The past tense in Arabic, known as al-maadi ( الماضي ), is used to express actions that have already happened. Here’s a breakdown of how it works:
Formation:
Unlike English, Arabic verbs don’t have a single past tense form. The past tense is formed by adding prefixes and suffixes to the verb’s root (three-consonant base). The specific prefixes and suffixes used depend on the person, number, and gender of the subject who performed the action.
- Arabic past tense verbs are categorized based on the minimum root number of letters:
- Threefold Verb (الفعل الثلاثي): Has three letters as its root (e.g., كتبَ = “He wrote”).
- Fourfold Verb (الفعل الرباعي): Has four letters as its root (e.g., أطلقَ = “He launched”).
- Fivefold Verb (الفعل الخماسي): Has five letters as its root (e.g., تعلَّمَ = “He learned”).
- Sixfold Verb (الفعل السداسي): Has six letters as its root (e.g., استخرجَ = “He took/dug out”).
Here’s a general template:
Verb Root + Past Tense Prefix + Verb Root + Subject Suffix
Examples:
Let’s see some examples of verbs conjugated in the past tense for different subjects:
- Verb: كتب (kataba) – “to write”
- كتبت (katabt) – I wrote (1st person singular feminine)
- كتب (kataba) – He wrote (3rd person masculine singular)
- كتبتا (katabatā) – They (feminine dual) wrote (2nd person feminine dual)
Subject Pronouns and Verb Endings:
Here’s a table showing the most common subject pronouns and their corresponding past tense verb endings:
| Subject Pronoun | Masculine Singular | Feminine Singular | Dual | Masculine Plural | Feminine Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I (1st person) | -ت (t) | -تِ (ti) | -نا (nā) | -نا (nā) | -ن (na) |
| You (2nd person masculine) | -تَ (ta) | -تي (ti) | -تما (tuma) | -تم (tum) | -تن (tn) |
| You (2nd person feminine) | -تي (ti) | -تي (ti) | -تما (tuma) | -تن (tn) | -تن (tn) |
| He (3rd person masculine) | – (null) | -ت (t) | -ا (ā) | -وا (ū) | -ن (na) |
| She (3rd person feminine) | -ت (t) | -ت (t) | -تا (tā) | -ن (na) | -ن (na) |
| We (1st person plural) | -نا (nā) | -نا (nā) | -نا (nā) | -نا (nā) | -نا (nā) |
| They (masculine plural) | -وا (ū) | -ن (na) | -ا (ā) | -وا (ū) | -ن (na) |
| They (feminine plural) | -ن (na) | -ن (na) | -تا (tā) | -ن (na) | -ن (na) |
- The past tense verb signs appear as suffixes attached to the verb.
- The pronoun indicating the doer (person performing the action) comes after the verb.
- Examples of suffixed pronouns attached to past tense verbs:
- Singular: كَتَبْتُ (katabtu), كَتَبْتَ (katabta), كَتَبْتِ (katabti)
- Plural: كَتَبْنَا (katabna), كَتَبْتُمْ (katabtum), كَتَبْتُنَّ (katabtunna)
Remember that the past tense is always “Mabneyy” (مَبْنِيّ), meaning it has a fixed case ending regardless of its position in the sentence
Remember that mastering the past tense takes practice. Pay attention to how native speakers use it in different contexts and try conjugating verbs for various subjects to solidify your understanding.