Past-tense verb (al-madi)

The madi reports what has already happened, so an English past tense usually translates it: خَلَقَ “He created”. Its doer is written into the ending — فَعَلْتُ (I), فَعَلْتُمْ (you all), فَعَلُوا (they) — which is why a single word of the Quran is often a complete sentence. Grammar never alters its ending; only the doer does.

Beware the near-twins ـنَا (we) and ـنَ (they, feminine plural): فَتَحْنَا is “we opened”, فَتَحْنَ is “they (f.) opened” — one letter changes the doer of a Quranic ayah entirely.

Is al-madi the same as the English past tense?

Close, but not identical: it marks completed action — and the Quran also uses it for future events so certain they are expressed as already done, especially scenes of the Day of Judgement.

Do I have to learn new endings for Forms 2–10?

No. The same 14 suffixes conjugate every madi verb in the language, Form I through Form X. Learn them once on فَتَحَ and you can conjugate عَلَّمَ, أَسْلَمَ and every other madi you will ever meet.