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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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Verbs (continued) Tenses for the Perfective Verb Arabic grammar recognizes three tenses, the past, present, and future, without paying much attention to the different aspects of each tense nor to how to express these aspects. However, following is a suggested standardized way for expressing different European tenses in Arabic:
1. Simple Past فَعَلَ fa"al(a) = (he) did Translation: he did
2. Anterior Past كَاْنَ فَعَلَ kaan(a) fa"al(a) = (he) was did Translation: ≈ he had done When the perfective verb is preceded by kaan(a) كَاْنَ = "was," the formulation will mean something close to "he had done."
3. Anterior Future سَيَكُوْنُ فَعَلَ sa-yakoon(u) fa"al(a) = (he) will be did Translation: ≈ he will have done When the perfective verb is preceded by sa-yakoon سَيَكُوْنُ = "will be," or sawfa yakoon سَوْفَ يَكُوْنُ = "will be," the formulation will mean something close to "he will have done."
4. Perfect Present لَقَدْ فَعَلَ la-qad fa"al(a) = (he) indeed has done
The particle qad قَدْ or la-qad لَقَدْ is used with the perfective verb for emphasis. However, it seems that la-qad is used in Modern Standard Arabic only when the verb has a perfect present meaning.
Note The particle qad can also precede the imperfective verb, but in that case it will have an entirely different function which is to confer a sense of incertitude on the verb as we are going to see.
Perfective as Subjunctive
Although perfective structures denote the past tense or the present perfect tense when used alone, Arabic often uses perfective verbs to express the subjunctive mood (the mood of hypothetical situations) rather than the actual perfective. Thus, perfective verbs can often indicate the present and future tenses rather than the past, especially in the classical language. This is very much like modern English; when one says in English "if I could, I would go" he doesn't really mean the past tense, even though he's using it.
The particle qad can also be used as an emphatic particle: قَدْ نَجَحَ المُجِدُّ فِيْ عَمَلِهِ qad najah(a) ('a)l-mujidd(u) fee "amali-h(i) = certainly (he) succeeded the diligent in (the) work (of) him Translation: certainly, the diligent succeeds at his work The perfective verb was used here as a subjunctive verb, which is common in classical Arabic. This is similar to the English "if I were there..."
Examples: إِنْ دَرَسْتَ نَجَحْتَ 'in darast(a) najaht(a) = if (you) studied (you) succeeded Translation: if you studied, you would pass = if you study, you will pass
الْمُؤْمِنُ مَنْ أَمِنَ جَاْرُهُ بَوَاْئِقَهُ ('a)l-mu'min(u) man 'amin(a) jaaru-h(u) bawaa'iqa-h(u) = the believer (is) who (he) was secured (from), neighbor (of) him, harms (of) him Translation: a (true) believer is one whose neighbor wouldn't have to worry about harm from him The subject of the verb 'amin(a) was jaaru-h(u). The object of the same verb was bawaa'iqa-. The pronoun (-h(u) = him) was always referring to the believer. Example on how the same sentence can have different meanings: صَعُبَ عَلَيْهِ الأَمْرُ sa"ub(a) "alay-h(i) ('a)l-'amr(u) = (he/it) has been hard on him the matter (masc.) Translation: the matter has been hard on him This was the indicative mood. صَعُبَ عَلَيْهِ الأَمْرُ sa"ub(a) "alay-h(i) ('a)l-'amr(u) = (he/it) was hard on him the matter (masc.) Translation: the matter would be hard on him This is the subjunctive mood.
Another example: صَعُبَ عَلَيَّ أَنْ أُفَاْرِقَكَ sa"ub(a) "alay-y(a) 'an 'ufaariqa-k(a) = (he/it) was hard on me that (I) part from you (sing. masc.) Translation: it would be hard on me to part from you I couldn't part from you
We are going to see many other examples on this site of perfective verbs being used as subjunctive verbs.
Tenses for the Imperfective Verb
The imperfective structure is used in the following tenses:
1. Simple Present
يَفْعَلُ yaf"al(u) = (he) does Translation: he does
2. Simple Future
سَيَفْعَلُ sa-yaf"al(u) = (he) will do Translation: he will do
سَوْفَ يَفْعَلُ sawfa yaf"al(u) = (he) will do Translation: he will do
3. Progressive Present
يَفْعَلُ yaf"al(u) = (he) does Translation: he is doing
4. Progressive Past
كَاْنَ يَفْعَلُ kaan(a) yaf"al(u) = (he) was do Translation: he was doing
5. Progressive Future
سَيَكُوْنُ يَفْعَلُ sa-yakoon(u) yaf"al(u) = (he) will be do Translation: he will be doing
سَوْفَ يَكُوْنُ يَفْعَلُ sawfa yakoon(u) yaf"al(u) = (he) will be do Translation: he will be doing
A scheme for all tenses:
Finally, here is a list of Arabic verbs.
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