The present form of the verb, and the future
How a verb in its present form begins with a letter that tells you who acts, and how one letter in front of it makes it future.
Written and checked by AI
These lessons were written and checked by AI, and no teacher of Arabic has read them yet. The verses, their meanings and the analysis of every word are taken from their sources, which are named where they are shown.
- Words of the Qur’ān known whole
- 35.4%
- Parts of the Qur’ān’s words taught so far
- 60.1%
Counted from the Quranic Arabic Corpus: a word is known whole when every part of it has been taught. The counts say which words you have met, not how much you understand.
The past form of a verb tells you who acted by its ending. The present form tells you mostly by its beginning: a letter in front of the root. This lesson teaches that, four more common verbs, and the letter sa-, which turns the present into the future.
The new words
- عَمِلَAs the Qur’ān writes it: تَعْمَلُ · عَمِلُ · يَعْمَلُ
do, work (ʿamila: he did)
Root: ع م لTimes in the Qur’ān: 276
- رَءَاAs the Qur’ān writes it: يَرَ · تَرَ · رَءَيْ
see (raʾā: he saw)
Root: ر ا يTimes in the Qur’ān: 271
- أَتَىAs the Qur’ān writes it: يَأْتِي · يَأْتِ · أَتَىٰ
come, come to, bring (atā: he came)
Root: ا ت يTimes in the Qur’ān: 264
- آتَىAs the Qur’ān writes it: ءَاتَيْ · أُوتُ · ءَاتَىٰ
give (ātā: he gave)
Root: ا ت يTimes in the Qur’ān: 271
- سَ
will (before a present verb, it speaks of what is to come)
Times in the Qur’ān: 119
The letter in front
In the present form, the first letter says who does the action:
- ya- is "he", and with -ūna at the end, "they";
- ta- is "you", and also "she";
- a- is "I";
- na- is "we".
- يَرَىٰsee (raʾā: he saw)
Yarā is "he sees": ya- in front of the verb raʾā, "saw", whose hamzah (the middle letter of the root r-ʾ-y) drops out in this form. The corpus marks the verb as imperfect, its name for the present form, and third person, masculine, singular.
- فَso, then, and so
- تَأْتُcome, come to, bring (atā: he came)
- ونَyou, your (more than two)
Fa-taʾtūna is fa, "so", then taʾtu, "come", with ta- in front for "you", then ūna, the plural "you" of the second lesson. The corpus marks the verb second person, masculine, plural, and divides ūna off as the doer.
The future
Sa-, joined to the front of a present verb, says the action is still to come.
- سَwill (before a present verb, it speaks of what is to come)
- يَعْلَمُknow (ʿalima: he knew)
- ونَthey (as the doer of a verb); them, their
Sa-yaʿlamūna is sa, "will", then yaʿlamu, "know", the present of ʿalima from the last lesson, then ūna, "they": "they will know". You know every part of this word.
Giving
- يُؤْتِىgive (ātā: he gave)
Yuʾtī is the present of ātā, "gave". Its first vowel is u, not a: the corpus marks ātā as form IV, a pattern of the verb that the next stage of the course teaches.
In a sentence
I see the sky.
This sentence was written for practice. Arā, "I see": a-, "I", in front of the verb.
Reading
The words you know whole after this lesson are marked.
concerning what they used to do.
English Translation - Rowwad Translation Center · QuranEnc.com · version 1.0.20He said, “What knowledge do I have of what they do?
English Translation - Rowwad Translation Center · QuranEnc.com · version 1.0.20[The followers] will say, “It was you who used to delude us from the right way[1].”
English Translation - Rowwad Translation Center · QuranEnc.com · version 1.0.20Recall
- Which letter in front of a present verb means "we"?
- What does sa- do?
- In yarā, who sees?
Answers: na-; it makes the verb future; "he".
Next
The next lesson teaches "every", "thing", "between", "before", "then", "or", "when" and "that", and how two nouns are joined so that one belongs to the other.
Word analysis: Quranic Arabic Corpus 0.4 (Kais Dukes)