Sarf – More variations of المُضارع

Here we go! We are now back dealing with المُضارع . In this post we will deal with some more variations of the future tense. In a previous post I had explained how المُضارع , which encompasses both present and future tense in Arabic, can be limited to future tense only. However, recall that at that time we had done this by negating the verb. In this post, Insha Allah, I will show how to do the same without negating the verb i.e. how to say he will help, she will help etc. Secondly, I will also talk about the imperative for المُضارع i.e. how to say verily he will help, verily you will help etc.

Simple Future Tense: This is built by simply adding a س or سَوفَ in front of each conjugation of المُضارع verb; this will restrict the tense to future. Thus,ﻳﹷﻔﻌﹷﻞﹸ becomesﺳﹷﻴﻔﻌﹷﻞﹸ( or سَوفَ ﻳﹷﻔﻌﹷﻞﹸ ) and so on. That’s it! There is nothing more to building a simple future tense verb in Arabic, so we will move onto our next variation.

Emphatic Future Tense: This one is not going to be as easy as the three-liner above. 🙂 To build the emphatic for المُضارع not only do we have add a ل in front of it (with a fatha), but the endings of the verb change as well. More specifically, a ن is added at the end of the verb. It is interesting to note that this ن can be in a مُشدّد (i.e. with a shadda on it) form or in the ساکِن (i.e. with a sukun on it) form. The former is called ن ثقيلة and the latter is called ن خفيفة , literally meaning heavy nun and light nun, respectively. In terms of meaning the two endings do not differ, except in their tone. Thus one may be picked up over the other to satisfy complex poetry rules or when giving sermons. Meaning wise, there is no difference between the two conjugations, be they are formed from ن ثقيلة or ن خفيفة . Let us now see how these conjugations are formed:

1. The five singulars will have there ending dhamma changed to a fatha and the final ن , either مُشدّد or ساکِن ,will added. Thus,ﻳﹷﻔﻌﹷﻞﹸ becomes لَيَفْعَلَنَّ. Please see table below for full listing of conjugations. Also note that there is a fatha on ل (just before the final ن ثقيلة . The reason for this will become obvious as I explain the conjugation change for the two plural masculines (see bullet #3 below)
2. The four duals, which already have a ن at the end, will have this ن dropped so that we do not end up having three ن when we attach a ن ثقيلة or ن خفيفة to the end of the conjugations. Moreover, the final ن will have a kasra on it
3. The two masculine plurals ( يَفْعَلُوْنَ and تَفْعَلُوْنَ ) and the second person feminine singular ( تَفْعَلِيْنَ ) will have their و and ی dropped and either ن ثقيلة or ن خفيفة will be added with a kasra on it. Now imagine what would have happened had we not changed the dhamma on ﻳﹷﻔﻌﹷﻞﹸ to a fatha when forming the emphatic conjugation: the final form then would have been لَيَفْعَلُنَّ . But this is also the form which we get when we transform the third person masculine plural to the emphatic conjugation! Therefore, to avoid confusion, the dhamma on the third person masculine singular ﻳﹷﻔﻌﹷﻞﹸ is changed to a fatha when forming the future emphatic. Conversely, the dhamma on the two masculine plurals which remains there in the emphatic conjugation is an indication of the dropped و . Similarly, the kasra on the second person feminine singular future emphatic form is an indication of the dropped ی
4. Nothing will drop from the two plural feminines. However, to ease pronunciation, an الِف is inserted between the original final ن and the emphatic-forming ن ثقيلة or ن خفيفة

Verily he will do	لَيَفْعَلَنَّ
Verily they (2 males) will do	لَيَفْعَلاَنِّ
Verily they (group of males) will do	لَيَفْعَلُنَّ
Verily she will do	لَتَفْعَلَنَّ
Verily they (2 females) will do	لَتَفْعَلاَنِّ
Verily they (group of females) will do	لَيَفْعَلْنَانِّ
Verily You (male) will do	لَتَفْعَلَنَّ
Verily you (2 males) will do	لَتَفْعَلاَنِّ
Verily you (group of males) will do	لَتَفْعَلُنَّ
Verily you (females) will do	لَتَفْعَلِنَّ
Verily you (2 females) will do	لَتَفْعَلاَنِّ
Verily you (group of females) will do	لَتَفْعَلْنَانِّ
Verily I will do	لأَفْعَلَنَّ
Verily we will do	لَنَفْعَلَنَّ

Notes:

1. An example of ن خفيفة conjugation is:لَيَفعَلَنْ
2. There are 6 less conjugation in the خفيفة tables than there are in the ثقيلة tables. This is because the ن خفيفة is not attached to those conjugations which end in an الِف (the four duals and the two feminine plurals). Thus, rules 2 and 4 do not apply to the خفيفة tables