Lesson 39 – الدَّرْسُ التَّاسِعُ وَالثَّلاثُونَ
Indeclension of the Past Verb – بِنَاءُ الْفِعْلِ الْمَاضِي
Indeclension of the past verb by a fixed fatħah -بِنَاءُ الْفِعْلِ الْمَاضِي عَلَى الْفَتْحَةِ
- We are still in lesson thirty nine of our free Arabic language course. This Arabic course with images and audios will help you learn Arabic.
- There are three cases in which an indeclinable past verb ends with a fixed fatħah. Let’s summarize the three cases in the following table:
Example | Case |
وَصَلَ الْخَبَرُ إِلَيْنَا بَعْدَ أُسْبُوعٍ. We were informed of the news after a week. | إِذَا لَمْ يَتَّصِلْ بِهِ شَيْءٌ In case it has no affixation |
وَصَلَتِ الطَّائِرَةُ الْمَطَارَ عِنْدَ الْفَجْرِ. The plane arrived at the airport at dawn. | إِذَا اِتَّصَلَتْ بِهِ تَاءُ التَّأْنِيثِ In case it is suffixed by feminine ta' |
نَامَ الطَّالِبَانِ وَمَا كَتَبَا الْوَاجِبَ. The two students slept without writing their homework. | إِذَا اتِّصَلَتْ بِهِ أَلِفُ الاثْنَيْنِ In case it is suffixed by the Dual alif |
- View the following ten examples on the cases in which the indeclinable past verb ends with a fixed fatħah:
I reached twenty five years. | |
The news reached us after a week. | |
It was cold yesterday. | |
Temperature rose until it reached 40o . | اِرْتَفَعَتْ دَرَجَةُ الْحَرَارَةِ حَتَّى وَصَلَتْ أَرْبَعِينَ دَرَجَةً. |
The plane arrived at the airport at dawn. | |
The plane broke down on air and fell in the ocean. | تَعَطَّلَتِ الطَّائِرَةُ فِي الْجَوِّ وَسَقَطَتْ فِي الْمُحِيطِ. |
The two students slept and they did not write their homework. | |
And went to the school frightened. | |
And found the teacher absent at that day. | |
So they were happy and said they should write the homework that day. | فَفَرِحَا وَقَالا: يَجِبُ أَنْ نَكْتُبَ الْوَاجِبَ الْيَوْمَ. |
- Considering the examples above, we find that the past verb falls into three categories:
- The first three examples include the following:
- This is the first case of the indeclinable past verb ending with a fixed fatħah . This is the simple form of an indeclinable past verb, i.e. when it is neither prefixed nor suffixed, and the subject is a separate (not a suffixed) pronoun.
- The second case of indeclinable past verb ending with a fixed fatħah is when the past verb is suffixed by the Feminine ta'. Consider the second three examples 4, 5 and 6. We notice the following verbs in these sentences:
/saqata-t/ | /ŧaξattala-t/ | /waŝala-t/ | /’irtafaξa-t/ | Verb |
fell | broke down | reached | rose | Translation |
- We notice that these verbs are suffixed by the Feminine ta'.
- The third case of indeclinable past verb ending with a fixed fatħah takes place when the past verb is suffixed by Dual alif. Consider the verbs of the last four examples 7, 8, 9 and 10, which include the following verbs:
waĵada-a | fariħa-a | qāla-a | kataba-a | Verb |
found | rejoiced | said | wrote | Translation |
- The subject (verb doer) in these verbs is the Dual alif أَلِفُ الاثْنَيْنِ (alif al-ithnayn), which we have learned in Lesson 35. This is the third case of the indeclension of the past verb – that is, when it is suffixed by the Dual alif.