Sunday, May 17, 2009

Present tense verb forms compared

Follow the links to other articles explaining the usage - coming soon...

Imperfect - indicative
This form is called مرفوع بالضمة, which is the same as the nominative of a noun: they both end in damma.

The following forms end in damma (short -u):
أَكْتُبُ AktUbU - أََنَا - I
نَكْتُبُ NAktUbU - نَحْنُ - we
يَكْتُبُ YAktUbU - هُوَ - he
تَكْتُبُ TAktUbU - هِيَ - she
تَكْتُبُ TAktUbU - أَنْتَ - you (s, m)

These end in -oona:
تَكْتُبٌونَ TAktUbOONA - أَنْتُمْ - you (pl, m)
يَكْتُبٌونَ YAktUbOONA - هُمْ - they (m)

This one in -eena:
تَكْتُبِينَ TAktUbEENA - أَنْتِ - you (s, f)

And these ones in -na:
تَكْتُبْنَ TAktUbNA - أَنْتُنَّ - you (pl, f)
يَكْتُبْنَ YAktUbNA - هُنَّ - they (f)


Subjunctive
This form is called منصوب بالفتحة, which is the same as the accusative of a noun: they both end in fatha. It is used after particles such as أَنْ, ل, لأَنْ, لِكيْ, حتَّى, لنْ, and there are the following changes from the indicative

damma changes to fatha (short -a):
أَكْتُبَ AktUbA - أََنَا - I
نَكْتُبَ NAktUbA - نَحْنُ - we
يَكْتُبَ YAktUbA - هُوَ - he
تَكْتُبَ TAktUbA - هِيَ - she
تَكْتُبَ TAktUbA - أَنْتَ - you (s, m)

-oona drops the noon to become -oo (and needs an alif at the end!):
تَكْتُبٌوأَ TAktUbOO - أَنْتُمْ - you (pl, m)
يَكْتُبٌوأَ YAktUbOO - هُمْ - they (m)

-eena drops the noon to become - ee:
تَكْتُبِي TAktUbEE - أَنْتِ - you (s, f)

Finally, the -na stays the same:
تَكْتُبْنَ TAktUbNA - أَنْتُنَّ - you (pl, f)
يَكْتُبْنَ YAktUbNA - هُنَّ - they (f)


Jussive
This is used after particles such as لَمْ and لَمَّا (meaning 'not yet'), and also in conditional sentences after إِنْ. There are the following changes from the indicative

damma changes to sukun (no ending):
أَكْتُبْ AktUb - أََنَا - I
نَكْتُبْ NAktUb - نَحْنُ - we
يَكْتُبْ YAktUb - هُوَ - he
تَكْتُبْ TAktUb - هِيَ - she
تَكْتُبْ TAktUb - أَنْتَ - you (s, m)

-oona drops the noon to become -oo with a final alif (same as subjunctive):
تَكْتُبٌوأَ TAktUbOO - أَنْتُمْ - you (pl, m)
يَكْتُبٌوأَ YAktUbOO - هُمْ - they (m)

-eena drops the noon to become - ee (same as subjunctive):
تَكْتُبِي TAktUbEE - أَنْتِ - you (s, f)

And, the -na stays the same (indicative, subjunctive and jussive all the same):
تَكْتُبْنَ TAktUbNA - أَنْتُنَّ - you (pl, f)
يَكْتُبْنَ YAktUbNA - هُنَّ - they (f)

Also, in the jussive, hollow verbs contract and lose their middle radical, eg:
يَسوقُ becomes يَسٌقْ
تَكونُ becomes تَكُنْ