أنا أشرب قهوة "I drink coffee"

In this lesson, we are going to learn about verbs, the present tense particularly. Verbs in Arabic language have three different forms. These are Present, Past and Imperative. A typical practice is to memorize the three forms of each verb.

Now we will focus on the present form/tense. Like in French, German and many other languages, the verb changes according to the subject. The pattern most verbs follow in the present tense is demonstrated in the following examples (notice the letters written in red):

 

ya--SHrab    yashrab   (Drink)
anaa aSHrab	anaa ashrab    (I drink)
anta ta--SHrab	anta tashrab    (You drink (m.))
ante ta--SHrab--een	ante tashrabeen    (You drink (f.))
antom ta--SHrab--oon	antom tashraboon    (You drink (pl.))
howa ya--SHrab	howa yashrab    (He drinks)
heya ta--SHrab	heya tashrab    (She drinks)
hom ya--SHrab--oon	hom yashraboon    (They drink (pl.))
naHno na--SHrab	naHno nashrab    (we drink)

 

The following verbs follow the same pattern shown above :

ya'kol	ya'kol	Eat
yaf3al	yaf'al	Do
yakoon	yakoon	Be
yaDHhab	yaDHhab	Go
ya'tee	ya'tee	Come
yamSHee	yamshee	Walk
yaqef	yaqef	Stand up/Stop
yagles	yagles	Sit
yatakallam	yatakallam	Speak/Talk
yaskot	yaskot	Stop talking
yazoor	yazoor	Visit
yadres	yadres	Study

 

Some new words are presented here to help exemplify the use of verbs :

elE	ela	To
fee	fee	In
3alE	aala	On
3an	aan	About
aalqahwat>	al-qahwah	The coffee
aalmanzel	al-manzel	The house
aalkorsee	al-korsee	The chair
aala'qaareb	al-aqaareb	The relatives
aalmadrasat>	al-madrasah	The school
aalSHaare3	al-sharea	The street

 

Examples of using verbs in the present form/tense:

1-anaa aSHrab aalqahwat> anaa ashrab al-qahwah I drink coffee

2-ante taDHhabeen elE aalmadrasat> ante taDHhabeen ela al-madrasah You go to school (f.)

3-howa ya'tee elE aalmanzel howa ya'tee ela al-manzel He comes to the house

4-antom taqefoon fee aalSHaare3 antom taqefoon fee al-shaarea You stand in the street (pl.)

5-heya tagles 3alE aalkorsee heya tagless ala alkorsee She sits on the chair

6-hom yazooroon aala'qaareb hom yazooroon al-aqaarib They visit relatives

 

This concludes Lesson2, now it is exercise time ;).