Tenses In Arabic Language: The Past, Present And Command Tense (الفعل الماضى والمضارع والأمر)

Tenses In Arabic Language: The Past, The Present And The Command Tense 

(الفعل الماضى والمضارع والأمر)

By: Yusuf Basirat Bolanle

Discussion

In Arabic language, tenses are majorly divided into three main categories. They are:

1-  The Past

2-  The Present and

3-  The Command Tense

In this lesson, we shall briefly discuss each of them and give vivid examples in each case. In our previous lessons, we have talked about The past tense and the conditions in which it usually takes different parsing marks, we have also discussed the present tense and the conditions it do take different parsing marks, likewise the command tense and the conditions in which it takes different parsing marks as well.

However, this lesson will bring together the three types of tenses, with examples for easier identification and physical differences among  each of them.

1-  The past tense (فعل الماضى)

The past tense discussed the action that are done in the past. It usually ends with Al-fatha parsing mark if nothing is attached to it at the end, either it is a verb of three, four, five or six alphabets. In as much as nothing is attached to it at the end, it will always takes Al-fatha.

2-  The present tense (فعل المضارع)

This usually expresses an action that is presently ongoing or the action that always occurs as a result of repetition. This simply means a simple present tense or a continuous tense, both constitute what we can refer to as the present tense in Arabic language. The present tense, if no particle preceded it or any alphabet succeeded it, do take Arraf'u sign, which is Ad-dammah.

3-  The command tense (فعل الأمر)

The command tense is a request action, asking the second person, either singular or plural to carry out an act. Perhaps, the command tense, if nothing is attached to it at the end, always takes As-sukun parsing mark.

Hence, we shall give examples of each of the tenses as explained above.

Verbs with healthy or sound end

These are verbs with a sound alphabet at the end. The last alphabet in this type of verb is not one of the alphabets of elongation (اوى). Examples are:

فعل الأمر	فعل المضارع	فعل الماضى
The Command Tense	The Present Tense	The Past Tense
افعلْ Do	يفعلُ He is Doing/He Does	فعلَ He Did
اكتبْ Write	يكتبُ He is Writing/He Writes	كتبَ He Wrote
اجلسْ Sit	يجلسُ He is Sitting/He Sits	جلس He Sat
اقرأْ Read	يقرأُ He is Reading/He Reads	قرأَ He Read
افرحْ Be Happy	يفرحُ He is being Happy/He is Happy	فرحَ He was Happy
كلْ Eat	يأكلُ He is Eating/He Eats	أكلَ He Ate
اسمعْ Listen	يسمعُ He is Listening/He Listens	سمعَ He Listened
اضربْ Beat	يضربُ He is Beating/He Beats	ضربَ He Beat
ادرسْ Learn	يدرسُ He is Learning/He Learns	درسَ He Learned
العبْ	يلعبُ He is Playing/He Plays	لعبَ He Played
اذهبْ Go	يذهبُ He is Going/He Goes	ذهبَ He Went

Now, let us look vividly into the above examples, we will discover that the verbs in the first column are all in their past form, and they consist of only the root alphabets without anything attached to them at the end, that is why they all end with Al-fatha parsing mark or sign.

The verbs in the second column are in their simple present or continuous form, starting with one of the alphabet of the present tense, with nothing added or attached to their end and not preceded by any particles, hence, they all end with Ad-dammah sign.

The last column contain the command tense, or a request tense, addressing the second person to carry out an act, nothing is attached to their end and that is why they all end with As-sukun.

It is very important to note that all the above verbs are verbs with healthy or sound end, that is why those signs are clearly written and shown on them. If the verbs are not ending with healthy alphabet, like ending with one of the sick alphabets (حروف العلة) or alphabets of elongation (حروف المد), which are: (ا، و، ى), it is likely the parsing mark on their end take another dimension, but may not be as clear as seen on those verbs with healthy or sound alphabet at the end.

In this regard, we shall as well bring forth the examples of verbs with sick end, for the past, present and the command tenses.

Here are some of the examples:

 

Verbs with sick or unhealthy end

 

فعل الأمر	فعل المضارع	فعل الماضى
The Command Tense	The Present Tense	The Past Tense
ادعُ Call	يدعو He is Calling/He Calls	دعى He Called
رَه See	يرى He is Seeing/He Sees	رأى He Saw
اشترِ Buy	يشترى He is Buying/He Buys	اشترى He Bought
َانه Deny	ينهى He is Denying/He Denies	نهي He Denied
اجرِ Run	يجرى He is Running/He Runs	جرى He Ran
ِأر Show	يرى He is Showing/He Shows	أرى He Showed
َاسع Be Quick	يسعى He is being Quick/He is Quick	سعى He Was Quick
اقضِ Judge	يقضى He is Judging/He judges	قضى He Judged
ِإئت Come	يأتى He is Coming/He Comes	أتى He Came
ِأعط Bring	يعطى He is Bringing/He Brings	اعطى He Brought
ِامض Pass	يمضى He is Passing/He Passes	مضى He Passed

Looking at the above examples, we will discovered that the first column consists of the past tense ending with one of the sick alphabets these sick alphabets prevent the Al-fatha parsing mark to clearly shown at the end of the verbs, instead of that, the sick alphabet stand in place of the clear Al-fatha sign that supposed to be on their end.

 Same with the second column which consists of the present tense, the sick alphabets stand in place where there supposed to be a clear Ar-raf'u sign which is Ad-dammah. The last column contains the command tense where the sick alphabets are either removed or the root parsing mark which is As-sukun is replaced with other sign as a result of removal of the sick alphabet