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ARABIC ONLINE اللّغة العربيّة |
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Sound Masculine Plural Nouns Irregular Perfective Conjugation Irregular Imperfective Conjugation Inactive Particles Vocative Particles Praise & Disparagement Participle-like Adjectives Place-nouns Tool-nouns Diminutives
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Arabic Sentences (continued) Verbal Sentences
II. Apparent Dual & Plural Subjects Now we get to the tricky point about verbal sentences. We know that verbs in Arabic are conjugated in different forms to suit different numbers and genders of the subjects. However, in verbal sentences, if we had a verb followed by an apparent noun subject, the verb will be ALWAYS conjugated in the singular form. This will happen only with 3rd person conjugations of verbs because those are the only ones that can be followed by apparent noun subjects. Example: Verb - Subject - Prepositional Phrase يَذْهَبُ الْرَّجُلُ إِلَىْ عَمَلِهِ yathhab(u) ('a)r-rajul(u) 'ilaa "amali-h(i) = go the man to (the) work (of) him Translation: the man goes to his work In this sentence, the subject (the man) is singular and the verb was conjugated in the singular form; so nothing unusual.
Verb - Subject - Prepositional Phrase يَذْهَبُ الْرِّجَاْلُ إِلَىْ أَعْمَاْلِهِمْ yathhab(u) ('a)r-rijaal(u) 'ilaa 'a"maali-him = go the men to (the) works (of) them Translation: the men go to their works In this sentence, the subject (the men) is plural, but it is an apparent noun so the verb ought to be conjugated in the singular from. Note that in the nominal counterpart the verb must be conjugated in the plural: Subject - Verb - Prepositional Phrase الْرِّجَاْلُ يَذْهَبُوْنَ إِلَىْ أَعْمَاْلِهِمْ ('a)r-rijaal(u) yathhaboon(a) 'ilaa 'a"maali-him = the men go to (the) works (of) them Translation: THE MEN go to their works
Verb - Subject - Prepositional Phrase دَخَلَتْ سَيِّدَتَاْنِ إِلَىْ المَحَلِّ dakhalat sayyidataan(i) 'ilaa ('a)l-mahall(i) = entered two ladies to the shop Translation: two ladies entered the shop The subject (two ladies) is dual, but since it is an apparent noun, the verb was conjugated in the singular form. The nominal version for comparison: Subject - Verb - Prepositional Phrase سَيِّدَتَاْنِ دَخَلَتَاْ إِلَىْ المَحَلِّ sayyidataan(i) dakhalataa 'ilaa ('a)l-mahall(i) = two ladies entered to the shop Translation: TWO LADIES entered the shop
Verb - Subject سَيُهْزَمُ الأَعْدَاْءُ sa-yuhzam(u) ('a)l-'a"daa'(u) = will be defeated the enemies Translation: the enemies will be defeated The verb here is in the passive voice. It is in the singular conjugation even though the subject is plural because the subject is an apparent noun. If we turn it into a nominal sentence, the conjugation will have to be changed to the plural: Subject - Verb الأَعْدَاْءُ سَيُهْزَمُوْنَ 'al-'a"daa'(u) sa-yuhzamoon(a) = the enemies will be defeated Translation: THE ENEMIES will be defeated
Verb - Subject - Adverb سَتَكُوْنُ الْمُعَلِّمَاْتُ حَاْضِرَاْتٍ sa-takoon(u) ('a)l-mu"allimaat(u) haadiraat(in) = will be the teachers (fem.) present Translation: the teachers will be present
Subject - Verb - Adverb الْمُعَلِّمَاْتُ سَيَكُنَّ حَاْضِرَاْتٍ ('a)l-mu"allimaat(u) sa-yakunn(a) haadiraat(in) = the teachers will be present Translation: THE TEACHERS will be present
Apparent noun subjects include other things than simple nouns in Arabic. Example, demonstratives: Verb - Subject سَيُمْسِكُهُ هَؤُلاءِ sa-yumsiku-h(u) haa'ulaa'(i) = will catch him these Translation: those will catch him
Example, relative pronouns: Verb - Subject جَاْءَ الَّذِيْنَ سَيُسَاْعِدُوْنَنَاْ jaa'(a) 'al-latheen(a) sa-yusaa"idoon-naa = came who will help us Translation: the people who will help us came
Gender of Verbs We now know that verbs are always singular in a verbal sentence when the subject is an apparent 3rd person noun. The gender of these singular verbs would normally be masculine if the subject was masculine and feminine if the subject was feminine. However, feminine subjects can in fact equally take masculine or feminine verbs in many situations. Example: Verb - Subject وَقَعَ الْكَأْسُ waqa"(a) ('a)l-ka's(u) = fell the cup (fem.) Translation: the cup fell down OR وَقَعَتِ الْكَأْسُ waqa"at(i) ('a)l-ka's(u) = fell the cup (fem.) Translation: the cup fell down
The subject (the cup) is a feminine word. In the first sentence the verb was masculine and in the second one the verb was feminine. Both are correct; this is possible only in verbal sentences (if the verb precedes the subject). Another example: Verb - Subject جَاْءِتِ الْبَنَاْتُ jaa'at(i) ('a)l-banaat(u) = came the girls Translation: the girls came OR جَاْءَ الْبَنَاْتُ jaa'a ('a)l-banaat(u) = came the girls Translation: the girls came Again, both are correct.
There are two situations in which the verb must be feminine and only feminine: 1. If the subject is an apparent true feminine noun (female person) that is directly following the verb (without separating words). Broken or irregular plurals are excluded from this rule (the last example). Example: Verb - Subject رَجَعَتْ سُعَاْدُ raja"at su"aad(u) = returned Su'ad Translation: Su'ad returned In this sentence the verb must be feminine because the subject is a true female person.
2. If the subject is pronoun referring to a feminine noun, whether it was true or figurative feminine. Example:
Verb - Hiding Subject - Prepositional Phrase خَرَجَتْ مِنَ الْغُرْفَةِ kharajat min(a) ('a)l-rurfa(ti) = went out (she) from the room Translation: she went out of the room
We have mentioned that any irregular plural can take a masculine verbs. The other way around is also true, irregular plurals can always take feminine verbs even if the subject was true masculine. Thus, irregular plural subjects can take masculine and feminine verbs interchangeably in verbal sentences. Example: Verb - Subject قَدْ جَاْءَتِ الرِّجَاْلُ qad jaa'at(i) ('a)r-rijaal(u) = have came the men Translation: the men have came In this sentence, the subject was true masculine yet the verb was feminine. This is because the subject is an irregular plural word. It is always preferred (at least in my view) that the gender of the verb matches the gender of the subject. A one good reason for that is simply to avoid any confusion or mistakes.
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