Arabic/Basics of Conjugation

The basics of Conjugation

A verb is a word that indicates an action, or an existence.

Conjugation is all about how verbs change between sentences depending on a number of factors. The three most important factors are person, gender, and number.

Unlike English, in Arabic gender matters, and there are three numbers singular, dual, and plural (where plural means more than 2). In Arabic words have gender which effects conjugation.

Singular    Plural FIRST PERSON          I            we SECOND PERSON          you          you THIRD PERSON          he, she, it  they

The Persons of the Verb in Arabic

In the first Person Arabic works Exactly the same as English, I corresponds to ana and we corresponds to nahnu.

SINGULAR         PLURAL FIRST PERSON         نَحْنُ                    أنا

In the Second Person, Arabic does not use the same word for singular and plural. Instead they are different. Singular    Plural SECOND PERSON                 أَنْتُم      أَنْتَ

Therefore if you were talking to one person you address him with anta but if you were talking to a group you would use antum.

Singular           Plural SECOND PERSON             أَنتُنَّ, أَنتُم          أَنتِ, أنتَ

In Arabic it is important to distinguish genders properly in the second person. One reason is that purposely using the wrong gender can show great disrespect to a person. So use anti when talking to a girl. antenna however is special because you must only use it when speaking to a group of exclusively females.

The dual however doesn't have a gender. Mainly because Singular           Dual               Plural SECOND PERSON               أَنتُنَّ, أَنتُم          أَنتُما           أَنتِ,أَنتَ

But There is also a dual, so if you were talking to 2 people you would not say antum but rather antumaa. Singular          Dual          Plural THIRD PERSON  huwa,hiya       humaa        hum[u],hunna

Notice that in the English third person singular there were three pronouns: he, she , and it. In Arabic there are only two because Arabic has no word that works as a pronoun like it does. Because Arabic words have gender there is no need for it. huwa corresponds to he   and hiya  corresponds to she. huwa corresponds to it when the noun replaced is masculine. hiya corresponds to it when the noun is feminine.

In English we use it for inanimate things only. In Arabic when there are 3 or more inanimate things they must be treated like the third person feminine singular in all grammatical respects.

SINGULAR  PLURAL FIRST PERSON   an‰             naxynu SECOND PERSON  anta,anti            antumaa               antum,antunna THIRD PERSON  huwa,hiya       humaa,humaa        hum[u],hunna

Using Plurals to show respect: Although in expressions like "el-salaamu rhalaikum" where the pronoun used is plural no matter who you are addressing, Arabic tends to not use plurals to show respect. The most commonly known is the use of "we" instead of "I" when one thinks one is extremely great. To show respect to someone you avoid using the personal pronouns, and address the persons presence instead.

+possessive pronouns

Titles also work: سَيِّد, سَيِّدة حاجّ, أُستاذ

Verb Classes

Arabic Verb classes are numbered from 1-15. Class 11 is very rare, classes 11-15 are for the most part theoretical. Verb class 1 is the simplest and most common. The general function of most verb classes is well understood. For example,verb class 7 usually gives a reflexive/intransitive meaning. Class 2 gives an emphatic meaning, Class 3 gives the meaning of trying. However these are abstract meanings or functions and serve better as mnemnomic tools to a user of Arabic than anything else.

These Verb Classes do not change the set of endings, they only change the root form.