الْمَاضِيُّ الْمَبْنِيُّ لِلْمَعْلُومِ
In this section we will discuss the اَلْفِعْلُ الْمَاضِيُّ (the past tense verb) which in Arabic is used to describe actions that are finished. In particular the الْمَاضِيُّ الْمَبْنِيُّ لِلْمَعْلُومِ i.e. the past-tense Active verb.
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 (ضَمَيْرٌ مُسْتَتِرٌ), 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’.
Pattern (وَزْن)
The following 4 key points are to be understood:
- Arabic فِعْلٌ (verb) are built from a root letters (usually three letters but can have more).
- These root letters are placed into a pattern (وَزْن).
- We change the ending to show who did the action.
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 pronoun (ضَمَيْرٌ).
| Pronoun | Ending | Pattern (فَعَلَ) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| هُوَ | ـَ | فَعَلَ | he did |
| هُمَا | ـا | فَعَلَا | they two (m.) |
| هُمْ | ـوا | فَعَلُوا | they (m.) did |
| هِيَ | ـتْ | فَعَلَتْ | she did |
| هُمَا | ـتَا | فَعَلَتَا | they two (f.) did |
| هُنَّ | ـنَ | فَعَلْنَ | they (f.) did |
| أَنْتَ | ـتَ | فَعَلْتَ | you (m.) did |
| أَنْتُمَا | ـتُمَا | فَعَلْتُمَا | you two did |
| أَنْتِ | ـتِ | فَعَلْتِ | you (f.) did |
| أَنْتُمْ | ـتُمْ | فَعَلْتُمْ | you (m. pl.) did |
| أَنْتُمَا | ـتُمَا | فَعَلْتُمَا | you two did |
| أَنْتُنَّ | ـتُنَّ | فَعَلْتُنَّ | you (f. pl.) 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) a الْمَاضِيُّ الْمَبْنِيُّ لِلْمَعْلُومِ i.e. the past-tense Active past-tense verb (اَلْفِعْلُ الْمَاضِيُّ).
- 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) yields:
| Pronoun | Ending | Pattern (فَعَلَ) | With Root (ن ص ر) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| هُوَ | ـَ | فَعَلَ | نَصَرَ | he did / he helped |
| هُمَا | ـا | فَعَلَا | نَصَرَا | they two (m.) did / helped |
| هُمْ | ـوا | فَعَلُوا | نَصَرُوا | they (m.) did / helped |
| هِيَ | ـتْ | فَعَلَتْ | نَصَرَتْ | she did / she helped |
| هُمَا | ـتَا | فَعَلَتَا | نَصَرَتَا | they two (f.) did / helped |
| هُنَّ | ـنَ | فَعَلْنَ | نَصَرْنَ | they (f.) did / helped |
| أَنْتَ | ـتَ | فَعَلْتَ | نَصَرْتَ | you (m.) did / helped |
| أَنْتُمَا | ـتُمَا | فَعَلْتُمَا | نَصَرْتُمَا | you two did / helped |
| أَنْتُمْ | ـتُمْ | فَعَلْتُمْ | نَصَرْتُمْ | you (m. pl.) did / helped |
| أَنْتِ | ـتِ | فَعَلْتِ | نَصَرْتِ | you (f.) did / helped |
| أَنْتُمَا | ـتُمَا | فَعَلْتُمَا | نَصَرْتُمَا | you two did / helped |
| أَنْتُنَّ | ـتُنَّ | فَعَلْتُنَّ | نَصَرْتُنَّ | you (f. pl.) did / helped |
| أَنَا | ـتُ | فَعَلْتُ | نَصَرْتُ | I did / I helped |
| نَحْنُ | ـنَا | فَعَلْنَا | نَصَرْنَا | we did / 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 conjugate these. 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 your 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 did / he wrote |
| هُمَا | ـا | فَعَلَا | كَتَبَا | they two (m.) did / wrote |
| هُمْ | ـوا | فَعَلُوا | كَتَبُوا | they (m.) did / wrote |
| هِيَ | ـتْ | فَعَلَتْ | كَتَبَتْ | she did / she wrote |
| هُمَا | ـتَا | فَعَلَتَا | كَتَبَتَا | they two (f.) did / wrote |
| هُنَّ | ـنَ | فَعَلْنَ | كَتَبْنَ | they (f.) did / wrote |
| أَنْتَ | ـتَ | فَعَلْتَ | كَتَبْتَ | you (m.) did / wrote |
| أَنْتُمَا | ـتُمَا | فَعَلْتُمَا | كَتَبْتُمَا | you two did / wrote |
| أَنْتُمْ | ـتُمْ | فَعَلْتُمْ | كَتَبْتُمْ | you (m. pl.) did / wrote |
| أَنْتِ | ـتِ | فَعَلْتِ | كَتَبْتِ | you (f.) did / wrote |
| أَنْتُمَا | ـتُمَا | فَعَلْتُمَا | كَتَبْتُمَا | you two did / wrote |
| أَنْتُنَّ | ـتُنَّ | فَعَلْتُنَّ | كَتَبْتُنَّ | you (f. pl.) did / wrote |
| أَنَا | ـتُ | فَعَلْتُ | كَتَبْتُ | I did / I wrote |
| نَحْنُ | ـنَا | فَعَلْنَا | كَتَبْنَا | we did / we wrote |
The conjugating hand for كَتَبَ:
Number of Letters in the Verb
Arabic فِعْلٌ (verb) are built from root letters, usually three letters but can come with additional letters. We will discuss them later in the course.