Arabic: Imperfective Verbs

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Contents 1 Introduction 2 Formation of the Imperfective 3 Imperfective for other derived stems 4 Stem I

Introduction

Make sure you are already acquainted with arabic verbs, and the perfective aspect and the derived stems before attempting to learn about the imperfective aspect.

The Imperfective Aspect is used to express unfinished, habitual' or on-going actions. It can often be translated with the english present tense or present continuous tense, whereas the perfective aspect is usually translated with an english (perfect) past tense.

Formation of the Imperfective

We will use the Stem I verb kataba (كتب) to illustrate the conjugations of the imperfective indicative (just forget about that indicative part for now). The imperfective makes use of both prefixes and suffixes. Furthermore, imperfective Stem I verbs have a non-determined vowel, which we will mark in italics, for this particular stem 1 verb, this imperfective is a U. Note that the root consonants are KTB. Dictionaries always mention the imperfective vowel, or just mention the 3rd person masculine imperfective entirely (يكتب).

• First person singular - I write - 'aktubu - أكتب

• Second person singular masc. - You (m) write - taktubu - تكتب

• Second person singular fem. - You (f) write - taktubīna - تكتبين

• Third person singular masc. He write - yaktubu - يكتب

• Third person singular fem. I write - taktubu - تكتب

• Second person dual - You (2) write - taktubāni - تكتبان
• Third person dual masc. - They (m2) write - yaktubāni - يكتبان
• Third person dual fem. - They (f2) write - taktubāni - تكتبان

• First person plural - We write - naktubu - نكتب
• Second person plural masc. - You (mp) write - taktubūna - تكتبون
• Second person plural fem. - You (fp) write - taktubna - تكتبن
• Second person plural masc. - They (mp) write - yaktubūna- يَكتبون
• Second person plural fem. - They (fp) write - yaktubna - يكتبن

Imperfective for other derived stems

The imperfective for the other nine derived stems is formed with the same prefixes and suffixes. But there is one notable exception:

For Stem II, III and IV, the prefixes 'a, ta and ya become 'u, tu and yu

We will sum up all 3rd person singular masculine imperfective forms for all derived stems, using the common root F`L:

• Stem II: yuR1aR2R2iR3 - yufa``ilu - يفعّل

• Stem III: yuR1āR2iR3 - yufā`ilu - يفاعل

• Stem IV: yuR1R2iR3 - yuf`ilu - يفعل

• Stem V: yataR1aR2R2aR3 - yatafa``alu - يتفعّل

• Stem VI: yataR1āR2aR3 - yatafā`alu - يتفاعل

• Stem VII: yanR1R2iR3 - yanfa`ilu - ينفعل

• Stem VIII: yaR1taR2iR3 - yafta`ilu - يفتعل

• Stem IX: yaR1R2aR3R3u - yaf`allu - يفعلّ

• Stem X: yastaR1R2iR3 - yastaf`ilu - يستفعل

The imperfective vowel is fixed in all these cases, unlike in Stem I.

Stem I

We already mentioned that the imperfective vowel is not fixed for stem I, this is not completely true, in some cases you can predict the imperfective vowel:

• If the perfective verb is fa`ala, the imperfective vowel is non-determined and can be A, I or U.
• If the perfective verb is fa`ila, the imperfective vowel is A.
• If the perfective verb is fa`ula, the imperfective vowel is U.

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