
Masculine & Singular َُ‫ص ْرت‬ ِ ُ‫( ن‬I was helped)
Feminine Plural ‫ص ْرنَا‬ ِ ُ‫( ن‬we were helped)

Affirmative & Negative

An affirmative past tense verb is negated simply by prefixing it with the particle ‫ما‬.

Negative Active Negative Passive

َ‫ص َر‬ َ َ‫( ماَن‬he did not help) َ‫ص َر‬ ِ ُ‫( ماَن‬he was not helped)
‫ص َرا‬ َ َ‫( ماَن‬they did not help) ‫ص َرا‬ ِ ُ‫( ماَن‬they were not helped)
‫ص ُر ْوا‬ َ َ‫( ماَن‬they did not help) ‫ص ُر ْوا‬ ِ ُ‫( ماَن‬they were not helped)
َْ ‫ص َر‬
‫ت‬ َ َ‫( ماَن‬she did not help) َْ ‫ص َر‬
‫ت‬ ِ ُ‫( ماَن‬she was not helped)
‫ص َرتَا‬ َ َ‫( ماَن‬they did not help) ‫ص َرتَا‬ ِ ُ‫( ماَن‬they were not helped)
ََ‫ص ْرن‬ َ َ‫( ماَن‬they did not help) ََ‫ص ْرن‬ ِ ُ‫( ماَن‬they were not helped)
ََ ‫ص ْر‬
‫ت‬ َ َ‫( ماَن‬you did not help) ََ ‫ص ْر‬
‫ت‬ ِ ُ‫( ماَن‬you were not helped)
‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬ َ َ‫( ماَن‬you did not help) ‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬ ِ ُ‫( ماَن‬you were not helped)
‫ص ْرت ُ َْم‬ َ َ‫( ماَن‬you did not help) ‫ص ْرت ُ َْم‬ ِ ُ‫( ماَن‬you were not helped)
َِ ‫ص ْر‬
‫ت‬ َ َ‫( ماَن‬you did not help) َِ ‫ص ْر‬
‫ت‬ ِ ُ‫( ماَن‬you were not helped)
‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬ َ َ‫( ماَن‬you did not help) ‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬ ِ ُ‫( ماَن‬you were not helped)
َ‫ص ْرتُن‬ َ َ‫( ماَن‬you did not help) َ‫ص ْرتُن‬ ِ ُ‫( ماَن‬you were not helped)
َُ‫ص ْرت‬ َ َ‫( ماَن‬I did not help) َُ‫ص ْرت‬ ِ ُ‫( ماَن‬I was not helped)
‫ص ْرنَا‬ َ َ‫( ماَن‬we did not help) ‫ص ْرنَا‬ ِ ُ‫( ماَن‬we were not helped)
Simple Past, Present Perfect & Past Perfect
A simple past tense verb is rendered into the present perfect tense by prefixing it with the particle َْ‫قَد‬.

Present Perfect Active Present Perfect Passive

َ‫ص َر‬ َ َ‫( قَدَْن‬he has helped) َ‫ص َر‬ ِ ُ‫( قَدَْن‬he has been helped)
‫ص َرا‬ َ َ‫( قَدَْن‬they have helped) ‫ص َرا‬ ِ ُ‫( قَدَْن‬they have been helped)
‫ص ُر ْوا‬ َ َ‫( قَدَْن‬they have helped) ‫ص ُر ْوا‬ ِ ُ‫( قَدَْن‬they have been helped)
َْ ‫ص َر‬
‫ت‬ َ َ‫( قَدَْن‬she has helped) َْ ‫ص َر‬
‫ت‬ ِ ُ‫( قَدَْن‬she has been helped)
‫ص َرتَا‬ َ َ‫( قَدَْن‬they have helped) ‫ص َرتَا‬ ِ ُ‫( قَدَْن‬they have been helped)
ََ‫ص ْرن‬ َ َ‫( قَدَْن‬they have helped) ََ‫ص ْرن‬ ِ ُ‫( قَدَْن‬they have been helped)
ََ ‫ص ْر‬
‫ت‬ َ َ‫( قَدَْن‬you have helped) ََ ‫ص ْر‬
‫ت‬ ِ ُ‫( قَدَْن‬you have been helped)
‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬ َ َ‫( قَدَْن‬you have helped) ‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬ ِ ُ‫( قَدَْن‬you have been helped)
‫ص ْرت ُ َْم‬ َ َ‫( قَدَْن‬you have helped) ‫ص ْرت ُ َْم‬ ِ ُ‫( قَدَْن‬you have been helped)
َِ ‫ص ْر‬
‫ت‬ َ َ‫( قَدَْن‬you have helped) َِ ‫ص ْر‬
‫ت‬ ِ ُ‫( قَدَْن‬you have been helped)
‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬ َ َ‫( قَدَْن‬you have helped) ‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬ ِ ُ‫( قَدَْن‬you have been helped)
َ‫ص ْرتُن‬ َ َ‫( قَدَْن‬you have helped) َ‫ص ْرتُن‬ ِ ُ‫( قَدَْن‬you have been helped)
َُ‫ص ْرت‬ َ َ‫( قَدَْن‬I have helped) َُ‫ص ْرت‬ ِ ُ‫( قَدَْن‬I have been helped)
‫ص ْرنَا‬ َ َ‫( قَدَْن‬we have helped) ‫ص ْرنَا‬ ِ ُ‫( قَدَْن‬we have been helped)

Similarly, rendering a verb into the past perfect tense is done by prefixing it with the verb ََ‫كَان‬. There is
an important point to note here. ‫قد‬, like ‫ما‬, is simply a particle and it always looks the same. ‫كان‬,
however, is a verb and it must therefore be conjugated alongside the main verb. ‫ كان‬is an advanced verb
form and so its conjugation must simply be memorized for the time being.

Past Perfect Active Past Perfect Passive Past Perfect Active Negative Past Perfect Passive Negative

َ َ‫َكانَ َن‬
َ‫ص َر‬ ِ ُ‫َكانَ َن‬
َ‫ص َر‬ َ َ‫ماَ َكانَ َن‬
َ‫ص َر‬ ِ ُ‫ماَ َكانَ َن‬
َ‫ص َر‬
(he had helped) (he had been helped) (he had not helped) (he had not been helped)

َ َ‫َكانَاَن‬
‫ص َرا‬ ِ ُ‫َكانَاَن‬
‫ص َرا‬ َ َ‫ماَ َكانَاَن‬
‫ص َرا‬ ِ ُ‫ماَ َكانَاَن‬
‫ص َرا‬
(they had helped) (they had been helped) (they had not helped) (they had not been helped)

َ َ‫َكانُ ْواَن‬
‫ص ُر ْوا‬ ِ ُ‫َكانُ ْواَن‬
‫ص ُر ْوا‬ َ َ‫ماَ َكانُ ْواَن‬
‫ص ُر ْوا‬ ِ ُ‫ماَ َكانُ ْواَن‬
‫ص ُر ْوا‬
(they had helped) (they had been helped) (they had not helped) (they had not been helped)
 ْ ‫ص َر‬
َ‫ت‬ ْ ‫َكان‬
َ َ‫َتَن‬ َ‫ت‬ ِ ُ‫َتَن‬
ْ ‫ص َر‬ ْ ‫َكان‬ ْ ‫ص َر‬
َ‫ت‬ ْ ‫ماَ َكان‬
َ َ‫َتَن‬ ِ ُ‫َتَن‬
ْ ‫ص َر‬
َ‫ت‬ ْ ‫ماَ َكان‬
(she had helped) (she had been helped) (she had not helped) (she had not been helped)

َ َ‫َكانَتَاَن‬
‫ص َرتَا‬ ِ ُ‫َكانَتَاَن‬
‫ص َرتَا‬ َ َ‫ماَ َكا َنتَاَن‬
‫ص َرتَا‬ ِ ُ‫ماَ َكا َنتَاَن‬
‫ص َرتَا‬
(they had helped) (they had been helped) (they had not helped) (they had not been helped)

َ َ‫ُكنَن‬
ََ‫ص ْرن‬ ِ ُ‫ُكنَن‬
ََ‫ص ْرن‬ َ َ‫ماَ ُكنَن‬
ََ‫ص ْرن‬ ِ ُ‫ماَ ُكنَن‬
ََ‫ص ْرن‬
(they had helped) (they had been helped) (they had not helped) (they had not been helped)
َ‫ت‬
َ ‫ص ْر‬ َ ‫ُك ْن‬
َ َ‫تَن‬ َ‫ت‬
َ ‫ص ْر‬ َ ‫ُك ْن‬
ِ ُ‫تَن‬ َ‫ت‬
َ ‫ص ْر‬ َ ‫ماَ ُك ْن‬
َ َ‫تَن‬ َ‫ت‬
َ ‫ص ْر‬ َ ‫ماَ ُك ْن‬
ِ ُ‫تَن‬
(you had helped) (you had been helped) (you had not helped) (you had not been helped)

َ َ‫ُك ْنت ُ َماَن‬

‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬ ِ ُ‫ُك ْنت ُ َماَن‬
‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬ َ َ‫ماَ ُك ْنت ُ َماَن‬
‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬ ِ ُ‫ماَ ُك ْنت ُ َماَن‬
‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬
(you had helped) (you had been helped) (you had not helped) (you had not been helped)

َ َ‫ُك ْنت ُ ْمَن‬

َ‫ص ْرت ُ ْم‬ ِ ُ‫ُك ْنت ُ ْمَن‬
َ‫ص ْرت ُ ْم‬ َ َ‫ماَ ُك ْنت ُ ْمَن‬
َ‫ص ْرت ُ ْم‬ ِ ُ‫ماَ ُك ْنت ُ ْمَن‬
َ‫ص ْرت ُ ْم‬
(you had helped) (you had been helped) (you had not helped) (you had not been helped)
َ‫ت‬ َ َ‫ُك ْنتَِن‬
ِ ‫ص ْر‬ َ‫ت‬ ِ ُ‫ُك ْنتَِن‬
ِ ‫ص ْر‬ َ‫ت‬ َ َ‫ماَ ُك ْنتَِن‬
ِ ‫ص ْر‬ َ‫ت‬ ِ ُ‫ماَ ُك ْنتَِن‬
ِ ‫ص ْر‬
(you had helped) (you had been helped) (you had not helped) (you had not been helped)

َ َ‫ُك ْنت ُ َماَن‬

‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬ ِ ُ‫ُك ْنت ُ َماَن‬
‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬ َ َ‫ماَ ُك ْنت ُ َماَن‬
‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬ ِ ُ‫ماَ ُك ْنت ُ َماَن‬
‫ص ْرت ُ َما‬
(you had helped) (you had been helped) (you had not helped) (you had not been helped)
‫ن‬ َ َ‫ُك ْنتُنَن‬
َ ُ ‫ص ْرت‬ ‫ن‬ ِ ُ‫ُك ْنتُنَن‬
َ ُ ‫ص ْرت‬ َ َ‫ماَ ُك ْنتُنَن‬
َ ُ ‫ص ْرت‬
‫ن‬ ِ ُ‫ماَ ُك ْنتُنَن‬
َ ُ ‫ص ْرت‬
‫ن‬
(you had helped) (you had been helped) (you had not helped) (you had not been helped)

َ َ‫ُك ْنتُ َن‬

َُ‫ص ْرت‬ ِ ُ‫ُك ْنتُ َن‬
َُ‫ص ْرت‬ َ َ‫ماَ ُك ْنتُ َن‬
َُ‫ص ْرت‬ ِ ُ‫ماَ ُك ْنتُ َن‬
َُ‫ص ْرت‬
(I had helped) (I had been helped) (I had not helped) (I had not been helped)

َ َ‫ُكناَن‬
‫ص ْرنَا‬ ِ ُ‫ُكناَن‬
‫ص ْرنَا‬ َ َ‫ماَ ُكناَن‬
‫ص ْرنَا‬ ِ ُ‫ماَ ُكناَن‬
‫ص ْرنَا‬
(we had helped) (we had been helped) (we had not helped) (we had not been helped)

The Imperfect Verb

The past tense verb is referred to as the perfect verb because the action has already taken place. The
imperfect verb, on the other hand, is called such because the action has not yet completed. This tense
alone is indicative of the present tense, the present continuous, and the future tense. Context will
determine which of the three is intended.
Let’s take the base letters ‫َع‬،‫َم‬،‫س‬, which afford the sense of “hearing”. The imperfect verb is
َُ َ‫ ;يَ ْفع‬we get ‫يَ ْس َم َُع‬. This verb can mean “he is hearing”,
constructed by placing these letters on the pattern ‫ل‬
“he hears”, and “he will hear”.

َُ َ‫يَ ْفع‬, ‫ل‬

Just as with the past tense verb, this pattern also has three variations. The pattern can be ‫ل‬ َُ ‫يَ ْف ِع‬,
َُ ُ‫يَ ْفع‬. For our purposes, we will simply work with ‫ل‬
or ‫ل‬ َُ َ‫ يَ ْفع‬and ignore the other variations.

The conjugation table is given below. Notice that the imperfect verb has both a prefix and a suffix. The
prefix is one of ‫ي‬, ‫ت‬, ‫أ‬, or ‫ن‬. Study the table below.

Conjugation Conjugation and Translation

Singular َ‫( يَ ْس َم ُع‬he hears)
Masculine Dual َِ ‫( َي ْس َم َع‬they hear)
‫ان‬
Plural ََ‫( َي ْس َمعُ ْون‬they hear)
3rd person
Singular ‫( ت َ ْس َم َُع‬she hears)
Feminine Dual َِ ‫( ت َ ْس َم َع‬they hear)
‫ان‬
Plural ََ‫( َي ْس َم ْعن‬they hear)
Singular ‫( ت َ ْس َم َُع‬you hear)
Masculine Dual َِ ‫( ت َ ْس َم َع‬you hear)
‫ان‬
Plural ََ‫( ت َ ْس َمعُ ْون‬you hear)
2nd person
Singular ََ‫( ت َ ْس َم ِعيْن‬you hear)
Feminine Dual َِ ‫( ت َ ْس َم َع‬you hear)
‫ان‬
Plural ََ‫( ت َ ْس َم ْعن‬you hear)
Masculine & Singular ‫( أ َ ْس َم َُع‬I hear)
1st person
Feminine Plural ‫( نَ ْس َم َُع‬we hear)

There are a plethora of variations that can occur for the imperfect verb. Some of these include the
following.

 voice (active and passive): compare “I am hearing”, “I hear”, and “I will hear” with “I am being
heard”, “I am heard”, and “I will be heard”
  negation (positive and negative): compare “I am hearing”, “I hear”, and “I will hear” with “I am
not hearing”, “I do not hear”, and “I will not hear”
 limiting to the future (near future and distant future): the only meaning conveyed by the verb
now is “I will hear”, or “I will soon hear” in the case of near future
 emphatically negating the future: “I will never hear”
 emphatically negating the past: “I have never heard”
 forming the past continuous: “I used to hear”
 emphasizing the verb: “I definitely hear” or “I will definitely hear”

Appropriately multiplying the above sets of tables gives us a total of 16 conjugation tables.

Active & Passive

The active verb is rendered passive by applying the following algorithm.

 The prefix of the imperfect verb will be given a ‫ضمة‬

 the very last letter will be left as is
 all the letters in between that have vowels will have their vowels changed to a ‫فتحة‬

So ‫س َم َُع‬
ْ ‫ َي‬, for example, will become ‫يُ ْس َم َُع‬. And this algorithm applies despite the variation in the middle
letter that was mentioned in the beginning of this tutorial.

Conjugation Conjugation and Translation

Singular َ‫( يُ ْس َم ُع‬he is heard)
Masculine Dual َِ ‫( يُ ْس َم َع‬they are heard)
‫ان‬
Plural ََ‫( يُ ْس َمعُ ْون‬they are heard)
3rd person
Singular ‫( ت ُ ْس َم َُع‬she is heard)
Feminine Dual َِ ‫( ت ُ ْس َم َع‬they are heard)
‫ان‬
Plural ََ‫( يُ ْس َم ْعن‬they are heard)
Singular ‫( ت ُ ْس َم َُع‬you are heard)
2nd person Masculine Dual َِ َ‫( ت ُ ْس َمع‬you are heard)
‫ان‬
Plural ََ‫( ت ُ ْس َمعُ ْون‬you are heard)
 Singular ََ‫( ت ُ ْس َم ِعيْن‬you are heard)
Feminine Dual َِ ‫( ت ُ ْس َم َع‬you are heard)
‫ان‬
Plural ََ‫( ت ُ ْس َم ْعن‬you are heard)
Masculine & Singular ‫( أ ُ ْس َم َُع‬I am heard)
1st person
Feminine Plural ‫( نُ ْس َم َُع‬we are heard)

Other Variations
This section briefly describes the method of forming the other variations without going into too much
detail and without giving the resulting tables. The reader is highly encouraged to learn the Arabic
language through courses and use this tutorial only as a supplement.

Both the active and passive tables are negated by simply adding the particle ‫ ال‬to the beginning of each
verb. This results in an additional 2 tables for a total of 4.

Imperfect Active Imperfect Passive Imperfect Active Imperfect Passive

Negative Negative
َ‫يَ ْس َم ُع‬ َ‫يُ ْس َم ُع‬ َ‫الَيَ ْس َم ُع‬ َ‫الَيُ ْس َم ُع‬
(he hears) (he is heard) (he does not hear) (he is not heard)

The imperfect verb’s meaning can be limited to the future tense. Adding the prefix ‫( سـ‬which is a particle
that joins onto the verb) will limit the meaning to the near future, giving the meaning “I will soon hear”,
and adding the particle ‫ف‬
ََ ‫س ْو‬
َ before the verb limits it to the distant future, giving the meaning “I will
hear”. These particles are prefixed to both the active and passive verb, but they are not negated. This
results in an additional 4 tables.

Near Future Active Near Future Passive Future Active Future Passive
َ‫سيَ ْس َم ُع‬
َ َ‫سيُ ْس َم ُع‬
َ َ‫فَيَ ْس َم ُع‬
َ ‫س ْو‬
َ َ‫فَيُ ْس َم ُع‬
َ ‫س ْو‬
َ
(he will soon hear) (he will soon be heard) (he will hear) (he will be heard)

Furthermore, the imperfect verb can be used to emphatically negate the future. This is achieved by
َْ َ‫ل‬. This results in an additional 2 tables. This
prefixing the active and passive verbs with the particle ‫ن‬
particle actually has an effect on the verb in the following manner.
  The conjugations without a ‫ نون‬at the end (there are 5 of them) have a ‫ ضمة‬on their final letter.
This ‫ ضمة‬will change to a ‫فتحة‬.
 All the conjugations with a ‫ نون‬at the end except conjugations 6 and 12 (there are 7 of them)
will lose their ‫نون‬
 Conjugations 6 and 12 will remain as they are

Negative Future Active Negative Future Passive

َ‫لَ ْنَيَ ْس َم َع‬ َ‫لَ ْنَيُ ْس َم َع‬
(he will not hear) (he will not be heard)

Moreover, the imperfect verb can also be used to negate the past tense emphatically. This is achieved
by adding the particle ‫ لَ َْم‬before the active and passive verbs. This gives an additional 2 tables.
Now ‫ لم‬also affects the verb, just as ‫ لن‬did, in the following manner.

 The conjugations without a ‫ نون‬at the end (there are 5 of them) have a ‫ ضمة‬on their final letter.
This ‫ ضمة‬will change to a ‫سكون‬.
 All the conjugations with a ‫ نون‬at the end except conjugations 6 and 12 (there are 7 of them)
will lose their ‫نون‬
 Conjugations 6 and 12 will remain as they are

Negative Past Active Negative Past Passive

َ‫لَ ْمَيَ ْس َم ْع‬ َ‫لَ ْمَيُ ْس َم ْع‬
(he did not hear) (he was not heard)

Moving forward, the imperfect verb can be used to create the past continuous verb. This is achieved by
bringing the verb ‫( كان‬in its past tense form) before the active and passive imperfect verbs. Remember
that, since ‫ كان‬is a verb, it will be conjugated alongside the main verb. This is actually tricky since ‫ كان‬will
be conjugated in the perfect tense whereas the main verb will be conjugated in the imperfect. And both
of these tables can be prefixed with ‫ ما‬to achieve the negative versions. This gives us an additional 4
tables.
Refer to the first conjugation of each table given below. Notice that the verb ‫ كان‬is conjugated in the
active voice for both the active and passive tables.

Past Continuous Active
َ‫َكانَ َيَ ْس َم ُع‬
(he used to hear)
Past Continuous Passive Past Continuous Active Past Continuous Passive
Negative Negative
َ‫َكانَ َيُ ْس َم ُع‬ َ‫ماَ َكانَ َيَ ْس َم ُع‬ َ‫ماَ َكانَ َيُ ْس َم ُع‬
(he used to be heard) (he would not hear) (he would not be
heard)

Finally, the imperfect verb can be emphasized in one of two ways. Both of these forms of emphasis are
actually used most commonly to emphasize the future tense. The first type of emphasis is achieved in
the following manner.

 Prefix the verb with the particle ‫لَـ‬

 There are 5 conjugations without a ‫ نون‬at their end. These have a ‫ ضمة‬on their last letter;
change that ‫ ضمة‬to a ‫فتحة‬. Now add the suffix َ‫ـن‬
 There are 4 dual conjugations. Remove their ‫ نون‬suffix and replace it with the suffix ‫ـن‬
َِ
 For conjugations 3, 9, and 10, remove their ‫ نون‬suffix as well as the long vowel before it. Now
add the suffix َ‫ـن‬
 For conjugations 6 and 12, simply add the suffix ‫ان‬
َِ َ ‫ـ‬

This is done for both the active and passive tables, giving us an additional 2 tables.

Emphatic Active Emphatic Passive

َ‫لَ َي ْس َم َعن‬ َ‫لَيُ ْس َم َعن‬
(he will surely hear) (he will surely be heard)

Similar is the case with the other form of emphasis. The difference here is that the conjugations which
َْ ). These also exist for the
have an aleph before the َ‫ ن‬will not be present, and the suffix is a ‫ن( نونَساكنة‬
active and passive voices, giving us 2 additional tables.

Emphatic Active Emphatic Passive

َ‫لَيَ ْس َمعَ ْن‬ َ‫لَيُ ْس َمعَ ْن‬
(he will surely hear) (he will surely be heard)
The Imperative Verb
The imperative verb, also called the command verb, is constructed from the imperfect conjugations. The
table is divided into two sections, each with its own method of construction. The first is the active
second person conjugations and the other is the third and first person conjugations as well as all the
passives.

The method of constructing the first set is as follows.

 ْ َ ‫ ت‬becomes ‫ْس َم َُع‬

Start with the imperfect and remove the prefix. E.g. ‫س َم َُع‬
 Add the eliding Hamza. The vowel on this Hamza will be determined as follows
o If the second base letter has a ‫ضمة‬, the Hamza will be given a ‫ضمة‬
o If the second base letter has either of the other two vowels, the Hamza will be given
ْ ِ‫ا‬
a ‫كسرة‬. So in our example, we have ‫س َم َُع‬
 The same procedure will be carried out to the end of the new verb as was carried out for the
ْ ِ‫ا‬
tables with ‫لم‬. E.g. our example verb will become ‫س َم َْع‬

The method of constructing the other conjugations is as follows.

 Prefix the conjugations with ‫ ِلـ‬. This ‫ الم‬may have a ‫ سكون‬in certain situations
 This ‫ لـ‬will do to the verb what ‫ لم‬did to it

Imperative Active Imperative Passive

َ‫(َ ِليَ ْس َم ْع‬he should listen)
‫( ِليَ ْس َم َعا‬they should listen)
‫( ِليَ ْس َمعُ ْوا‬they should listen)
‫( ِلت َ ْس َم َْع‬she should listen)
‫( ِلت َ ْس َم َعا‬they should listen)
ََ‫(َ ِل َي ْس َم ْعن‬they should listen)
‫(َاِ ْس َم َْع‬listen)
َ‫(َ ِليُ ْس َم ْع‬he should be heard)
‫( ِليُ ْس َم َعا‬they should be heard)
‫( ِليُ ْس َمعُ ْوا‬they should be heard)
‫( ِلت ُ ْس َم َْع‬she should be heard)
‫( ِلت ُ ْس َم َعا‬they should be heard)
ََ‫(َ ِليُ ْس َم ْعن‬they should be heard)
‫( ِلت ُ ْس َم َْع‬you should be heard)
 ‫( اِ ْس َم َعا‬listen) ‫( ِلت ُ ْس َم َعا‬you should be heard)
‫( اِ ْس َمعُ ْوا‬listen) ‫( ِلت ُ ْس َمعُ ْوا‬you should be heard)
َْ ‫( اِ ْس َم ِع‬listen)
‫ي‬ َْ ‫( ِلت ُ ْس َم ِع‬you should be heard)
‫ي‬
‫( اِ ْس َمعَا‬listen) ‫( ِلت ُ ْس َمعَا‬you should be heard)
ََ‫( اِ ْس َم ْعن‬listen) ََ‫( ِلت ُ ْس َم ْعن‬you should be heard)
‫(َ ِأل ََ ْس َم َْع‬I should listen) ‫(َ ِألَُ ْس َم َْع‬I should be heard)
‫(َ ِلنَ ْس َم َْع‬we should listen) ‫(َ ِلنُ ْس َم َْع‬we should be heard)

Now the imperative can be emphasized using the same two methods of emphasis as in the imperfect
verb. The method of construction is the same, except that the ‫ لَـ‬prefix is not added, and the meaning
should be obvious. To gain a deep understanding of this, to learn it correctly and see and practice the
conjugation tables, one is highly encouraged to learn Arabic through a course and use this tutorial only
as a study resource.

The Prohibitive Verb

The meaning of the prohibitive verb is opposite that of the imperative verb. Where the imperative
would mean “listen”, the prohibitive means “don’t listen.” And the other conjugations are similar.

The method of constructing this verb is quite simple; again, it too is constructed from the imperfect. The
imperfect conjugations are prefixed with the particle ‫ال‬, and the ending of the verb is the same as the
ending given by ‫لم‬.

Prohibitive Active Prohibitive Passive

َ‫الَيَ ْس َم ْع‬ َ‫الَيُ ْس َم ْع‬
(he should not listen) (he should not be heard)

Like the imperative, the prohibition can also be emphasized using the two methods of emphasis
explained earlier.
The prohibitive verbs mark the end of simple verb conjugation in the language. This tutorial has been a
quick overview and introduction. To gain true understanding, one is requested to look to Arabic
language courses. And for practice, readers are encouraged to visit the Practice Verbs page.