Arabic Peeking into the future tense Arabic Beginner Lesson-24
Although Arabic grammar has a future tense, you’ll be glad to know that the
tense has no outright verb structure. Rather, you achieve the future tense by
adding the prefix sa- to the existing present tense form of the verb. For example,
yaktubu means “to write.” Add the prefix sa- to yaktubu and you get
sayaktubu, which means “he will write.”
To illustrate the future tense, here’s the verb yaktubu conjugated in the
future tense.
Form Pronunciation Translation
‘anaa sa’aktubu ah-nah sah-ak-too-boo I will write
‘anta sataktubu an-tah sah-tak-too-boo You will write (MS)
‘anti sataktubiina an-tee sah-tak-too-bee-nah You will write (FS)
huwa sayaktubu hoo-wah sah-yak-too-boo He will write
hiya sataktubu hee-yah sah-tak-too-boo She will write
naHnu sanaktubu nah-noo sah-nak-too-boo We will write
‘antum sataktubuuna an-toom sah-tak-too-boo-nah You will write (MP)
‘antunna sataktubna an-too-nah sah-tak-toob-nah You will write (FP)
hum sayaktubuuna hoom sah-yak-too-boo-nah They will write (MP)
hunna sayaktubna hoo-nah sah-yak-toob-nah They will write (FP)
antumaa sataktubaani an-too-mah sah-tak-too- You will write
bah-nee (dual/MP/FP)
Getting Started
Form Pronunciation Translation
humaa sayaktubaani hoo-mah sah-yak-too-bah-nee They will write
(dual/MP)
humaa sataktubaani hoo-mah sah-tak-too-bah-nee They will w