Administrative and Bureaucratic Style | Arabic (Modern Standard) Grammar

Administrative Arabic names decisions, procedures, documents, deadlines, and institutional responsibilities (formal/administrative). Its recurring tools—تم + verbal noun, بناء على, nominalization, and passive voice—are legitimate when they organize a process or connect a decision to its authority. They become bureaucratic fog when every action is converted into an abstract noun and every actor disappears.

The best administrative sentence lets the reader answer four questions: what action is required, who performs it, by when, and on what authority. Formality does not excuse ambiguity.

تم presents an event as completed

In contemporary official prose, تم commonly combines with a verbal noun: تم اعتماد الخطة “the plan was approved / approval of the plan was completed.” This construction foregrounds completion. It is especially useful when the completed procedural step itself is the topic.

تم اعتماد الميزانية في جلسة المجلس الأخيرة.

tamma ʿtimādu l-mīzāniyyati fī jalsati l-majlisi l-ʾakhīra(h).

The budget was approved at the council's latest session. (completed administrative step)

The construction is grammatical and common. It is not interchangeable with every passive. Direct اعتمدت الميزانية is shorter, while active اعتمد المجلس الميزانية names the authority.

Construction	Information foregrounded	Typical use
تم اعتماد الخطة	completion of approval	status update
اعتمدت الخطة	the plan as affected topic	compact passive report
اعتمد المجلس الخطة	the council's responsibility	decision record, accountability

اعتمد المجلس الخطة بأغلبية سبعة أصوات.

iʿtamada l-majlisu l-khuṭṭata bi-ʾaghlabiyyati sabʿati ʾaṣwāt.

The council approved the plan by a majority of seven votes. (actor and decision rule explicit)

Do not use completed تم to announce an unrealized future action. Use a future passive, an active future, or من المقرر أن according to certainty and source.

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Keep تم when completion is part of the message. If it merely substitutes for a verb, test the direct passive and an active clause; one will often be shorter and more informative.

بناء على connects action to authority or grounds

بناء على means “on the basis of / pursuant to.” It introduces a document, rule, request, finding, or other ground that genuinely authorizes or motivates the following action. Its fully connected form is بناءً على bināʾan ʿalā.

بناء على قرار المجلس رقم ثمانية عشر، تمدد مهلة تقديم الطلبات حتى نهاية الشهر.

bināʾan ʿalā qarāri l-majlisi raqma thamāniyata ʿashara, tumaddadu muhlatu taqdīmi ṭ-ṭalabāti ḥattā nihāyati sh-shahr.

Pursuant to Council Decision No. 18, the application deadline is extended until the end of the month. (formal decision language)

The initial phrase states authority; the main passive states the legal effect. If the ground is an ordinary practical reason rather than an authorizing instrument, بسبب or نظرا إلى may be more accurate.

نظرا إلى أعمال الصيانة، يغلق المكتب أمام الجمهور يوم الخميس.

naẓaran ʾilā ʾaʿmāli ṣ-ṣiyāna(h), yughlaqu l-maktabu ʾamāma l-jumhūri yawma l-khamīs.

Because of maintenance work, the office will be closed to the public on Thursday.

Calling maintenance a “decision pursuant to” something can falsely inflate its legal status. Choose the connector by relationship, not prestige.

Nominalization names reusable procedures

Verbal nouns are valuable in headings and repeated workflows: تقديم الطلب، مراجعة الوثائق، إصدار القرار، تبليغ مقدم الطلب. They let a document refer to stages as stable entities.

تشمل إجراءات التسجيل تقديم الطلب ومراجعة الوثائق ودفع الرسوم.

tashmalu ʾijrāʾātu t-tasjīli taqdīma ṭ-ṭalabi wa-murājaʿata l-wathāʾiqi wa-dafʿa r-rusūm.

Registration procedures include submitting the application, reviewing the documents, and paying the fees.

This nominal list is useful because the items are parallel procedural stages. A chain becomes harmful when readers must reconstruct participants, time, and scope from five adjacent abstractions.

بعد مراجعة الموظف الوثائق، يرسل القسم رسالة إلى مقدم الطلب خلال ثلاثة أيام عمل.

baʿda murājaʿati l-muwaẓẓafi l-wathāʾiqa, yursilu l-qismu risālatan ʾilā muqaddimi ṭ-ṭalabi khilāla thalāthati ʾayyāmi ʿamal.

After the employee reviews the documents, the department sends the applicant a message within three working days.

The opening verbal noun compactly marks one stage, while the finite main clause identifies the responsible department and deadline. Administrative writing need not choose between all nouns and all verbs.

Passive voice is useful only with a reason

A passive works when the procedure has an established actor, the affected item is the document's topic, or the institution intentionally states a general rule. For the wider contrast, see Passive Voice in Journalism and Administration.

ترفض الطلبات الناقصة بعد انقضاء مهلة الاستكمال.

turfaḍu ṭ-ṭalabātu n-nāqiṣatu baʿda nqiḍāʾi muhlati l-istikmāl.

Incomplete applications are rejected after the period for supplying missing material expires. (general rule)

For a disputed individual decision, name the decision-maker:

رفضت لجنة المنح الطلب لأن صاحبه لم يقدم الوثائق المطلوبة.

rafaḍat lajnatu l-minaḥi ṭ-ṭalaba li-ʾanna ṣāḥibahu lam yuqaddimi l-wathāʾiqa l-maṭlūba(h).

The grants committee rejected the application because the applicant did not provide the required documents. (decision-maker and grounds explicit)

Agency is not an enemy of institutional tone. It establishes responsibility and makes appeals possible.

The same decision in two registers

تم تمديد مهلة التسجيل بناء على توجيهات الإدارة.

tamma tamdīdu muhlati t-tasjīli bināʾan ʿalā tawjīhāti l-ʾidāra(h).

The registration deadline was extended on the administration's instructions. (status-centered administrative style)

مددت الإدارة مهلة التسجيل إلى الخامس عشر من مايو.

maddadati l-ʾidāratu muhlata t-tasjīli ʾilā l-khāmisi ʿashara min māyū.

The administration extended the registration deadline to May 15. (reader-centered active style)

The first emphasizes procedural completion and authority but omits the new date. The second names the actor and gives the information an applicant needs. In an official decision, both can coexist: the heading records authority, and the operative clause states the effect precisely.

A short administrative model

بناء على قرار مجلس الكلية رقم اثني عشر، تمدد مهلة تسليم البحوث حتى الثلاثين من يونيو. يرسل الطلاب ملفاتهم عبر المنصة الإلكترونية، ولن تقبل الملفات الواردة بعد الموعد الجديد. تتولى وحدة الدراسات العليا الرد على الاستفسارات.

bināʾan ʿalā qarāri majlisi l-kulliyyati raqma thnay ʿashara, tumaddadu muhlatu taslīmi l-buḥūthi ḥattā th-thalāthīna min yūniyū. yursilu ṭ-ṭullābu malaffātihim ʿabra l-manaṣṣati l-ʾiliktirūniyya(h), wa-lan tuqbala l-malaffātu l-wāridatu baʿda l-mawʿidi l-jadīd. tatawallā waḥdatu d-dirāsāti l-ʿulyā r-radda ʿalā l-istifsārāt.

Pursuant to College Council Decision No. 12, the research-paper deadline is extended to June 30. Students must send their files through the online platform; files received after the new deadline will not be accepted. The Graduate Studies Unit is responsible for answering inquiries.

The model begins with authority, states the operative date, gives the required action, states the consequence, and names the contact unit. Passive voice serves the rule; active voice assigns duties.

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Test an administrative paragraph as a four-column form: actor, action, deadline, authority. A blank column may be intentional, but it should never be blank merely because nominalization concealed the answer.

Editing toward clarity

تم القيام بإجراء عملية إرسال إشعارات القبول من قبل القسم المختص.

tamma l-qiyāmu bi-ʾijrāʾi ʿamaliyyati ʾirsāli ʾishʿārāti l-qabūli min qibali l-qismi l-mukhtaṣṣ.

The process of sending the admission notices was carried out by the relevant department. (grammatical but bureaucratically overloaded)

أرسل قسم القبول الإشعارات إلى المتقدمين صباح اليوم.

ʾarsala qismu l-qabūli l-ishʿārāti ʾilā l-mutaqaddimīna ṣabāḥa l-yawm.

The admissions department sent the notices to applicants this morning. (actor, recipient, and time restored)

The revision restores actor, recipient, and time. It is no less official; it is simply auditable.

Common Mistakes

Mixing a local spoken form into a standard notice

The regional instruction below is grammatical Levantine Arabic. It becomes a problem only when a cross-regional notice presents it as though it were neutral MSA.

لازم تبعتوا الأوراق اليوم.

lāzim tibʿatū l-ʾawrāʾ il-yōm.

You have to send the papers today. (Levantine Arabic; suitable only when the audience and code are explicit)

يجب إرسال الوثائق اليوم.

yajibu ʾirsālu l-wathāʾiqi l-yawm.

The documents must be sent today. (formal general instruction)

Using fossilized elevation where a current term is clearer

يرجى التكرم بالإيعاز لمن يلزم لعمل اللازم.

yurjā t-takarrumu bi-l-ʾīʿāzi li-man yalzamu li-ʿamali l-lāzim.

Please be so kind as to instruct whomever is concerned to do what is necessary. (grammatical but formulaic and opaque)

يرجى من مدير الوحدة إرسال التقرير إلى قسم المالية قبل الخميس.

yurjā min mudīri l-waḥdati ʾirsālu t-taqrīri ʾilā qismi l-māliyyati qabla l-khamīs.

The unit director is requested to send the report to the finance department before Thursday. (actor, action, recipient, and deadline explicit)

Reproducing an English premodifier chain

نموذج طلب تعديل بيانات تسجيل الطالب الإلكتروني

namūdhaju ṭalabi taʿdīli bayānāti tasjīli ṭ-ṭālibi l-ʾiliktirūniyy

an ambiguous chain in which ‘electronic’ can attach to several masculine nouns

النموذج الإلكتروني لطلب تعديل بيانات تسجيل الطالب

an-namūdhaju l-ʾiliktirūniyyu li-ṭalabi taʿdīli bayānāti tasjīli ṭ-ṭālib

the electronic form for requesting a change to the student's registration data (attachment clarified)

Treating maximum inflection as the only official delivery

The fully inflected reading is grammatical in a parsing exercise or highly monitored recital. It should not be taught as mandatory for every ordinary spoken notice.

يرجى تقديم الطلب قبل نهاية الشهر.

yurjā taqdīmu ṭ-ṭalabi qabla nihāyati sh-shahri.

Please submit the application before the end of the month. (valid fully inflected reading; not the only official delivery)

يرجى تقديم الطلب المكتمل قبل نهاية الشهر.

yurjā taqdīmu ṭ-ṭalabi l-muktamili qabla nihāyati sh-shahr.

Please submit the completed application before the end of the month. (connected phrase, natural final pause)

Repeating تم until chronology and responsibility vanish

تم استلام الطلب وتم إجراء المراجعة وتم إصدار الموافقة.

tamma stilāmu ṭ-ṭalabi wa-tamma ʾijrāʾu l-murājaʿati wa-tamma ʾiṣdāru l-muwāfaqa(h).

The application was received, the review was conducted, and approval was issued. (grammatical sequence with responsibility and timing hidden)

استلم مكتب التسجيل الطلب أمس، وراجعته اللجنة اليوم، ثم أصدر المدير الموافقة.

istalama maktabu t-tasjīli ṭ-ṭalaba ʾams, wa-rājaʿathu l-lajnatu l-yawm, thumma ʾaṣdara l-mudīru l-muwāfaqa(h).

The registration office received the application yesterday, the committee reviewed it today, and then the director issued the approval. (actors and timing restored)

Key Takeaways

تم + verbal noun is useful when completion matters; it is not a prestige replacement for every verb.
بناء على should introduce a genuine authority or basis, not merely decorate a sentence.
Nominalization efficiently names procedures, but finite clauses reveal actors, time, polarity, and obligations.
Use passive voice for established procedures or affected topics; name the actor when responsibility matters.
A strong administrative text states action, actor, deadline, and authority in language the intended reader can follow once.

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