Learn Arabic in Hundred Step- Arabic Grammar

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67. Vowels of the Present Tense Verb. There are three important vowels you need to take note of when you conjugate any Arabic verb from past tense to the present tense. These include:

                   1. The Subject marker vowel, which is the first vowel of the verb;

                   2. The Stem Vowel, which is the vowel that goes on the second                                         radical/consonant of the root;

                   3. The Mood Marker Vowel, which is the last vowel of the verb.

     

      The following is a chart of these various vowels for the ten forms of the Arabic verb system:

 Form                 Indicative Mood         Stem                Subject

     I                                   Dhamma                     unpredictable  Fatha

      II                      Dhamma                     Kasra              Dhamma

      III                     Dhamma                     Kasra              Dhamma

      IV                     Dhamma                     Kasra              Dhamma

      V                      Dhamma                     Fatha               Fatha

      VI                     Dhamma                     Fatha               Fatha

      VII                   Dhamma                     Kasra              Fatha

      VIII                  Dhamma                     Kasra              Fatha

      IX                     Dhamma                     Fatha               Fatha

      X                      Dhamma                     Kasra              Fatha

 

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Arabic until

68.حتـَّی means “until” when it is followed by a verb in the past tense. When it is followed by a verb in the present tense it will express purpose and, therefore, means “in order to/so that.” In that case, the verb should be in the subjunctive mood.

                                     (a)                 سَکنَ هنا حتـَّی حضرتْ عائلتـُهُ.

                                          (b)   إنتـَقـَلـَتْ إلی القاهرةِ حتـَّی تدرُسَ هَناكَ.

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69. Negation of Present and Future Tense Verbs.

      Verbs in the present tense are negated by لا. Verbs which express future tense are negated by لـنْ after dropping the future marker prefix ( سـَ ). Please remember that the verb has to be changed to the Subjunctive Mood.

             a. We don’t watch/see this movie.                 لا نـُشاهِدُ هذا الفلم.

             b. We will not watch/see this movie.             لـن نـُشاهِدَ هذا الفلم.

70. The Sick Verbs الافعال المعتلة . Any verb that has a long vowel as one of the three radicals in its root is called a “sick verb.” These long vowels will go through a change when the verb is used in the present tense. Consequently, there are three types.

a. Assimilated, if the first radical of the verb is a long vowel such as:

وَصَلَ / يَصِلُ“to arrive.”

b. Hollow, when the second radical position is occupied by a long vowel such as:

سارَ / يَسيرُ“to walk.”

c. Defective, when the third radical position is occupied by a long vowel such as:

     دَعا / يَدعو“to invite.”

To check how these irregular verbs are conjugated to the various pronouns for both present & past tenses, please