Arabic Examining the present tense Lesson 23
Conjugating verbs in the past tense is relatively straightforward, but conjugating
verbs in the present tense is a bit trickier. Instead of changing only the
ending of the verb, you must also alter its beginning. In other words, you need
to be familiar not only with the suffix but also the prefix that corresponds to
each personal pronoun.
Chapter 2: The Nitty-Gritty: Basic Arabic Grammar 41
To illustrate the difference between past and present tense, the verb kataba
(wrote) is conjugated as yaktubu (yak-too-boo; to write), whereas the verb
darasa (studied) is yadrusu (yad-roo-soo; to study).
Here’s the verb yaktubu (to write) conjugated using all the personal pronouns.
Notice how both the suffixes and prefixes change in the present tense.
Form Pronunciation Translation
‘anaa ‘aktubu ah-nah ak-too-boo I am writing
‘anta taktubu an-tah tak-too-boo You are writing (MS)
‘anti taktubiina an-tee tak-too-bee-nah You are writing (FS)
huwa yaktubu hoo-wah yak-too-boo He is writing
hiya taktubu hee-yah tak-too-boo She is writing
naHnu naktubu nah-noo nak-too-boo We are writing
‘antum taktubuuna an-toom tak-too-boo-nah You are writing (MP)
‘antunna taktubna an-too-nah tak-toob-nah You are writing (FP)
hum yaktubuuna hoom yak-too-boo-nah They are writing (MP)
hunna yaktubna hoo-nah yak-toob-nah They are writing (FP)
antumaa taktubaani an-too-mah tak-too-bah-nee You are writing
(dual/MP/FP)
humaa yaktubaani hoo-mah yak-too-bah-nee They are writing (dual/MP)
humaa taktubaani hoo-mah tak-too-bah-nee They are writing (dual/FP)
As you can see, you need to be familiar with both the prefixes and suffixes to
conjugate verbs in the present tense. Table 2-9 includes every personal pronoun
with its corresponding prefix and suffix for the present tense.
Table Personal Pronoun Prefixes and Suffixes for Verbs
in the Present Tense
Arabic Pronoun Pronunciation Translation Verb Prefix Verb Suffix
‘anaa ah-nah I/me ‘a- -u
‘anta an-tah you (MS) ta- -u
‘anti an-tee you (FS) ta- -iina
huwa hoo-wah he/it ya- -u
hiya hee-yah she/it ta- -u
Part I: Getting Started
Arabic Pronoun Pronunciation Translation Verb Prefix Verb Suffix
naHnu nah-noo we na- -u
‘antum an-toom you (MP) ta- -uuna
‘antunna an-too-nah you (FP) ta- -na
hum hoom they (MP) ya- -uuna
hunna hoo-nah they (FP) ya- -na
‘antumaa an-too-mah you (dual) ta- -aani
humaa hoo-mah they (M/dual) ya- -aani
humaa hoo-mah they (F/dual) ta- -aani
Aside from prefixes and suffixes, another major difference between the past
and present tenses in Arabic is that every verb in the present tense has a dominant
vowel that’s unique and distinctive. For example, the dominant vowel in
yaktubu is a damma (dah-mah; “ooh” sound). However, in the verb yaf’alu
(yaf-ah-loo; to do), the dominant vowel is the fatHa (fat-hah; “ah” sound). This
means that when you conjugate the verb yaf’alu using the personal pronoun
‘anaa, you say ‘anaa ‘af’alu and not ‘anaa ‘af’ulu. For complete coverage of
Arabic vowels (damma, fatHa, and kasra), check out Chapter 1.
The dominant vowel is always the middle vowel. Unfortunately, there’s no
hard rule you can use to determine which dominant vowel is associated with
each verb. The best way to identify the dominant vowel is to look up the verb
in the qaamuus (kah-moos; dictionary).
In this list, I divided up some of the most common Arabic verbs according to
their dominant vowels:
damma
• yaktubu (yak-too-boo; to write)
• yadrusu (yad-roo-soo; to study)
• ya’kulu (yah-koo-loo; to eat)
• yaskunu (yas-koo-noo; to live)
fatHa
• yaf’alu (yaf-ah-loo; to do)
• yaqra’u (yak-rah-oo; to read)
• yadhhabu (yaz-hah-boo; to go)
• yaftaHu (yaf-tah-hoo; to open)
Chapter 2: The Nitty-Gritty: Basic Arabic Grammar 43
kasra
• yarji’u (yar-jee-oo; to return)
• ya’rifu (yah-ree-foo; to know)
When you conjugate a verb in the present tense, you must do two things:
1. Identify the dominant vowel that will be used to conjugate the verb
using all personal pronouns.
2. Isolate the prefix and suffi