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Arabic · Verb Tables · Intermediate

Kataba / yaktubu Conjugation

كَتَبَ / يَكْتُبُ (kataba / yaktubu) means "to write" in Arabic. Present: أنا (anā) أَكْتُبُ (aktubu), أنتَ (anta) تَكْتُبُ (taktubu), أنتِ (anti) تَكْتُبِينَ (taktubīna), هو (huwa) يَكْتُبُ (yaktubu), هي (hiya) تَكْتُبُ (taktubu), نحن (naḥnu) نَكْتُبُ (naktubu). Below: all 16 tenses we teach, with examples.

Present المضارع المرفوع (al-muḍāriʿ al-marfūʿ)

The present (imperfect) stem takes a person prefix and, for 'you (f.)' and the plurals, a suffix, plus the indicative ending -u (dropped in casual speech). Covers English simple present and present continuous alike ('I write' / 'I am writing') — Arabic does not force a choice between them.

Present continuous

Arabic has no separate progressive verb form; ongoing action is normally just the plain present above. To stress 'right now', speakers instead use the active participle (ism al-fāʿil, here kātib 'writing') as the predicate; it agrees like an adjective (gender/number), not by person, so 'I' and 'you (m.)' share the masculine form shown here and 'she' takes the feminine kātibatun.

Simple past الماضي (al-māḍī)

The past (perfect) stem takes only suffixes for person, gender and number; there is no prefix. Used for any completed action, corresponding to both English simple past ('I wrote') and, in most contexts, present perfect ('I have written').

Imperfect (past habitual/ongoing)

No single-word imperfect exists; it is built with kāna (to be, conjugated in the past) followed by the plain present tense of the main verb. Matches English 'was writing' or 'used to write'.

Present perfect

MSA does not distinguish 'I wrote' from 'I have written' morphologically — both are the simple past. The particle قد (qad) placed before the past verb adds the nuance of a completed action with present relevance ('have indeed done'), common in news and formal writing.

Pluperfect

Built with kāna (past) + قد (qad) + the past-tense main verb. Matches English 'had written'.

Near future المستقبل القريب (al-mustaqbal al-qarīb)

Formed by attaching the prefix سَـ (sa-) directly to the present-tense verb. Used for something the speaker sees as fairly soon or certain — the everyday way to say 'will'.

Simple future المستقبل (al-mustaqbal)

Formed with the separate word سوف (sawfa) before the present-tense verb instead of the attached سـ. Textbooks treat it as interchangeable with the near future, just a shade more formal or more distant/emphatic.

Future perfect

Built with سَـ + kūn (the future of kāna) + قد (qad) + the past-tense main verb. Matches English 'will have written'; mainly seen in formal or written registers.

Conditional

MSA has no distinct conditional mood. 'Would' in a statement (often reported speech, 'he said he would write') is expressed with kāna (past) + the sa- future: kāna sa-yaktubu, literally 'he was going to write'. Real hypothetical 'if... would' sentences use a different construction (see Conditional sentences in Grammar).

Conditional perfect

A heavy, mostly written/bookish compound — kāna (past) + sa-akūnu (future of kāna) + qad + the past main verb — for 'would have written'. In practice, most speakers avoid it and rephrase with a لو (law, 'if only') hypothetical sentence instead (see Conditional sentences in Grammar).

Present subjunctive المضارع المنصوب (al-muḍāriʿ al-manṣūb)

The present stem changes its final ending (marfūʿ -u becomes manṣūb -a, and the nūn of taktubīna/taktubūna/yaktubūna is dropped) after linking particles: أَنْ (an, 'to', joining two verbs), لَنْ (lan, 'will not' — the standard way to negate the future), and كَيْ/لِكَيْ (kay/likay, 'so that') or حَتَّى (ḥattā, 'in order to/until') for purpose.

Negative past (with lam) المضارع المجزوم (al-muḍāriʿ al-majzūm)

The jussive drops the present tense's final short vowel or nūn ending. Placed after لَمْ (lam, 'did not'), it is the standard formal way to negate a past action — more common in writing than negating the perfect verb with مَا.

Conditional (with in) المضارع المجزوم (al-muḍāriʿ al-majzūm)

After إِنْ (in, 'if'), both the if-clause verb and the result-clause verb take the jussive. This is the main B1–B2 way to build a real, likely conditional ('if you do X, Y will happen'), corresponding to English 'if + present, will + verb'.

Imperative (affirmative) الأمر (al-amr)

Built from the jussive stem: drop the person prefix, and if the stem then starts with two consonants, add a helping alif (اُ-/اِ-) at the front, pronounced with a short u or i. Only exists for the three 'you' forms; other persons use a linking particle instead (e.g. لِيَكْتُبْ, li-yaktub, 'let him write' — not covered at this level).

Imperative (negative) النهي (an-nahy)

Negative commands are not a separate verb form: they are simply لَا (lā, 'don't') plus the jussive of the same 'you' forms used in the affirmative imperative, unlike English, which reuses the plain verb ('write' → 'don't write').

Examples

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