الْمُضَارِعُ مَبْنِيٌّ لِلْمَعْلُومِ
In this section we will discuss the اَلْفِعْلُ الْمُضَارِعُ (the present and future tense verb) which in Arabic is used to describe an action happening now or that will happen in the future. In particular the الْمُضَارِعُ الْمَبْنِيُّ لِلْمَعْلُومِ i.e. the present-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 الْمُضَارِعُ :
يَنْصُرُ
he helps/he is helping or he will help
يَكْتُبُ
he writes / he is writing or he will write
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 يَنْصُرُ ‘He helps’ , the word ‘he’ being the extra word, added to the action ‘help’.
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).
- In the Arabic present tense the combinations of the prefix and ending shows the inside pronoun (ضَمَيْرٌ مُسْتَتِرٌ):
- the ending shows number and gender.
- the prefix shows the rest of the information to determine the inside pronoun (ضَمَيْرٌ مُسْتَتِرٌ)
Let’s take the first pattern (وَزْن) يَفْعُلُ for الْمُضَارِعُ:
يَفْعُلُ
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 combination of prefix and ending. When we change the prefix or ending we change who did the action. The following table shows the prefix and endings for each pronoun.
| Pronoun | Prefix | Ending | Pattern (وَزْن) | Meaning of Pattern |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| هُوَ | يَـ | ـُ | يَفْعُلُ | 3rd person, masculine, singular |
| هُمَا | يَـ | ـَانِ | يَفْعُلَانِ | 3rd person, masculine, dual |
| هُمْ | يَـ | ـُونَ | يَفْعُلُونَ | 3rd person, masculine, plural |
| هِيَ | تَـ | ـُ | تَفْعُلُ | 3rd person, feminine, singular |
| هُمَا | تَـ | ـَانِ | تَفْعُلَانِ | 3rd person, feminine, dual |
| هُنَّ | يَـ | ـْنَ | يَفْعُلْنَ | 3rd person, feminine, plural |
| أَنْتَ | تَـ | ـُ | تَفْعُلُ | 2nd person, masculine, singular |
| أَنْتُمَا | تَـ | ـَانِ | تَفْعُلَانِ | 2nd person, dual |
| أَنْتُمْ | تَـ | ـُونَ | تَفْعُلُونَ | 2nd person, masculine, plural |
| أَنْتِ | تَـ | ـِينَ | تَفْعُلِينَ | 2nd person, feminine, singular |
| أَنْتُمَا | تَـ | ـَانِ | تَفْعُلَانِ | 2nd person, dual |
| أَنْتُنَّ | تَـ | ـْنَ | تَفْعُلْنَ | 2nd person, feminine, plural |
| أَنَا | أَ | ـُ | أَفْعُلُ | 1st person, singular |
| نَحْنُ | نَـ | ـُ | نَفْعُلُ | 1st person, plural |
Let’s now take the root letters ن ص ر and drop it into the pattern (وَزْن) يَفْعُلُ :
| Pronoun | Prefix | Ending | Pattern (وَزْن) | With Root (ن ص ر) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| هُوَ | يَـ | ـُ | يَفْعُلُ | يَنْصُرُ | he helps |
| هُمَا | يَـ | ـَانِ | يَفْعُلَانِ | يَنْصُرَانِ | they two (m.) help |
| هُمْ | يَـ | ـُونَ | يَفْعُلُونَ | يَنْصُرُونَ | they (m.) help |
| هِيَ | تَـ | ـُ | تَفْعُلُ | تَنْصُرُ | she helps |
| هُمَا | تَـ | ـَانِ | تَفْعُلَانِ | تَنْصُرَانِ | they two (f.) help |
| هُنَّ | يَـ | ـْنَ | يَفْعُلْنَ | يَنْصُرْنَ | they (f.) help |
| أَنْتَ | تَـ | ـُ | تَفْعُلُ | تَنْصُرُ | you (m.) help |
| أَنْتُمَا | تَـ | ـَانِ | تَفْعُلَانِ | تَنْصُرَانِ | you two help |
| أَنْتُمْ | تَـ | ـُونَ | تَفْعُلُونَ | تَنْصُرُونَ | you (m. pl.) help |
| أَنْتِ | تَـ | ـِينَ | تَفْعُلِينَ | تَنْصُرِينَ | you (f.) help |
| أَنْتُمَا | تَـ | ـَانِ | تَفْعُلَانِ | تَنْصُرَانِ | you two help |
| أَنْتُنَّ | تَـ | ـْنَ | تَفْعُلْنَ | تَنْصُرْنَ | you (f. pl.) help |
| أَنَا | أَ | ـُ | أَفْعُلُ | أَنْصُرُ | I help |
| نَحْنُ | نَـ | ـُ | نَفْعُلُ | نَنْصُرُ | we help |
- ن ص ر root letters dropped in the pattern (وَزْن) يَفْعُلُ yields يَنْصُرُ (he helps) اَلْفِعْلُ الْمُضَارِعُ (the present and future tense verb)
- The prefix يَ indicates that theضَمَيْرٌ مُسْتَتِرٌ (inside pronoun) is the third person (غَائِبٌ), masculine (مُذَكَّرُ). Therefore, based on the prefix, it can only be one of the following pronouns هُوَ, هُمَا, هُمْ
- The ending indicates its a singular (وَاحِدٌ) pronouns. Therefore, based on the ending, it can only be one of the following pronouns هُوَ, هِيَ, تَنْصُرُ, أَنْصُرُ, نَحْنُ
- The combination of prefix يَ and ending ـُ indicates that theضَمَيْرٌ مُسْتَتِرٌ (inside pronoun) is هُوَ (‘He’) as in يَنْصُرُ means ‘He helps’
So in summary:
1. The four prefix letters are called حُرُوفُ الْمُضَارَعَةِ:
| Prefix | Pronoun |
|---|---|
| يَ or يُ | – ي can indicate a masculine, third person pronoun (i.e هُوَ, هُمَا, هُمْ) – ي can indicate هُنَّ |
| تَ or نُ | – ت can indicate a feminine, third person pronoun (i.e هِيَ, هُمَا), the exception is أَنْتِ, which is indicated by a يَ – ت can second person pronouns (i.e. أَنْتَ, أَنْتُمَا, نْتُمْ, أَنْتِ, أَنْتُمَا, أَنْتُنَّ) |
| أَ or أُ | أ indicates the pronoun أَنَا |
| نَ or نُ | ن indicates the pronoun نَحْنُ |
2. The ending tells us number and gender:
| Endings | Plural |
|---|---|
| ـُ | indicates the singular pronouns (i.e. هُوَ, هِيَ, تَنْصُرُ, أَنْصُرُ, نَحْنُ) the exception is هُنَّ, which is indicated by a ـِينَ |
| ـَانِ | indicates the dual pronouns ( i.e. هُمَا, أَنْتُمَا) |
| ـُونَ | indicates the masculine plural pronouns ( i.e. هُمْ, أَنْتُمْ) |
| ـِينَ | indicates the pronoun أَنْتِ |
| ـْنَ | indicates the feminine plural pronouns (i.e. هُنَّ, أَنْتُنَّ) |
The combination of prefix and ending show theضَمَيْرٌ مُسْتَتِرٌ (inside pronoun)
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. Do you remember the pronoun 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.
They say practice makes perfect.
So practice your فِعْلٌ (verb) conjugations regularly.
Let us now do another example.
Take the root letters ك ت ب and drop it into the pattern (وَزْن) يَفْعُلُ :
يَكْتُبُ
he writes
| Pronoun | Prefix | Ending | Pattern (فَعَلَ) | With Root (كَتَبَ) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| هُوَ | يَـ | ـُ | يَفْعُلُ | يَكْتُبُ | he writes |
| هُمَا | يَـ | ـَانِ | يَفْعُلَانِ | يَكْتُبَانِ | they two (m.) write |
| هُمْ | يَـ | ـُونَ | يَفْعُلُونَ | يَكْتُبُونَ | they (m.) write |
| هِيَ | تَـ | ـُ | تَفْعُلُ | تَكْتُبُ | she writes |
| هُمَا | تَـ | ـَانِ | تَفْعُلَانِ | تَكْتُبَانِ | they two (f.) write |
| هُنَّ | يَـ | ـْنَ | يَفْعُلْنَ | يَكْتُبْنَ | they (f.) write |
| أَنْتَ | تَـ | ـُ | تَفْعُلُ | تَكْتُبُ | you (m.) write |
| أَنْتُمَا | تَـ | ـَانِ | تَفْعُلَانِ | تَكْتُبَانِ | you two write |
| أَنْتُمْ | تَـ | ـُونَ | تَفْعُلُونَ | تَكْتُبُونَ | you (m. pl.) write |
| أَنْتِ | تَـ | ـِينَ | تَفْعُلِينَ | تَكْتُبِينَ | you (f.) write |
| أَنْتُنَّ | تَـ | ـْنَ | تَفْعُلْنَ | تَكْتُبْنَ | you (f. pl.) write |
| أَنْتُمَا | تَـ | ـَانِ | تَفْعُلَانِ | تَكْتُبُونَ | you (m. pl.) write |
| أَنَا | أَ | ـُ | أَفْعُلُ | أَكْتُبُ | I write |
| نَحْنُ | نَـ | ـُ | نَفْعُلُ | نَكْتُبُ | we write |
The conjugating hand for the root letters root letters ك ت ب:
