Present Tense Verb (الفِعْلُ المُضَارِع)

In this lesson, we will introduce the present tense verb (الفِعْلُ المُضَارِع).

A present tense verb is a verb that indicates an action happening at the current moment in time.

Templates for Present Tense Verbs

In order to form a present tense verb, it is necessary to place the past tense verb into the required template

Let's take the word شَرِبَ as an example and place it sequentially into the present tense templates:

1. 1st person (المُتَكَلِّمُ)
2. 2nd person (المُخَاطَب)
3. 3rd person (الغَائِب)

الـمُتَكَلِّمُ(The speaker)

أشْــرَبُ الـمَاءَ I drink the water

نَـــشْــرَبُ الـماءَ We drink the water

الـمُخَاطَبُ((to address) Someone who is being spoken to)

تَـــشْــرَبُ العَصِيــرَ You drink the juice (male)

تَــشْــرَبِــينَ العَصِيــرَ You drink the juice (female)

تَــشْــرَبُــونَ العَصِيــرَ You drink the juice (male plural)

تَــشْــرَبْــنَ العَصِيــرَ You drink the juice (female plural)

الغَائِبُ(Absent)

يَــشْــرَبُ الـمَاءَ He drinks the water

تَــشْــرَبُ الـمَاءَ She drinks the water

يَــشْــرَبُــونَ الـمَاءَ They drink the water (male)

يَــشْــرَبْــنَ الـمَاءَ They drink the water (female)

How do you conjugate any verb into the present tense?

We conjugated the verb شَرِب in the previous examples because we knew the correct vowel for the middle letter in the present tense.

To conjugate any verb in the present tense, you need to know the correct vowel for the middle letter

The middle letter

The vowel of the middle letter in the past tense verb can be different in the present tense verb. For example:

ذهَــب : يَـذْهَــبُ إلى السّوق He goes to the market

جَــلَــسَ : يَـجْــلِــسُ على الكرسي He sits on the chair

قَــتَــلَ : يَــقْــتُــلُ العَقْرَبَ He kills the scorpion

You can find out the vowel of the middle letter in the present tense by:

1. Looking it up in a English-Arabic dictionary
2. Hearing it from someone who knows the word

Working with an Arabic dictionary

Now let's imagine we need to find the present tense verb for كَتَبَ (wrote). We look up the word in the dictionary and see which vowel are used with it in the present tense.

We will use the "Reverso Context" app

Now, knowing the vowel of the middle letter, we can construct the present tense verb

أَكْــتُــبُ على السَّبُورَةِ I write on the board

تَكْــتُــبُ على السَّبُورَةِ You write on the board

How to conjugate an Arabic verb into the future tense

The future tense of a verb is formed by adding the letter س for near future actions and the particle سَوْفَ for distant future actions

سَــأَذْهَبُ إلى الـمَدرَسةِ I will go to school

سَوْفَ أَذْهَبُ إلى السُوقِ I will go to the market (not in the near future)

💡 Summary of the lesson

Arabic verb conjugation patterns in the present tense