Morphology Lesson 3: Past Tense Conjugation (الفعل الماضي)

Past Tense Conjugation (الفعل الماضي)

Welcome back to our series on learning Arabic Morphology (Ṣarf) from the beginning!

In this lesson, we'll master how to conjugate Form I verbs in the past tense (الفعل الماضي) — the form used to describe completed actions.

الفعل الماضي (Past Tense)

In Arabic, the past tense verb tells you:

• Who did the action
• That the action is completed

كَتَبَ

he wrote

كَتَبْتُ

I wrote

كَتَبُوا

they wrote

Conjugation Table: كَتَبَ (kataba)

Pronoun	Arabic	Conjugation	Meaning
I	أَنَا	كَتَبْتُ	I wrote
You (m)	أَنْتَ	كَتَبْتَ	You (m) wrote
You (f)	أَنْتِ	كَتَبْتِ	You (f) wrote
He	هُوَ	كَتَبَ	He wrote
She	هِيَ	كَتَبَتْ	She wrote
We	نَحْنُ	كَتَبْنَا	We wrote
They (m)	هُمْ	كَتَبُوا	They (m) wrote
They (f)	هُنَّ	كَتَبْنَ	They (f) wrote

Pattern Recognition

All conjugations keep the root (كتب) and add specific suffixes:

ـتُ

I

ـتَ

You (m)

ـتِ

You (f)

ـتْ

She

ـنَا

We

ـوا

They (m)

These endings apply to almost any regular Form I verb in the past tense.

Practice Conjugating دَرَسَ (darasa)

I studied

دَرَسْتُ

You (m) studied

دَرَسْتَ

She studied

دَرَسَتْ

They (m) studied

دَرَسُوا

Interactive Exercise

Conjugate فَتَحَ (fataha = he opened):

I opened =

You (f) opened =

They (m) opened =

She opened =

Mastery Tips

🔊

Say it aloud - repetition improves memory

🗂️

Group similar endings together (all "you" forms, etc.)

📇

Make flashcards for each pronoun + suffix

📅

Conjugate one verb daily until patterns become automatic

Mastering Past Tense Conjugation

With these suffix patterns, you can now conjugate thousands of Form I verbs correctly!

Next lesson: Present Tense Conjugation (المضارع)

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