7.3 - Active Voice Perfect Tense (Past)

 

Section 7.3 – Active Voice Past Tense الْفِعْلُ الْمَاضِىُ الْمَعْرُوْفُ

 

Three alphabet Root word ثُلَاثِي مُجَرَّدٌ (thula-thi mujar-ra-dun)

 

As we mentioned before, 99% of Arabic words are based on three alphabet root words. These are called ثُلَاثِىْ مُجَرَّدٌ (thulati mu-jar-radun) meaning three and mujar-rad meaning bare. Remaining 1% are 4 alphabet root words (رُبَاعِىْ rubaa-yee) and five alphabet root words (خُمَاسِىْ khu-maa-si). We will be concentrating on the three-alphabet root word.

 

The three alphabets that are used as standard are (ف faa) (عayn) and (ل laam). An example of a three-alphabet root word is فَعَلَ (fa-'a-la).  There are two other forms that are also very common and these are فَعِلَ (fa-'ela) and فَعُلَ (fa-'ola).  

 

Next, let us study these forms and how they are used. This is probably the most important part of the book and the entire Ilm-us-Sarf (word morphology) is based on this.

 

In Arabic, each Verb is different depending upon whether the act is performed by male or female, single/dual or plural actors, and if the Actor/Subject is absent, present, or speaker. Technically, we should be getting 2x3x3 = 18 combinations. In Arabic, for speaker, dual/plural are the same, so the actual number of combinations is 14. Also, the dual Verb for in cases of absent/present and male/female are the same but are counted and written in the tas-reef. When these are used in a sentence, the context is what decides which ones these are.

 

Inflections of past tense with standard/ generic (ف) (ع) and (ل).

 

Table 33 – Meaning of فَعَلَ (fa-ala) Inflections

 

 

Inflection number	Verb	Meaning	pronoun hidden in  the Verb
1	فَعَلَ   Fa-'a-la	He did	هُوَ   hua	He
2	فَعَلَا   Fa-'a-laا	They both  (males) did	هُمَا   hu-ma	They both  (males)
3	فَعَلَوا   Fa-'a-lu	They all  (males) did	هُم   hum	They all  (males)
4	فَعَلَتْ   Fa-'a-lat	She did	هِيَ   Hee-ya	She
5	فَعَلَتْا   Fa-'a- lata	They both (females) did	هُمَا   Hu-maa	They both (females)
6	فَعَلَنَ   Fa-'al-na	They all  (females) did	هُمْ   hum	They all  (females)
7	فَعَلْتَ   Fa-al-ta	You (male)  did	اَنْتَ   un-ta	You (male)
8	فَعَلْتُمَا   Fa-'al- tu-maa	You both  (males) did	اَنْتُمَا   An-tu- maa	You both  (males)
9	فَعَلْتُم   Fa-'al- tum	You all  (males) did	اَنْتُمْ   un-tum	You all  (males)
10	فَعَلْتِ   Fa-'al-ti	You (female)  did	اَنْتِ   un-tee	You (female)
11	فَعَلْتُمَا   Fa-'al- tuma	You both  (females) did	اَنْتُمَا   un-tu- maa	You both (females)
12	فَعَلْتُنَّ   Fa-'al- tunna	You all  (females) did	اَنْتُنَّ   un-tun- naa	You all  (females)
13	فَعَلْتُ   Fa-'al-tu	I (male and female) did	اَنَا   anaa	I (male and female)
14	فَعَلْنَا   Fa-'al- naa	We (male/  female /dual/plural)  did	نَحْنُ   Nah-nu	We (male/ female /dual/plural)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above Verb was based on the root word فَعَلَ. Similarly, we can do two more tables with root words فَعِلَ and فَعُلَ as shown below.

 

Table 34 – فَعِلَ (Fa-'i-la) Inflections

 

			single		dual		plural
Absent 3rd  person	Male	1	فَعِلَ   Fa-'i- la	2	فَعِلَا   Fa-'i- laa	3	فَعِلُوْا   Fa-'i- loo
	Female	4	فَعِلَتْ   Fa-'i- lat	5	فَعِلَتَا   Fa- 'ila- taa	6	فَعِلْنَ   Fa-'il- na
Present 2nd  person	Male	7	فَعِلْتَ   Fa-'il- ta	8	فَعِلْتُمَا   Fa-' il- tu- maa	9	فَعِلْتُمْ   Fa-'il- tum
	female	10	فَعِلْتِ   Fa-'il- ti	11	فَعِلْتُمَا   Fa- 'il- tu- maa	12	فَعِلْتُنَّ   fa-'il- tun-na
Speaker 1st  person	Male/female	13	فَعِلْتُ   Fa-'il- tu	14	فَعِلْنَا   Fa-'il-naa

Table 35 – فَعُلَ (Fa-'u-la) Inflections

 

			single		dual		plural
Absent 3rd   person	Male	1	فَعُلَ   Fa-'u- la	2	فَعُلَا   Fa-'u- laa	3	فَعُلُوْا   Fa-'ul- loo
	Female	4	فَعُلَتْ   Fa-'u- lat	5	فَعُلَتَا   Fa- 'ula- taa	6	فَعُلْنَ   Fa-'ul- na
Present 2nd   person	Male	7	فَعُلْتَ   Fa-'ul- ta	8	فَعُلْتُمَا   Fa- 'ul- tu- maa	9	فَعُلْتُمْ   Fa-'ul- tum
	female	10	فَعُلْتِ   Fa-'ul- ti	11	فَعُلْتُمَا   Fa- 'ul- tu-  maa	12	فَعُلْتُنَّ   fa-'ul- tun-na
Speaker 1st   person	Male/female	13	فَعُلْتُ   Fa-'ul- tu	14	فَعُلْنَا   Fa-'ul-naa

 

 Table 36 - Examples of Verbs that use فَعَلَ die

 

ضَرَبَ   Da-ra-ba	He hit
خَلَقَ   Kha-la-qa	He  created
جَعَلَ   Ja-'ala	He  made
غَفَرَ   Gh-fa-ra	He  forgave
حَشَرَ   Ha-sha-ra	He  gathered
عَبَدَ   'Aba-da	He  prayed
رَفَعَ   Ra-fa-'a	He  raised
جَلَسَ   Ja-la-sa	He  sat

 

Table 37 - Examples of Verbs that use فَعِلَ die

 

سَمِعَ   Sa-mi-aa	He listened
فَرِحَ   Fa-ri-ha	He  became  happy
قَبِلَ   Qa-bi-la	He  accepted
حَمِدَ   Ha-mi-da	He  praised
رَحِمَ   Ra-hi-ma	He  showed  mercy
حَسِبَ   Ha-si-ba	He  assumed
حفِظَ   Ha-fi-za	He  remembered
شَرِبَ   Sha-ri-ba	He  drank
شَهِدَ   Sha-hi-da	He  witnessed

 

Table 38 - Examples of Verbs that use فَعُلَ die

 

ثَقُلَ   Tha-qu-la	He became  heavy
كَثُرَ   Ka-thu-ra	He became  abundant
شَرُفَ   Sha-ru-fa	He became  exalted
عَظُمَ   Azu-ma	He became  great
صَعُبَ   Sa-u-ba	He became  difficult
ثَقُلَ   Tha-qu-la	He became  heavy
قَرُبَ   Qa-ru-ba	He became  near
كَرُمَ   Ka-ru-ma	He was  generous
ضَعُفَ   Da-u-fa	He became  weak
بَعُدَ   Ba-u-da	He became distant

 

 

 

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