Modern Standard Arabic has two common ways to background an actor. The internal passive changes the verb's vocalic pattern: نَشَرَ “published” becomes نُشِرَ “was published,” and يَنْشُرُ becomes يُنْشَرُ. The construction تمّ + maṣdar instead makes a verbal noun the subject of تمّ “be completed, be accomplished”: تمّ نشر التقرير literally presents “the publishing of the report” as completed.
These are not fully interchangeable passive choices. The internal passive directly reports an event while promoting the affected participant to نائب الفاعل. تمّ + maṣdar nominalizes the event through the perfect verb تمّ and therefore carries a completive, procedural profile. In contemporary administrative prose, however, the construction is often partly bleached into a periphrastic passive: تمّ نشر التقرير may communicate little more than “the report was published.” Both choices can suppress an agent, but تمّ still adds bureaucratic weight and can suggest accomplished procedure—and repeated تمّ is a notorious source of bloated prose (administrative). For the broader voice and genre system, see Passive Voice in Journalism and Administration.
The decision algorithm
Use five observable tests:
- Are you simply reporting that something happened to a patient? Prefer the internal passive: نُشر التقرير.
- Is successful completion, execution, or finalization itself the point? تمّ + maṣdar may be justified: تمّ استكمال الفحص.
- Is the event still underway? Use an internal imperfect passive or يجري + maṣdar; perfect تمّ falsely presents completion.
- Does responsibility matter? Name the actor in an active clause. Neither agentless option should hide accountability.
- Has the paragraph already used تمّ repeatedly? Restore finite verbs unless each instance contributes a real completion contrast.
Register is the final filter. The internal passive is standard across journalism, academic prose, and administration (formal). تمّ + maṣdar is also grammatical contemporary MSA, but it strongly evokes procedural and bureaucratic reporting when overused.
Internal passive: event first, actor backgrounded
Form I نشر — ينشر — نشرا (root ن-ش-ر) has perfect passive نُشِرَ and imperfect passive يُنْشَرُ. The patient becomes nominative and controls gender; normal word-order agreement still applies.
نشر التقرير بعد تدقيق الأرقام النهائية.
nushira t-taqrīru baʿda tadqīqi l-ʾarqāmi n-nihāʾiyya(h).
The report was published after the final figures were checked. (Compact formal event report.)
The event occurred; the sentence does not additionally assert that a publishing procedure reached formal completion. If the publisher matters, the active نشر المركز التقرير is clearer.
ستراجع الطلبات المؤهلة خلال خمسة أيام عمل.
saturājaʿu ṭ-ṭalabātu l-muʾahhalatu khilāla khamsati ʾayyāmi ʿamal.
Eligible applications will be reviewed within five working days. (Future internal passive.)
Nonhuman plural الطلبات triggers feminine-singular ستراجع and adjective المؤهلة. The future prefix سـ scopes directly over the passive imperfect. No extra word equivalent to English be is required.
لم تعتمد النتائج لأن العينة كانت صغيرة.
lam tuʿtamadi n-natāʾiju li-ʾanna l-ʿayyinata kānat ṣaghīra(h).
The results were not accepted because the sample was small. (Jussive passive after لم.)
Form VIII اعتمد — يعتمد — اعتمادا has imperfect passive يُعْتَمَدُ; after لم, the jussive is يُعْتَمَدْ, here linked before the article as تُعْتَمَدِ النتائج. Choosing voice never cancels mood government.
تمّ + maṣdar: completion becomes the assertion
In تمّ نشر التقرير, the syntax still contains perfect تمّ, root ت-م-م, with nominative subject نشرُ. التقريرِ is genitive as the affected complement inside the maṣdar phrase نشر التقرير. Semantically, a procedural context may foreground completion, while a conventional administrative context may bleach the whole expression toward a simple passive report.
تم استكمال الفحص الفني قبل تسليم المبنى.
tamma stikmālu l-faḥṣi l-fanniyyi qabla taslīmi l-mabnā.
The technical inspection was completed before the building was handed over. (Completion is the relevant result.)
The maṣdar استكمال itself means completing, so the sentence emphatically certifies that the process reached its endpoint. That may be appropriate in a handover record (administrative), but a news report could more directly say اكتمل الفحص الفني “the technical inspection was completed.”
Agreement follows the maṣdar, not the affected noun. Masculine نشر takes تمّ even when its complement is feminine plural; feminine مراجعة takes تمّت:
تم نشر النتائج على الموقع مساء أمس.
tamma nashru n-natāʾiji ʿalā l-mawqiʿi masāʾa ʾams.
The results were published on the website yesterday evening. (Common administrative/periphrastic use; masculine تم agrees with نشر.)
تمت مراجعة العقود قبل توقيعها.
tammat murājaʿatu l-ʿuqūdi qabla tawqīʿihā.
The contracts were reviewed before being signed. (Feminine تمت agrees with مراجعة.)
Compare the corresponding internal passives:
نشرت النتائج على الموقع مساء أمس.
nushirati n-natāʾiju ʿalā l-mawqiʿi masāʾa ʾams.
The results were published on the website yesterday evening. (Event report; feminine singular passive verb agrees with nonhuman plural results.)
روجعت العقود قبل توقيعها.
rūjiʿati l-ʿuqūdu qabla tawqīʿihā.
The contracts were reviewed before being signed. (Compact internal passive.)
The translations overlap, but the Arabic diagnostics differ: تم/تمت agrees with the event noun; the internal passive agrees with the promoted patient.
Time and event structure
Perfect تمّ locates completion before the reference point. It therefore conflicts with an unqualified future adverb such as غدا. For a future event, use a future internal passive or future سيتمّ + maṣdar if an administrative completion frame is genuinely intended.
سيعلن القرار غدا بعد انتهاء الجلسة.
sayuʿlanu l-qarāru ghadan baʿda ntihāʾi l-jalsa(h).
The decision will be announced tomorrow after the session ends. (Neutral future event.)
سيتم تسليم الموقع إلى المقاول بعد اكتمال إجراءات السلامة.
sayatimmu taslīmu l-mawqiʿi ʾilā l-muqāwili baʿda ktimāli ʾijrāʾāti s-salāma(h).
The site handover will be completed after the safety procedures are complete. (Administrative milestone.)
The second sentence is justified because تسليم الموقع is a defined handover milestone. It would be cumbersome for a routine announcement with no procedural endpoint.
For an ongoing process, يجري openly profiles progression:
تجري الآن معاينة الجسر، ولم يصدر التقرير بعد.
tajrī l-ʾāna muʿāyanatu l-jisri, wa-lam yaṣduri t-taqrīru baʿd.
The bridge is now being inspected, and the report has not yet been issued.
Using perfect تمّت معاينة الجسر here would contradict لم يصدر التقرير بعد only if the report depends on a still-unfinished inspection; the observable question is whether the inspection has reached its endpoint.
Agency and valency
Both constructions can conceal an actor. If the actor is known and relevant to responsibility, restore it:
حذفت هيئة التحرير الفقرة بعد اعتراض صاحب المقال.
ḥadhafat hayʾatu t-taḥrīri l-fiqrata baʿda ʿtirāḍi ṣāḥibi l-maqāl.
The editorial board deleted the paragraph after the article's author objected. (Active; responsibility matters.)
Neither حُذفت الفقرة nor تمّ حذف الفقرة identifies who deleted it. Adding من قبل هيئة التحرير is possible (formal/administrative) but heavier than the active sentence.
A maṣdar keeps the lexical argument structure of its verb. In تسليم الموقع إلى المقاول, سلّم selects an affected object and a recipient with إلى. Nominalization does not license deleting the preposition or reversing the roles.
Information structure and paragraph rhythm
The internal passive keeps a finite verbal spine. It is therefore effective when successive sentences report events. A maṣdar construction can turn a procedure into a stable topic, useful in a checklist or completion certificate. Problems arise when every action is nominalized:
رصد الفريق الخلل، ثم أصلح المهندس النظام، وأعاد المدير تشغيله.
raṣada l-farīqu l-khalala, thumma ʾaṣlaḥa l-muhandisu n-niẓāma, wa-ʾaʿāda l-mudīru tashghīlahu.
The team identified the fault, then the engineer repaired the system, and the director restarted it. (Actors and sequence visible.)
Replacing all three verbs with تمّ رصد... وتمّ إصلاح... وتمّت إعادة تشغيل... would erase the division of responsibility and flatten the chronology. Bureaucratic consistency is not a grammatical requirement.
Boundary case: both are grammatical, emphasis decides
أقرت الموازنة في الجلسة المسائية.
ʾuqirrati l-muwāzanatu fī l-jalsati l-masāʾiyya(h).
The budget was approved in the evening session. (The approval event is news.)
تم إقرار الموازنة بعد استيفاء الشروط القانونية.
tamma ʾiqrāru l-muwāzanati baʿda stīfāʾi sh-shurūṭi l-qānūniyya(h).
Approval of the budget was completed after the legal requirements had been satisfied. (Procedural completion.)
The first is the better news lead. The second fits a procedural record that certifies prerequisites and completion. Neither is inherently incorrect; the surrounding genre decides what deserves foregrounding.
Contextual decision exercise
A news alert reports that a road was reopened: choose فُتح الطريق. A project certificate confirms that all safety checks reached completion: تمّ استكمال فحوص السلامة can earn its weight. A live update says crews are testing the network: choose يجري اختبار الشبكة or a suitable imperfect passive. An investigation names the official who authorized deletion: choose an active clause.
فتح الطريق أمام حركة المرور بعد إزالة الحواجز.
futiḥa ṭ-ṭarīqu ʾamāma ḥarakati l-murūri baʿda ʾizālati l-ḥawājiz.
The road was opened to traffic after the barriers were removed. (News event.)
Common Mistakes
Treating تمّ as an empty equivalent of English “was”
❌ تم ذهب المدير إلى المؤتمر.
Incorrect hybrid: تم takes a nominal subject such as a maṣdar, not a finite perfect verb. Diagnostic: identify the form immediately after تم.
✅ ذهب المدير إلى المؤتمر لعرض نتائج الدراسة.
dhahaba l-mudīru ʾilā l-muʾtamari li-ʿarḍi natāʾiji d-dirāsa(h).
The director went to the conference to present the study's findings.
Combining completed تمّ with a future time
❌ تم إرسال الشهادات غدا.
Incorrect time structure: perfect تم presents completion, while غدا places the event in the future. Diagnostic: put the event on a timeline.
✅ سترسل الشهادات غدا إلى العناوين المسجلة.
satursalu sh-shahādātu ghadan ʾilā l-ʿanāwīni l-musajjala(h).
The certificates will be sent tomorrow to the registered addresses.
Making تمّ agree with the patient instead of the maṣdar
❌ تمت نشر النتائج في النشرة المسائية.
Incorrect agreement: masculine نشر is the subject of تم, not feminine-plural results. Diagnostic: identify the maṣdar immediately after تم.
✅ تم نشر القائمة النهائية بعد انتهاء الطعون.
tamma nashru l-qāʾimati n-nihāʾiyyati baʿda ntihāʾi ṭ-ṭuʿūn.
The final list was published after the appeals period ended.
Using an agentless construction when accountability is central
تم تغيير الأرقام في التقرير من دون بيان المسؤول.
tamma taghyīru l-ʾarqāmi fī t-taqrīri min dūni bayāni l-masʾūl.
The figures in the report were changed without identifying the responsible person. (Grammatical but evasive where accountability is central.)
✅ غير المحاسب الأرقام في التقرير بناء على تعليمات المدير.
ghayyara l-muḥāsibu l-ʾarqāma fī t-taqrīri bināʾan ʿalā taʿlīmāti l-mudīr.
The accountant changed the figures in the report on the director's instructions.
Final diagnostic checklist
- Is the communicative center the patient and the event? Use the internal passive.
- Does completion or procedural fulfillment add essential meaning? Consider تمّ + maṣdar.
- Is the event ongoing or future? Choose a matching imperfect/future frame; do not use perfect تمّ with a future adverb.
- Which noun controls agreement: the promoted patient after an internal passive, or the maṣdar after تمّ?
- Have you preserved the source verb's prepositions and argument roles inside the maṣdar phrase?
- Does the reader need an accountable actor? If yes, use an active clause.
- Read the paragraph aloud: if repeated تمّ has flattened every event into one bureaucratic rhythm, restore finite verbs.
Key Takeaways
- The internal passive reports an event through finite passive morphology; تمّ + maṣdar presents an event noun as completed.
- Perfect تمّ retains a completive, procedural profile even where administrative usage bleaches it toward a periphrastic passive; do not insert it mechanically for every English was.
- Internal-passive agreement follows the promoted patient; تمّ/تمّت agrees with the maṣdar.
- When responsibility matters, choose an active clause rather than hiding the actor with either structure.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Contemporary MSA or Classical Construction?C1 — Choose productive contemporary syntax, an elevated inherited construction, or an explicitly framed Classical form according to genre and audience.
- Maṣdar or أن-Clause?C1 — Choose between a compact verbal noun and an أن-clause by testing subject identity, time, argument structure, density, and readability.
- Nominal Sentence or Verbal Sentence?A1 — Choose a present state or identity frame, a finite event frame, or a topic-first clause by testing time, valency, definiteness, agreement, and discourse purpose.