Arabic Derived Nouns Learn Arabic Free Online
The Active Participle
Meaning
The active participle is that noun derived from a gerund which is used to indicate upon the one who has, is, or will enact something. It is loosely referred to as the ‘doer’. For example, the active participle for “helping” is “helper”. Recall that the word “helper” can be used in any grammatical positioning in a sentence and its function as the ‘doer’ is at the word level, not the sentence level. We can say “Zaid hit his helper.” “Helper” in this sentence is a ‘doer’ (one who helps), but it is not the one doing the verb of the sentence (the subject is Zaid).
When we take a set of base letters and place them on one of the active participle patterns, the resulting meaning may not be immediately clear. We do know that this noun adds the ‘doer’ meaning, but for the final, correct translation of the word, a dictionary is usually consulted. In the chart below, compare the base meaning of each word with the active participle.
| Some Popular Actual Meanings | Expected
Meaning |
Active Participle | Base Meaning | Base Letters |
| clubhouse | one who calls | نَادٍ | to call, convene | ن، د، و |
| pregnant | one who carries | حَامِل | to carry | ح، م، ل |
| eyebrow, hermetic | that which conceals | حَاجِب | to veil, conceal | ح، ج، ب |
Notice that the translation “eyebrow” above is what we know in English as a noun, whereas the word “hermetic” is an adjective. Which of the two functions a given derived noun uses is dependent on context. For example, we may say “the capable people can do it.” In this case, the word “capable” is being used as an adjective. And we may say “the capable can do it.” It is now being used as a noun.
A final point to note is that not all gerunds may have an associated active participle. Although most do. For example, “one who is tall” will not be expressed using an active participle because being tall is an attribute, not an act of doing something, so it is better suited for the resembling participle.
Construction
If the gerund from which the active participle is derived is a trilateral verb with no extra letters (see Verb Paradigms), then we simply place the base letters on the pattern:
فَاعِل
If the gerund is that of any other verb, we employ the following algorithm:
- start with the imperfect verb
- replace the علامة المضارع with a ميم مضمومة
- change the vowel on the second-last letter to a كسرة if it’s not already such
- and of course the ending of the word will inflect like a noun, not a verb
Below are some sample transformations which illustrate the construction mechanism:
| Active Participle | Verb |
| قَارِئ | قَرَأَ – يَقْرَأ |
| رَاضٍ | رَضِيَ – يَرْضى |
| قَائِل | قَالَ – يَقُوْل |
| مُحِسّ | أَحَسَّ – يُحِسّ |
| مُتَبَادِل | تَبَادَلَ – يَتَبَادَل |
| مُسَيْطِر | سَيْطَرَ – يُسَيْطِر |
| مُزَلْزِل | زَلْزَلَ – يُزَلْزِل |
One will notice that, although the algorithm is simple, some morphophonemic rules may apply that change how the word looks on the face of it. Such rules are far too involved to treat here.
All of these resulting active participles are very well behaved nouns. That is to say, they are rendered feminine by adding the Taa of femininity and many of them are pluralized using the sound plural construction. The chart below makes this clear.
| Some Common Broken Plurals | Sound Plural | Pattern | |
| فُعَّال، فَعَلَة، فُعَّل | فَاعِلُوْنَ | فَاعِل | Masculine |
| فَوَاعِل | فَاعِلاَت | فَاعِلَة | Feminine |
| — | مُـ…ـعِلُوْنَ | مُـ…ـعِل | Masculine |
| — | مُـ…ـعِلاَت | مُـ…ـعِلَة | Feminine |
The Hyperbolic Participle
Meaning
The hyperbolic participle is that noun derived from a gerund which is used to indicate upon the one who has/is/will enact the meaning expressed by the root letters to a very high degree or to a very large extent. For example, we can create a hyperbolic participle for “traveling” which gives us the meaning “one who travels a lot” or “one who travels by profession”, in other words “a globetrotter”.
Some points to note about the exaggerated participle have already been detailed in our discussion on the active participle:
- it can occupy any grammatical positioning in a sentence
- the meaning might not always be obvious
- it can be used as both an adjective and a noun
- not all gerunds have an associated hyperbolic participle; in fact, most don’t
One of the patterns in the inventory of this participle is especially useful for occupations. The list below gives some examples of this:
| Translation | Meaning from Root Letters | Arabic Word |
| barber | to shave | حَلاَّق |
| mason, builder | to build | بَنَّاء |
| executioner | to whip, be tough | جَلاَّد |
| lethal, pernicious | to kill | قَتَّال |
| winegrower | also has to do with vines | كَرَّام |
| carpenter | to carve | نَجَّار |
Construction
The hyperbolic participle exists only for trilateral roots with no extra letters (see Verb Paradigms). Constructing the participle is a simple matter of placing the root letters on one of the following patterns. Given a set of three root letters, however, it is unpredictable which one of these patterns will be used, or if the root letters even have an associated hyperbolic participle at all.
- فَعِل
- فَعُوْل
- فَعِيْل
- فَعَّال
- فُعَّال
- فُعُّوْل
- فِعِّيْل
- فَيْعُول
- مِفْعَال
- مِفْعِيْل
- فَعَّالَة
These words conjugate regularly just as the active participle.
The Passive Participle
Meaning
The passive participle is that noun derived from a gerund designed to indicate upon the thing upon which the root meaning has been, is, or will be enacted. For example, using the passive participle for the gerund “breaking” gives us “that which is broken”, or simply “broken”. For contrasting purposes, notice that the active participle would have been “that which breaks”, or simply “breaker”.
Some points to note about the passive participle have already been detailed in our discussion on the active participle:
- it can occupy any grammatical positioning in a sentence
- the meaning might not always be obvious
- it can be used as both an adjective and a noun
- not all gerunds have an associated passive participle; e.g. intransitive gerunds
The following chart provides some passive participles. Notice how the word “rational”, for example, can be used as both an adjective or a noun; compare “this rational proof is good” and “this rational (thing) is good.”
| Some Popular Meanings | Expected
Meaning |
Passive Participle | Base Meaning | Base Letters |
| rational, cogent | that which is comprehended | مَعْقُوْل | to comprehend | ع، ق، ل |
| (tooth)paste | something kneaded | مَعْجُوْن | to knead, to soak | ع، ج، ن |
Construction
For trilateral roots with no extra letters (see Verb Paradigms), the passive participle is constructed by placing the root letters on the following pattern:
مَفْعُوْل
For all other cases, the following algorithm is used:
- construct the active participle
- change the vowel on the second last letter from a كسرة to a فتحة
Below are some sample derivations. Notice that some morphophonemic rules may apply, which we will not discuss here.
| Passive Participle | Verb |
| مَقْرُوْء | قَرَأَ – يَقْرَأ |
| مَرْضِيّ | رَضِيَ – يَرْضى |
| مَقُوْل | قَالَ – يَقُوْل |
| مُحَسّ | أَحَسَّ – يُحِسّ |
| مُتَبَادَل | تَبَادَلَ – يَتَبَادَل |
| مُسَيْطَر | سَيْطَرَ – يُسَيْطِر |
| مُزَلْزَل | زَلْزَلَ – يُزَلْزِل |
These nouns are well behaved in terms of gender and plurality. The chart below gives an overview of this.
| Some Common Broken Plurals | Sound Plural | Singular | |
| مَفَاعِيْل | مَفْعُوْلُوْنَ | مَفْعُوْل | Masculine |
| مَفْعُوْلاَت | مَفْعُوْلَة | Feminine | |
| — | مُـ…ـعَلُوْنَ | مُـ…ـعَل | Masculine |
| — | مُـ…ـعَلاَت | مُـ…ـعَلَة | Feminine |