Sarf – المُضارِع – The Present and Future Tense

مُضارِع is the tense in Arabic which conveys the meaning of both present (simple and continuous) and future tenses. The context and situation of the usage will determine which of the above three are meant to be conveyed. It is what is called the Imperfect tense in English i.e. the action is either going on or is still to start.

Unlike the ماضی , the مُضارِع is peculiar in its nature because it is characterized by the presence of one of the 4 letters, namely ا^ء ، ت ، ی ، ن (hamza, taa, ya’a, nun) at the start of a word . Thus a مُضارِع verb will have one of these 4 letters as a prefix. Plus, unlike the ماضی, the endings of مُضارِع verbs do not follow a set pattern but are rather based on loose groupings. Mentioned below are the prefix and suffix rules for the 14 conjugations:

Prefix Rules:

1. Conjugation 1,2,3, and 6 will have ی as prefix
2. Conjugations 4,5,7,8,9,10,11,12 will have ت as a prefix
3. Conjugation 13 will have ا^ء as a prefix
4. Conjugation 14 will have ن as a prefix

Suffix Rules:

1. 5 conjugations will have no suffix at all i.e. the last letter of the word will be the base letter of the verb. These are conjugations 1,4,7, 13, and 14
2. 9 conjugations are further subdivided into 4 groups:
   • The 4 duals ( 3^rd person Dual Masculine/Feminine, 2^nd person Dual Masculine/Feminine) will have an ending consisting of an الِف followed by a ن with a kasra e.g. تفعلانِ . .These are conjugations 2,5,8, and 11
   • The 2 Masculine Plural Conjugations, number 3 and 9, will end in ُونَ i.e. و preceded by a dhamma and succeeded by a ن with a fatha e.g. يَفْعَلُوْنَ
   • The 2 Feminine Plural Conjugations, number 6 and 12, will end with a sukun on the laam position of the verb followed by a ن with a fatha
   • The 2^nd person Singular Feminine, conjugation number 10, has the suffix يْنَ i.e. a yaa saakin plus a ن with a fathae.g.تَفْعَلِيْنَ

The Table below lists all these

يَفْعَلُ	He does
یَفعَلانِ	They (Dual, Male) do
يَفعَلونَ	They (Plural, Male) do
تَفْعَلُ	She does
تفْعَلانِ	They (Dual, Female) do
يَفعَلنَ	They (Plural, Female) do
تَفْعَلُ	You (Singular, Male) do
تفْعَلانِ	You (Dual, Male) do
تَفعَلونَ	You (Plural, Male) do
تَفعَلينَ	You (Singular, Female) do
تفْعَلانِ	You (Dual, Female) do
تَفعَلنَ	You (Plural, Female) do
أَفْعَلُ	I do
نَفْعَلُ	We do

The passive voice for the مُضارِع is constructed by:

1. Putting a fatha on the second last letter (if not already a fatha)
2. Adding a dhamma to the prefix

Thus, يََنصُرُ becomes يَُنصَرُ (he is helped, he is being helped, or he will be helped).

Adding لا in front of both active and passive voice of the مُضارِع will negate it

Sarf – Variations of the Past Tense

Until now we have seen how to conjugate verbs using the simple past tense e.g. he ate, he helped, he did etc. Now we will see how we can couple some words to the past tense verb and make it either present perfect e.g. he has helped or past perfect e.g. he had helped.

Sticking the word قد in front of a past tense verb makes it present perfect. Thus, قد denotes actions which have just been completed e.g. he has helped, he has done, he has read etc. Note that قد is a حرف (i.e. a particle) so it does not change its form with the changing form of the verb. As an example, نَصَرَ means he helped and قد نَصَرَ means he has helped. The significance of this will become clear when we deal with the next section about making past perfect tense. One more thing to note is that you cannot attach a ما in front of قد to negate it: this construction is not allowed in Arabic.

If we add کان in front of a past tense verb the verb becomes past perfect. Thus, کان denotes actions which have been completed in distant past. However, کان is a verb, just like فَعَلَ , so it will also change its form when coupled with the past tense verb. The following table shows how this is done:

كان نَصَرَ	He had helped
كانا نَصَرا	They (2 males) had helped
كانوا نَصَروا	They (many males) had helped
كانَتْ نَصَرَتْ	She had helped
كانَتا نَصَرَتا	They (2 females) had helped
كُنَّ نَصَرْنَ	They (many females) had helped
كُنتَ نَصَرْتَ	You (1 male)had helped
كُنتُما نَصَرْتُما	You (2 males) had helped
كُنتُم نَصَرْتُم	You (many males) had helped
كُنتِ نَصَرْتِ	You (1 female) had helped
كُنتُما نَصَرْتُما	You (2 females) had helped
كُنتُنَّ نَصَرْتُنَّ	You (many females) had helped
كُنتُ نَصَرْتُ	I had helped
كُنّا نَصَرْنا	We had helped

The negation of this conjugation is constructed simply by adding a ما in front of it. Also, the passive voice for this conjugation is constructed the same way as before: dhamma on the first letter, kasraon the second last letter.