Grammar term · The verb · Tense
Present/future verb (al-mudari)
fi'l mudari'
فِعْل مُضَارِع
The verbTensecore term
Also written: Mudari · Mudaari' · Present tense · Imperfect tense · Al-Mudari
In one line
The present/future verb — one tense covering English present, continuous and future.
Classical definition
الفِعْلُ المُضَارِعُ مَا دَلَّ عَلَى حَدَثٍ يَقَعُ فِي الحَالِ أَوِ الاسْتِقْبَالِ، وَيُفْتَتَحُ بِأَحَدِ حُرُوفِ «أَنَيْتُ».
“The mudari' points to an event taking place now or in the future, and it opens with one of the letters of أَنَيْتُ (hamza, nun, ya', ta').”
Key words in the Arabic
الحَالthe present moment
الاسْتِقْبَالthe future
يُفْتَتَحُ بِـit opens with
Understand it
One Arabic tense does the work of several English ones: يَكْتُبُ can be “he writes”, “he is writing” or — with سَـ or سَوْفَ — “he will write”. The opening letter names the doer: أَكْتُبُ (I), نَكْتُبُ (we), تَكْتُبُ (you), يَكْتُبُ (he). And unlike its two siblings it takes i'rab: rafa by default, nasab after أَنْ, jazm after لَمْ — which is why its last letter deserves your attention.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A verb beginning with one of ء / ن / ي / ت (the letters of أَنَيْتُ) is mudari'.
In the Qur'an
كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلْقِتَالُ وَهُوَ كُرْهٌ لَّكُمْ ۖ وَعَسَىٰٓ أَن تَكْرَهُوا۟ شَيْـًٔا وَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ ۖ وَعَسَىٰٓ أَن تُحِبُّوا۟ شَيْـًٔا وَهُوَ شَرٌّ لَّكُمْ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
Al-Baqara 2:216 — “Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not.”
Two mudari' verbs: يَعْلَمُ opens with ya' (he) and تَعْلَمُونَ with ta' (you) — the أَنَيْتُ letters at work.
Forms it takes
للغائبللغائبينللمخاطبينللمتكلمينللمخاطبللغائبةللمتكلمللغائبات
Don't confuse it with
تَذْهَبُ is two conjugations at once — “she goes” (هِيَ) and “you go” (أَنْتَ). Only context separates them.
Common questions
Why doesn't the noon drop from the feminine plurals after لَمْ or لَنْ?
In يَنْصُرْنَ the noon is the pronoun — the doers themselves — not the noon of i'rab, so no particle can remove it. The feminine plural forms never change.
Next in the guideفِعْل أَمْرImperative verb (al-amr) →Updated