The Present Tense in Arabic

The Arabic present tense puts a prefix before the stem, and for some persons an ending after it: ⁨يَكْتُب⁩ (he writes), ⁨أَكْتُب⁩ (I write), ⁨يَكْتُبُون⁩ (they write).

Prefixes and Endings

The present stem of ⁨كَتَبَ⁩ is ⁨كْتُب⁩. Four prefixes show the person: ⁨أَ⁩ for "I", ⁨نَ⁩ for "we", ⁨تَ⁩ for "you" and "she", and ⁨يَ⁩ for "he" and "they". Some persons also add an ending: ⁨ـِين⁩ for "you" to a woman, ⁨ـَان⁩ for two, ⁨ـُون⁩ for a group and ⁨ـْنَ⁩ for a group of women.

Notice that ⁨تَكْتُب⁩ means both "you write" (to a man) and "she writes". The pronoun or the context tells you which one is meant.

The Final Vowel

In full grammar the present ends in a short vowel: ⁨يَكْتُبُ⁩. This vowel changes after some words, as the negation topic shows. Speakers drop it at the end of a phrase, and this course leaves it off: we write ⁨يَكْتُب⁩, not ⁨يَكْتُبُ⁩. In the same way the forms with ⁨ـُونَ⁩ and ⁨ـِينَ⁩ are written as they sound at a pause: ⁨يَكْتُبُون⁩, ⁨تَكْتُبِين⁩. The ending ⁨ـْنَ⁩ of the women's plural is part of the form, so it keeps its vowel: ⁨يَكْتُبْنَ⁩.

The Middle Vowel

The vowel on the second root letter of the present can be a, u or i, and you can't guess it from the past. Learn each verb with both forms.

When to Use It

One form covers "I write" and "I am writing". Use it for what is happening now, for habits and for things that are always true. Arabic needs no word for "am" or "is" here.

Word Order

The present follows the same rule as the past. Before its subject the verb stays singular: ⁨يَدْرُس الطُّلَّاب هُنَا⁩ (the students study here). After the subject it agrees fully: ⁨الطُّلَّاب يَدْرُسُون هُنَا⁩.

Common Mistakes

• Using ⁨يَـ⁩ for "she": say ⁨هِيَ تَكْتُب⁩, not ⁨هِيَ يَكْتُب⁩.
• Forgetting ⁨ـِين⁩ when talking to a woman: say ⁨أَنْتِ تَكْتُبِين⁩, not ⁨أَنْتِ تَكْتُب⁩.
• Mixing up ⁨أَ⁩ and ⁨نَ⁩: ⁨أَدْرُس⁩ is "I study", ⁨نَدْرُس⁩ is "we study".
• Guessing the middle vowel: say ⁨يَجْلِس⁩, not ⁨يَجْلُس⁩. Learn the present together with the past.
• Adding a word for "am": ⁨أَنَا أَكْتُب⁩ already means "I am writing".

Example Sentences