- In previous lessons we have already learnt that there are three tenses (relating to time) in Arabic, namely the past, present and future الماضي وَالْمُضارع والمستقبل . We will discuss ways for expressing these tenses using the appropriate verb forms. We have already covered some of this in detail, so some parts of this lesson are for revision and to help you apply what you have already learnt and compare the different tenses.
Picture
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Verb & sentence
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Tense
|
 |
My brother joined the university
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Past الماضي
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 |
My mother works as an employee in a company
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Present المُضارِع
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My father will travel to Pakistan tomorrow
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Future المُستقبل
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I will go on pilgrimage next year
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- In this lesson we will discuss:
- How the verb form changes from past to present and future
- The words that indicate the type of the verb tense, such as the following words:
Translation
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Word
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Tomorrow
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Yesterday
| |
Today
| |
Before ….
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After ….
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- We will also discuss the usage of the present tense to indicate future and past, as in the following examples:
If Muhammad studies hard, he will succeed.
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I want to play with my friends.
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I will not spend my holiday in Egypt.
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- Tenses in Arabic are divided into three types: past, present and future.
- The PAST means that the action happened before the time of speaking. The past verb is always used to express the past tense [already discussed in Lesson 28]. See the following examples:
Sentence
(Arabic) |
Sentence (English)
|
Verb (Arabic)
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Verb (English)
|
Did your brother study this book?
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Studied
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I did not write my homework yesterday.
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Wrote
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Allah sent prophets to caution people.
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Sent
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- We notice that the meaning of the three above-mentioned verbs happened before the time of speaking, and this is the past tense.
- The present verb means that the action is happening at the time of speaking. If we say: Muhammad is eating محمد يأكل, this means that he is eating right at the time of speaking, not before or after.
- The present tense is expressed in Arabic through the present verb we studied in Lesson 28. We have already learned how to formulate various types of the present verb, as follows:
Sentence (English)
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Sentence
(Arabic) |
Verb (Arabic)
|
Verb (English)
|
My brother is hanging out in the mosque
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To hang out
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Work starts at 10:00 o'clock.
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To start
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The engineer is repairing the television.
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To repair
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The child is damaging his toys.
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To spoil/damage
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The month is approaching its end.
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To approach
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Your opinion is far from true
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To go far
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Engineers are extracting oil from underground.
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To extract
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The traveler is inquiring about the time of the plane takeoff.
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To inquire
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- As we learnt in the previous lesson, the present verb always begins with one of the following letters:(/أ/، /يـ/، /تـ/، /نـ/)
- The future means that the action happens after the time of speaking. If one says: Muhammad will go to work سَيَذْهَبُ مُحَمَّدٌ إلَى الْعَمَلِ, this means that he will go after some time (an hour, day, week, etc).
Sentence
(Arabic) |
Sentence (English)
|
Transliteration / Translation
|
The verb in the future
|
The verb in the present
|
The new academic year will start after a month.
|
sa-yabda’u
(will) start
| |||
We will perform the Eid Prayer after sunrise.
|
sa-yuŝalli
(will) pray | |||
The diligent student will succeed
|
sa-yanĵaħu
(will) succeed
| |||
The judge is going to settle disputes among people fairly.
|
sa-yaqđī
(will) spend | |||
The strong amongst us shall help the week.
|
sa-yusāξidu
(will) help | |||
The children are going to wear the new clothes.
|
sa-yalbasu
(will) wear
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- Having understood the meaning of the future tense, we will learn how to formulate the verb in this tense.
- In the previous table, we notice that there are two verbs: the first is يَبْدَأ and its future form سَيَبْدَأُ. The future form of the verb is the same as the present tense with a pre-fixed letter seen (سَ)before the verb in the present tense:
sa- + the verb in the present form
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- Another way of converting the present tense into the future tense is by adding the word /sawfa/:
sawfa + the present form of the verb
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· The difference between sa- ( سـ ) and sawfa ( سوف ) is that the former indicates that the action will happen immediately or within a short time [near future] but the latter means that the action will happen in a longer time [distant future], i.e. there is a long period separating the time of speaking and the time of the future action, as in the following examples:
Sentence
(Arabic) |
Sentence (English)
|
Translation
|
Future tense verb
|
Present tense verb
|
I am going to travel now, but I will return after a year.
|
(will) return
| |||
I will sleep after I watch the film
|
(will) sleep
| |||
The minister says he will put an end to unemployment in five years.
|
(will) spend
| |||
I will wash my clothes in the weekend.
|
(will) wash
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- We have learnt the forms taken by the past and present tense verbs as well as the way the future tense is written – i.e. expressed by a present verb preceded by particles (sa- سـ or sawfa سوف).
- In this part we will discuss the present verb in more detail because the present verb in Arabic has many various characteristics, including:
- It indicates an action being performed at the time of speaking or a future event, that is the present verb can express the present time (as we have already explained in Part 2 of this lesson).
- It can also express future events. If it is preceded by ((أن, the meaning of the verb indicates the future. For example:
I want to go to Egypt next year
|
- Also, if the present verb is preceded by إن (conditional if) - through which we understand that there is a hope that the action may happen in the future – the verb also indicates the future - as in the example below.
If Muhammad studies, he (will) succeed.
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I will not go to school tomorrow.
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meaning
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word
|
meaning
|
word
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succeed
|
joined
| ||
breakfast
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practiced
| ||
plane
|
market
| ||
(I) arrived
|
academic year
| ||
help
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go on pilgrimage
| ||
pray
|
forgive (past: forgave)
| ||
learned
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ordered
| ||
start
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approached/came closer
| ||
my homework
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spend
| ||
next year
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wash
| ||
repent
|
return
| ||
(woman) employee
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wear
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