(a) fath
̇
ah, then the middle vowel of the imperfect tense can be fath
̇ah,kasrah or d
̇ammah, e.g.(b) kasrah, then the middle vowel of the imperfect is in almost all
cases fath
̇ah, e.g.(c) d
̇
ammah, then the middle vowel of the imperfect is also d
̇ammah,e.g.17.4 Here is the conjugation of the imperfect indicative as exemplifiedby the verb َك َت َب kataba, ‘to write’. The third person masculine singular
of this verb is َي ْك ُت ُب yaktubu, which can be translated as ‘he writes’, ‘he is
writing’, or ‘he will write’. In the conjugation table below, the prefixes
and endings referring to the person, gender and number of the subject
are written in bold type and small letters, and the roots in capitals. (See
also conjugation A2.1 in Appendix 2.)
Perfect tense Imperfect tenseَذ َه َب d
̄ahaba, he went َي ْذ َه ُب yad
̄habu /a/, he goesَك َت َب kataba, he wrote َي ْك ُت ُب yaktubu /u/, he writes
َغ َس َل g ̇asala, he washed َي ْغ ِس ُل yag ̇silu /i/, he washes
Perfect tense Imperfect tenseَش ِر َب sˇariba, he drank َي ْش َر ُب yasˇrabu /a/, he drinks, he is
drinkingPerfect tense Imperfect tenseَك ُر َم karuma, he was generous َي ْك ُر ُم yakrumu /u/, he is generous
singular dual pluralَي ْك ُت ُب َي ْك ُت َبا ِن َي ْك ُت ُبو َن
- m. ya+KTUB+uya+KTUB+a ̄ni ya+KTUB+u ̄na
he writes they (2) write they writehe is writing they (2) are writing they are writing107Imperfect
tense in the
indicative,
word order