الْمَاضِيُّ الْمَبْنِيُّ لِلْمَعْلُومِ
The اَلْفِعْلُ الْمَاضِيُّ is a past tense verb, which in Arabic is used to describe actions that are finished. This lesson will focus on the past-tense Active verb i.e. the الْمَاضِيُّ الْمَبْنِيُّ لِلْمَعْلُومِ.
We have stated that in Arabic, every active فِعْلٌ (verb) comes with an inside pronoun (ضَمَيْرٌ مُسْتَتِرٌ) which is the doer (فَاعِلٌ).
In a الفِعْلُ الْمَبْنِيُّ لِلْمَعْلُومِ (Active verb), the doer (فَاعِلٌ) of the action is known and stated or understood.
In a الفِعْلُ الْمَبْنِيُّ لِلْمَجْهُولِ (Passive verb), the doer (فَاعِلٌ) of the action is not mentioned, and the action itself is emphasised. A passive فِعْلٌ does not have a doer. But we do know who the action was done-to. Therefore instead of an inside pronoun doer, we have an inside pronoun done-to, which is called the نَائِبُالفَاعِلِ.
Examples of inside pronoun (ضَمَيْرٌ مُسْتَتِرٌ) in اَلْفِعْلُ الْمَاضِيُّ:
نَصَرَ
he helped
كَتَبَ
he wrote
The above examples have the فَاعِلٌ (doer) already inside the فِعْلٌ (verb), informing us who did the action without the need of any extra words.
In English we need extra words to inform us who the فَاعِلٌ (doer) is, as in the above example نَصَرَ ‘He helped’ , the word ‘he’ being the extra word, added to the action ‘helped’.
Since, the doer is known for نَصَرَ and كَتَبَ, we say they are active verbs (الفِعْلُ الْمَبْنِيُّ لِلْمَعْلُومِ) or we can say مَعْلُوم for short. Some books refer to this as فِعْل مَعْرُوْف.
Pattern (وَزْن)
In the examples نَصَرَ (he helped) and كَتَبَ (he wrote), the verb is in the third person (غَائِبٌ), masculine (مُذَكَّرُ) and singular (وَاحِدٌ), i.e. the doer of the action is ‘he’.
If we want to say ‘she helped’, ‘she wrote’, ‘they helped’ or ‘they wrote’ etc, we must modify the verb form to reflect the correct doer.
In Arabic, a فِعْلٌ (verb) is derived from root letters, most commonly three root letters (though some verbs contain more). These root letters are inserted into a specific pattern known as a وَزْن (pattern).
To indicate who performed the action, we adjust the verb’s ending according to established patterns. By changing these endings, we identify whether the doer is:
- masculine or feminine
- singular, dual, or plural
- first, second, or third person
Thus, Arabic verbs follow a structured way in which root letters remain constant, while endings change to convey the doer.
Let’s take the first pattern (وَزْن) فَعَلَ for الْمَاضِيُّ الْمَبْنِيُّ لِلْمَعْلُومِ i.e. the past-tense Active verb:
فَعَلَ
ف : first root letter
ع : second root letter
ل : third root letter
Bearing in mind every active فِعْلٌ (verb) comes with an inside pronoun (ضَمَيْرٌ مُسْتَتِرٌ) which is the فَاعِلٌ (doer). The ضَمَيْرٌ مُسْتَتِرٌ (inside pronoun) is indicated by the ending. When we change the ending we change who did the action. The following table shows the endings for each doer pronoun (ضَمَيْرٌ).
| Pronoun | Ending | Pattern (فَعَلَ) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| هُوَ | ـَ | فَعَلَ | he did |
| هُمَا | ـا | فَعَلَا | they (two males) did |
| هُمْ | ـوا | فَعَلُوا | they (males) did |
| هِيَ | ـتْ | فَعَلَتْ | she did |
| هُمَا | ـتَا | فَعَلَتَا | they (two females) did |
| هُنَّ | ـنَ | فَعَلْنَ | they (females) did |
| أَنْتَ | ـتَ | فَعَلْتَ | you (male) did |
| أَنْتُمَا | ـتُمَا | فَعَلْتُمَا | you (two males) did |
| أَنْتُمْ | ـتُمْ | فَعَلْتُمْ | you (males) did |
| أَنْتِ | ـتِ | فَعَلْتِ | you (female) did |
| أَنْتُمَا | ـتُمَا | فَعَلْتُمَا | you (two females) did |
| أَنْتُنَّ | ـتُنَّ | فَعَلْتُنَّ | you (females) did |
| أَنَا | ـتُ | فَعَلْتُ | I did |
| نَحْنُ | ـنَا | فَعَلْنَا | we did |
Example 1: نَصَرَ
Let’s now take the root letters ن ص ر and drop it into the pattern (وَزْن) فَعَلَ :
- ن ص ر root letters dropped in the pattern (وَزْن) فَعَلَ yields نَصَرَ (He helped). This is a الْمَاضِيُّ الْمَبْنِيُّ لِلْمَعْلُومِ (Active past-tense verb).
- The ending ـَ indicates that theضَمَيْرٌ مُسْتَتِرٌ (inside pronoun) is the third person (غَائِبٌ), masculine (مُذَكَّرُ) and singular (وَاحِدٌ) i.e. ‘He’.
Following the pattern for all ضَمَيْرٌ مُسْتَتِرٌ (inside pronouns) doers yields:
| Pronoun | Ending | Pattern (فَعَلَ) | With Root (ن ص ر) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| هُوَ | ـَ | فَعَلَ | نَصَرَ | he helped |
| هُمَا | ـا | فَعَلَا | نَصَرَا | they (two males) helped |
| هُمْ | ـوا | فَعَلُوا | نَصَرُوا | they (males) helped |
| هِيَ | ـتْ | فَعَلَتْ | نَصَرَتْ | she helped |
| هُمَا | ـتَا | فَعَلَتَا | نَصَرَتَا | they (two females) helped |
| هُنَّ | ـنَ | فَعَلْنَ | نَصَرْنَ | they (females) helped |
| أَنْتَ | ـتَ | فَعَلْتَ | نَصَرْتَ | you (male) helped |
| أَنْتُمَا | ـتُمَا | فَعَلْتُمَا | نَصَرْتُمَا | you (two males) helped |
| أَنْتُمْ | ـتُمْ | فَعَلْتُمْ | نَصَرْتُمْ | you (males) helped |
| أَنْتِ | ـتِ | فَعَلْتِ | نَصَرْتِ | you (female) helped |
| أَنْتُمَا | ـتُمَا | فَعَلْتُمَا | نَصَرْتُمَا | you (two females) helped |
| أَنْتُنَّ | ـتُنَّ | فَعَلْتُنَّ | نَصَرْتُنَّ | you (females) helped |
| أَنَا | ـتُ | فَعَلْتُ | نَصَرْتُ | I helped |
| نَحْنُ | ـنَا | فَعَلْنَا | نَصَرْنَا | we helped |
فِعْلٌ (verb) are said to be تَثْنِيَةٌ (dual) and جَمْعٌ (plural) with respect to their فَاعِلٌ (doer). The action is one. Thus, تَثْنِيَةٌ (duality) and جَمْعٌ (plurality) are signs of an إِسْمٌ not a فِعْلٌ (verb) .
An easy way to remember these, is to use the same conjugation hand we used for the pronouns(ضَمَيْرٌ). Do you remember the pronoun (ضَمَيْرٌ) conjugation hand? See below for a recap:
let us now do this for the root letters ن ص ر, noting the position taken for each conjugation is in the place of its corresponding pronoun (ضَمَيْرٌ).
They say practice makes perfect.
So practice فِعْلٌ (verb) conjugations regularly.
Example 2: كَتَبَ
Take the root letters ك ت ب and drop it into the pattern (وَزْن) فَعَلَ :
كَتَبَ
he wrote
| Pronoun | Ending | Pattern (فَعَلَ) | With Root (ك ت ب) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| هُوَ | ـَ | فَعَلَ | كَتَبَ | he wrote |
| هُمَا | ـا | فَعَلَا | كَتَبَا | they (two males) wrote |
| هُمْ | ـوا | فَعَلُوا | كَتَبُوا | they (males) wrote |
| هِيَ | ـتْ | فَعَلَتْ | كَتَبَتْ | she wrote |
| هُمَا | ـتَا | فَعَلَتَا | كَتَبَتَا | they (two females) wrote |
| هُنَّ | ـنَ | فَعَلْنَ | كَتَبْنَ | they (females) wrote |
| أَنْتَ | ـتَ | فَعَلْتَ | كَتَبْتَ | you (male) wrote |
| أَنْتُمَا | ـتُمَا | فَعَلْتُمَا | كَتَبْتُمَا | you (two males) wrote |
| أَنْتُمْ | ـتُمْ | فَعَلْتُمْ | كَتَبْتُمْ | you (males) wrote |
| أَنْتِ | ـتِ | فَعَلْتِ | كَتَبْتِ | you (female) wrote |
| أَنْتُمَا | ـتُمَا | فَعَلْتُمَا | كَتَبْتُمَا | you (two females) wrote |
| أَنْتُنَّ | ـتُنَّ | فَعَلْتُنَّ | كَتَبْتُنَّ | you (female) wrote |
| أَنَا | ـتُ | فَعَلْتُ | كَتَبْتُ | I wrote |
| نَحْنُ | ـنَا | فَعَلْنَا | كَتَبْنَا | we wrote |
The conjugating hand for كَتَبَ:
Number of Letters in the Verb
In Arabic, a فِعْلٌ (verb) is derived from root letters, most commonly three root letters, though some verbs contain more. We will discuss them later in the course.