1. QURANIC GRAMMAR AS-SARF “Morphology of the words” Lesson 17
Lessons from the book
MABADE” ALA’RABIYAH –
basics of Arabic Grammar
RASHEED SHARTOONI
Compiled by: Sheikh Safdar Razi Ali 1

2. Past , present/future, Imparative
The past tense is a form of the verb that
indicates a state or an action that happened in the past.
For example: کَانَ, نَدِمَ (he repented, he was)
The present/ future tense is a form of the verb that
indicates a state or an action that is happening in the
present or will happen in the future. For example:
يَندَمُ (repenting), يَکُونُ (he is) , يَتَکَلَّمُ (he speaks to).
The imperative is a form of the verb that indicates a demand of a state or an action in the future. For example: کُن اندَم (repent, be)

3. Present tense (MO’RUB)
If prefix letter of present tense letter is added to a past tense triliteral verb: A. the first root letter is given a sakūn, for example: يَضرِبُ (he hits) B. there is no rule for the second root letter, for example: يَعلَمُ (he knows)يَنصُرُ (he helps) يضرِبُ he hits)

4. The prefix of present tense (we are coming )ن-أ-ت-ي
The present tense is formed by adding one of its letters at the beginning of the past stem.
These are four letters: alif, nūn, tā’ and yā’.ن-أ-ت-ي (we come)
These four letter indicate the pronoun reflecting the person who is doing the action
He is drinking يشرب
You/she تشرب
I am أشرب
We are نشرب
أتَکَلَّمُ (I am speaking to) نَتَکَلَّمُ (we are speaking to) يَتَکَلَّمُ (he is speaking to) تَتَکَلَّمُ(you are/ she is speaking to).
This letter ن-أ-ت-ي is given a dummah if the verb had four letters دَحرَجَbecomes يُدَحرِخُ
زَلزَلَ becomes يُزَلزَلُ (its shaking) orأکرَمَ becomes يُکرِمُ (he is honoring).
and it takes a fathah if it has anything other than four letters. Example: نَصَرَ becomes يَنصَرُ (YANSORO)

5. The states of present tense
The only verb that is declinable (the end grammatical sign is not fixed) is the present tense. For example: يَقرَأ ,يَکتُبُ (he is writing, he is reading)
There are three grammatical states for present tense, state of DHAMMA (MARFOO), , state of FATHA (MANSOOB) , and the state of SUKOON (MAJZOOM).
The present tense is MO’RAB or changeable in regular cases it is MARFOO or ends with a DHAMMA in normal cases.
And if it is preceded by a NASIB (أن)then it becomes MANSOOB (state of FATHA) with a FATHA in normal cases.
And if it is preceded by a JAZIM (لم) then it becomes MAJZOOM with a SUKOON in normal cases.

6. The principle of the nominative (MARFOO) in normal case is to have a dummah.
The nūn takes the place of the dummah in the present tense verbs, which is connected to:
A. the dual alif: يَفعَلانِ تَفعَلانِ
B. the plural wāw: يَفعَلُونَ تَفعَلُونَ
C. the 2nd person feminine pronoun (yā’): تَفعَلينَ
2. The principle of the subjunctive (MANSOOB) case is the verb having a fathah.
The subtraction of the nūn takes the place of the fathah in the present tense verbs. For example: أن يَفعَلا
3. The sign of the jussive (MAJZOOM) case in a verb is the sakūn.
And the subtraction of the nūn takes the place of the sakūn in cases as : لَم يَفعَلا
And The subtraction of the weak letter in the end of the verb takes the place of a sakūn For example: لَم يَرمِ (he did not throw)

7. More on the present tense
Present tense verb is specifically used for the future when a sīn or سوف is added to the beginning of it, for example: سأکتُبُ ( I will write)
It indicates the past when it comes after cause of SUKOON state as LUM لَم or لَمَّا , LAMMA for example: تکن في البيتِ زُرتُکَ و لم (I visited you and you were not at home)
If an present tense letter is added to a past tense with more than three letters:
A. The letter before the last is always given a kasrah, for example: يُدَحرِجُ (he rolls)
B. The letters before the last letter are given a fathah if the beginning of the preterite tense verb was tā’, for example: تَدَحرَجَ becomes يَتَدَحرَجُ (he rolls down).
The last letter of an present tense verb is declinable, which means it changes in to three grammatical states. For example: يَضرِبُ (he hits) and يَضرِبَ لَن (he will never hit) and لَم يَنطَلَق (he has not been set free). There are few cases where the last letter of present is MABNI and fixed.

8. Types of MABNI (indeclinable) verbs
We mentioned in regular cases the MABNI past tense ends with FATHA, in the absence of a suffix.
But there are certain letters or suffix when attached to the past tense the FATHA may change because of the suffix and not because of the grammatical position, in present tense the end sign changes because of the grammatical position (MAORAB), and here because of the attachment of certain suffixes.

9. The types of MABNI in the Past
The past and imperative (command) tenses are static (MABNI).
The past tense verbs are static on:
A. Fatha (regular) ; for example: شَرِبَ ( he drank)
B. Dhumma, if it is connected to a wāw; for example: شَرِبُوا (they drank)
C. Sakūn, if it is connected to a nūn, nā or tā’; for example: شَرِبنَ شَرِبنا شَرِبتُwe drank, she drank, I drank)

10. THE PAST TENSE
The end letter of a past tense verb is indeclinable (MABNI or fixed) with:
A. A fathah, for example ضَرَبَ (he hit)
B. A Dummah, if it is connected to the wāw plural pronoun, for example ضَرَبُوا (they hit)
C. A sukūn, if a nominative (SUBJECT) pronoun with a vowel sign is connected to the verb, for example ضَرَبتُ (I hit)