Arabic: An Essential Grammar

(a) When a verb in the third person is placed first in the sentence, the

verb must be in the singular, even though the subject may be in the

plural or dual. The verb always agrees with the gender of the

subject, however, e.g.

Remember: When a verb in the third person feminine singular is

followed by a word beginning with hamzatu l-was

̇

li (was

̇

lah), the

suku ̄n on the final /...t/ ـ ْت.َ .. is replaced by kasrah (^) َـ ِت ... to avoid
having three consonants in succession, e.g.
َش ِر َب ِت ْلـ ِب ْن ُت... sˇaribati l-bintu... (not: .َشـ ِر َب ْت ْلـ ِب ْن ُت sˇaribat l-
bintu...)
(b) If the subject refers to a human being and the verb is placed after
the subject, the verb must agree with the subject in number and
gender, e.g.
14.7 If the subject is not expressed by a noun or separate pronoun, the
verb alone expresses its number, whether it be singular, dual or plural,
e.g.
14.8 If the subject is in the plural and refers to non-humans, the verb
is in the feminine singular, e.g.
ل ُمو َن َع ِصي ًراََّشـ ِر َب ْلـ ُم َع َش ِر َب ِت ْلـ ِب ْن َتا ِن َعـ ِصي ًرا
sˇariba l-mu

allimu ̄na

as
̇
ı

• ran. sˇaribati l-binta ̄ni



as

̇

ı

• ran.

The teachers (m. pl.) drank juice. The two girls (dual) drank

juice.

َشـ ِر ُبوا َعـ ِصي ًرا ل ُمو َن َّع ِصي ًرا َأْلـ ُم َعَ ل َم َتا ِن َش ِر َب َ تا َّأْلـ ُم َعَ




al-mu



allimu ̄na sˇaribu ̄



as

̇

• ıran.
  
  
  al-mu



allimata ̄ni sˇaribata ̄



as

̇

ı-ran.

The teachers (m. pl.) drank

juice.

The (two) teachers (f.) drank

juice.

َش ِر ُبوا َع ِصي ًرا َش ِر َب َ تا َع ِصي ًرا

sˇaribu ̄



as

̇

ı

• ran. sˇaribata ̄



as

̇

ı

• ran.

They (m. pl.) drank juice. They (f. dual) drank juice.

81

Perfect

tense, root,

radicals,

triliteral

verbs, word

order