Conjugate Arabic Verbs in Past Tense

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Video: Conjugate Arabic Verbs in Past Tense

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Hello, and thank you for watching VisiHow. Today, we will show you how to conjugate most regular Arabic verbs in the past tense for all people.

1. 1
   We will first demonstrate this using the verb "fa'ala", which means "to make" or "to do". We will conjugate this starting "ana" for "I", "anta" for "you" masculine, "anti" for "you" feminine, "huwa" for "he", "hiya" for "she", "nahnu" for "we", "antum" for "you" plural masculine, "antunna" for "you" plural feminine, "hum" for "they" masculine, and "hunna" for "they" feminine.

   

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2. 2
   We conjugate verbs in the past tense by adding a suffix to the end of the root, which "fa'ala". In each case, it's just slightly different. As a note, when we add the suffix, this is the person marker, so we do not need to write the pronoun as well. It will be implied by the suffix that gets attached to the verb.

   

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3. 3
   Using "fa'ala" with "ana", to make "I did", we would say, "fa'altu", since the suffix is "tu".

   

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4. 4
   For "anta", the suffix "ta". We will write "fa'alta".

   

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5. 5
   For "anti", which is "you" feminine, the suffix is "ti". We will write "fa'alti".

   

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6. 6
   For "huwa", we do not add anything. We will keep the same form with "a" at the end, so it is "fa'ala".

   

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7. 7
   For "hiya", the suffix is "at". We will write "fa'alat".

   

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8. 8
   In this case, the fatha goes on the laam, which precedes the ending taa.

   

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9. 9
   For "nahnu", or "we", the suffix is "nah". We will write "fa'alnah".

   

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10. 10
    For "antum", or "you" masculine plural, the suffix is "tum". We will write "fa'altum".

    

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11. 11
    For "antunna", or "you" plural feminine, the suffix is "tunna". We will write "fa'altunna".

    

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12. 12
    For "hum", or "they" masculine, the suffix is "uu". We will write "fa'aluu".

    

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13. 13
    For "hunna", which is "they" feminine, the suffix is "na". We will write "fa'alna".

    

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14. 14
    This is the table for regular past tense conjugations.

    

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15. 15
    Let's take a second verb, such as "dahaba", which means "to go" in Arabic. We can substitute "dahaba" for "fa'ala", and add the endings in the same way since these verbs conjugate in the same way in the past tense. Let's write those just to the left of the "fa'ala" conjugations so we can see how those look as well.

    

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16. 16
    We have "dahabtu".

    

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17. 17
    We have "dahabta".

    

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18. 18
    We have "dahabti".

    

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19. 19
    We have "dahaba".

    

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20. 20
    We have "dahabat".

    

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21. 21
    As well, we have "dahabnah" for "nahnu".

    

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22. 22
    We have "dahabtum".

    

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23. 23
    We have "dahabtunna".

    

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24. 24
    We have "dahabuu".

    

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25. 25
    We have "dahabna".

    

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26. 26
    Many of the other regular forms with three letters will follow this same pattern. This does conclude today's tutorial on how to form the past tense of most regular verbs in the Arabic language for all people. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please leave them in the space below.

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If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.

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