Transcript Tenses in Arabic

Sentence Types in
Arabic
 In
Arabic, there are two types of
sentences:
 1. The nominal sentence ( ‫الجملة‬
‫)االسمية‬:
It begins with a noun. For example:
‫الشمس مشرقة‬
‫الطالب يذاكر‬
‫الفتاة مهذبة‬
 2.
The verbal sentence ( ‫الجملة‬
‫)الفعلية‬:
It begins with a verb. In a verbal
Arabic sentence, the normal order is:
Verb- subject- object- other items (e.g. adverbials)
)‫الخ‬...‫أسماء الزمان والمكان‬،‫ (حال‬-‫ مفعول به‬-‫ فاعل‬-‫فعل‬
For example:
‫يدرس الطالب‬
‫أكلت التفاحة‬
‫قدم المسافرون‬
Arabic verbs
Arabic verbs are mostly derived from
roots that are composed of three
letters.
 Most roots in Arabic are composed of
three letters, for example, ،‫ قرأ‬،‫كتب‬
‫جلس‬
However, there are roots that are
composed of more than three letters,
such as, ‫دحرج‬
 The root of a word carries its basic
meaning, and all words derived from
the same root express similar or
related meanings.

All words derived from the same root are
found under the dictionary entry of the root
 For example:
‫ مكتبة‬،‫كتابة‬،‫ك ُتب‬،‫مكتوب‬،‫يكتب‬،‫ كاتب‬:‫كتب‬
 The first and the third letters in a root
carry the short vowel symbol of fatha, but
the second letter may either carry a fatha,
a damma, or a kasra. For example:
‫حزن‬،‫ر‬
‫ك ُب‬
ِ

 Tenses
in Arabic
Tenses in the Arabic language are not as
specific as they are in English. They do
not carry accurate time significance.
 In Arabic, there are only 3 tenses, while in
English there are 12 different tenses.
 The tenses in Arabic are:
1. ‫ الماضي‬the perfect or the past tense
because it is used to refer to actions or
events completed at the time of
reference. For example: ،‫كتب الطالب‬
‫ احتفل الناس‬،‫مرضت الطفلة‬

2. ‫ المضارع‬the imperfect because it is
used to refer to actions or events are
not completed at the time of
reference, whether they are in
progress or will happen in the future.
For example, ،‫ أذاكر دروسي‬،‫يأكل الولد‬
‫سأحضر االجتماع‬
3. ‫ األمر‬the imperative refers to a request
or command, so its meaning refers mainly
to the future.
 ‫ذاكر الدرس‬
 ‫انظر هناك‬

Subject-verb agreement in
Arabic
When the verb is in the 3rd person (‫)الغائب‬
and it comes before its subject, the verb
is always in the singular form
The teacher wrote …..
‫كتب المعلم‬
The two teachers wrote ….
‫كتب المعلمان‬
The teachers wrote …..
‫كتب المعلمون‬
First: Verbs preceding subject
When the verb precedes its subject, it will
agree with it in gender.
The boy grew up
‫كبر الولد‬
The girl grew up
‫كبرت البنت‬
The boys grew up
‫كبر األوالد‬
The girls grew up
‫كبرت البنات‬
The two boys grew up
‫كبر الولدان‬
The two girls grew up
‫كبرت البنتان‬
With broken plurals, feminine verbs are
used unless the broken plural refers to
male human beings.
For example:
‫ظهرت النجوم‬
‫ظهر الرجال‬
 The actual gender is always taken into
consideration even if the form of a noun
does not agree. For example:
‫قتل الخليفة الرجل‬
Not
‫قتلت الخليفة الرجل‬

When the verb follows its subject, it agrees
with it in number and gender. For example
The boys opened the door
‫فتح األوالد الباب‬
‫األوالد فتحوا الباب‬
The girls entered
‫دخلت البنات‬
‫البنات دخلن‬
Second: Verbs following subject



The 3rd person plural verb is used in the following
three cases:
1. when the plural subject is not mentioned. For
example:‫ درسوا‬،‫ أكلوا‬،‫ذهبوا‬
2. if the subject is placed first for stress or
emphasis. For example: ‫الطالب ذهبوا عندما انتهى‬
‫الوقت‬
3. if the subject has already been mentioned in a
previous sentence. For example:
‫وصلت البنات وجلسن في الفصل‬
.‫اختبر الطالب ثم ذهبوا لمنازلهم‬

Using the 3rd person plural verb
‫اليجوز تغيير زمن الجملة بأي حال عند الترجمة إلى‬
‫العربية‪ ،‬فإذا استخدمت في النص األجنبي أفعال في‬
‫ا‬
‫أفعاال‬
‫زمن الماضي سواء كانت أفعال أساسية أو‬
‫مساعدة فتكون الترجمة العربية على هذا األساس‬
‫‪Few drops of the solution were added to the‬‬
‫‪compound‬‬
‫أضيفت قطرات قليلة من المحلول إلى المركب‬
‫مطابقة زمن الجمل لما ورد في النص‬
‫األجنبي‬

Translate the following:

The student came.

The two students came.

The girl came.

The boys came.

The women came.

The men went to the mosque.

The students took their exam. Then, they went home.
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