English requires a grammatical subject even when no person or thing is really being described: it is raining, it is necessary, it is possible. Modern Standard Arabic does not fill that position with a meaningless pronoun. It uses a weather verb, a predicate phrase such as من الضروري, or an impersonal verb such as يمكن.
These are complete Arabic predications, not shortened English sentences with it omitted. Their agreement comes from the Arabic construction: sometimes the verb is conventionally feminine singular, sometimes a following noun controls agreement, and sometimes an entire أن-clause supplies the content. Contrast these patterns with ordinary subject–predicate structure in The Present Nominal Sentence.
A weather phrase and a weather sentence are different
Compare a noun phrase with a complete weather report:
الطقس الماطر
aṭ-ṭaqsu l-māṭir
the rainy weather (a noun phrase)
تمطر الآن في وسط المدينة.
tumṭiru l-ʾāna fī wasaṭi l-madīna(h).
It is raining now in the city center. (A complete impersonal weather sentence.)
The second example needs no هو or هي. The feminine-singular form تمطر is itself a complete weather predicate (neutral/formal). English it has no referent here, so Arabic does not translate it.
Weather verbs can stand without a dummy subject
Common weather reports use third-person feminine-singular verbs such as تمطر “it is raining” and explicit weather nouns such as الأمطار “the rain.”
لا تمطر اليوم، لكن الرياح قوية.
lā tumṭiru l-yawm, lakini r-riyāḥu qawiyya(h).
It is not raining today, but the wind is strong.
هطلت الأمطار بغزارة طوال الليل.
haṭalati l-ʾamṭāru bi-ghazāratin ṭawāla l-layl.
Rain fell heavily throughout the night.
سترتفع درجات الحرارة غدا.
sa-tartafiʿu darajātu l-ḥarārati ghadan.
Temperatures will rise tomorrow.
In هطلت الأمطار, the explicit postverbal nonhuman plural الأمطار takes a feminine-singular verb. In درجات الحرارة before the verb, the nonhuman plural likewise controls feminine-singular سترتفع. This visible agreement is grammatical; it is not a dummy-subject pattern.
MSA also uses nominal weather descriptions:
الجو بارد والسماء غائمة.
al-jawwu bāridun wa-s-samāʾu ghāʾima(h).
The weather is cold and the sky is cloudy.
Here الجو and السماء are real subjects. Present affirmative Arabic joins each subject directly to its adjective predicate; there is no overt present is.
من الضروري presents necessity
The fronted predicate من الضروري means “it is necessary” (neutral/formal). Its content commonly follows in an أن-clause or as a verbal noun.
من الضروري أن نغادر قبل الازدحام.
mina ḍ-ḍarūriyyi ʾan nughādira qabla l-izdiḥām.
It is necessary for us to leave before the traffic builds up.
من المهم حفظ نسخة احتياطية من الملف.
mina l-muhimmi ḥifẓu nuskhatin iḥtiyāṭiyyatin mina l-malaf.
It is important to keep a backup copy of the file.
The initial prepositional phrase is the predicate. The following infinitival content—أن نغادر or the verbal-noun phrase حفظ نسخة—supplies what is necessary or important. It is misleading to call من the start of an incomplete phrase merely because English begins with dummy it.
Negation normally targets the evaluation:
ليس من الضروري أن تحضر شخصيا.
laysa mina ḍ-ḍarūriyyi ʾan taḥḍura shakhṣiyyan.
It is not necessary for you to attend in person. (One male addressee.)
For a female addressee, the corresponding form after أن is the subjunctive تحضري, with the final nūn of indicative تحضرين deleted:
ليس من الضروري أن تحضري إلى المكتب اليوم.
laysa mina ḍ-ḍarūriyyi ʾan taḥḍurī ʾilā l-maktabi l-yawm.
It is not necessary for you to come to the office today. (One female addressee.)
The unvocalized form does not display the short vowels, so identify the أن-clause before deciding how the verb is pronounced.
يمكن expresses possibility without “it”
Impersonal يمكن “it is possible/can be done” is normally third-person masculine singular (neutral/formal). It may introduce an أن-clause, a prepositional experiencer, or a verbal-noun phrase.
يمكن أن نؤجل الموعد إلى الخميس.
yumkinu ʾan nuʾajjila l-mawʿida ʾilā l-khamīs.
We can postpone the appointment until Thursday. / It is possible to postpone it until Thursday.
يمكن للزوار شراء التذاكر إلكترونيا.
yumkinu liz-zuwwāri shirāʾu t-tadhākiri ʾiliktrūniyyan.
Visitors can buy tickets online.
لا يمكن فتح الباب من الخارج.
lā yumkinu fatḥu l-bābi mina l-khārij.
The door cannot be opened from outside.
The verb does not agree with الزوار: they are inside a prepositional phrase headed by لـ, not the grammatical subject preceding a personal verb. Nor does الباب control يمكن; it belongs inside the verbal-noun phrase فتح الباب.
Do not confuse impersonal يمكن with personal يتمكن “manage/be able.” تمكن الزوار من الدخول has an explicit human subject and different valency.
Tense belongs to the frame
Past and future can be located with كان and سيكون, while the content remains an infinitival clause or verbal noun.
كان من الصعب الوصول إلى القرية شتاء.
kāna mina ṣ-ṣaʿbi l-wuṣūlu ʾilā l-qaryati shitāʾ.
It used to be difficult to reach the village in winter.
سيكون من الممكن إرسال الطلب عبر الموقع.
sa-yakūnu mina l-mumkini ʾirsālu ṭ-ṭalabi ʿabra l-mawqiʿ.
It will be possible to submit the application through the website.
The overt forms of كان support time; they are not present-tense fillers. In the ordinary present, من الصعب الوصول already forms a complete predication.
General statements and register
Impersonal passives are also common in institutional and academic prose (formal/academic) because the action or rule matters more than the actor.
يسمح بالدخول حتى الساعة السادسة.
yusmaḥu bi-d-dukhūli ḥattā s-sāʿati s-sādisa(h).
Entry is permitted until six o'clock.
لا يعرف بعد سبب العطل.
lā yuʿrafu baʿdu sababu l-ʿuṭl.
The cause of the malfunction is not yet known. (Formal impersonal passive.)
Regional varieties often use different weather words and possibility constructions (regional). The patterns on this page are dependable contemporary MSA for news, education, administration, and cross-regional formal conversation.
A short exchange
هل يمكن تأجيل الزيارة؟
hal yumkinu taʾjīlu z-ziyāra(h)?
Is it possible to postpone the visit?
نعم، لكن من الأفضل أن نتصل أولا.
naʿam, lākin mina l-ʾafḍali ʾan nattaṣila ʾawwalan.
Yes, but it is better for us to call first.
Neither sentence contains a dummy pronoun. The verbal noun تأجيل and the clause أن نتصل provide the semantic content.
Common Mistakes
Inserting present-tense يكون
❌ يكون من الضروري أن نغادر الآن.
Incorrect as the neutral present construction—yakūnu is unnecessary unless a specific habitual or modal nuance is intended.
✅ من الضروري أن نغادر الآن.
mina ḍ-ḍarūriyyi ʾan nughādira l-ʾān.
It is necessary for us to leave now.
Translating dummy English “it” as هو
❌ هو تمطر خارجا.
Incorrect—huwa needs a masculine referent and cannot serve as weather ‘it.’
✅ تمطر بغزارة خارج المبنى.
tumṭiru bi-ghazāratin khārija l-mabnā.
It is raining heavily outside the building.
Treating the first phrase as a personal subject
❌ للزوار يمكنون شراء التذاكر.
Incorrect—li-z-zuwwār is an experiencer phrase; impersonal yumkinu stays singular.
✅ يمكن للزوار شراء التذاكر عند المدخل.
yumkinu liz-zuwwāri shirāʾu t-tadhākiri ʿinda l-madkhal.
Visitors can buy tickets at the entrance.
Copying English punctuation around coordinated weather clauses
❌ الجو بارد، وعاصف، اليوم.
Poor punctuation—the comma needlessly breaks a short shared-predicate sequence and separates the time expression.
✅ الجو بارد وعاصف اليوم، فلا تنس معطفك.
al-jawwu bāridun wa-ʿāṣifun al-yawm, fa-lā tansa miʿṭafak.
The weather is cold and windy today, so don't forget your coat. (One male addressee.)
Key Takeaways
- Arabic weather verbs and evaluative constructions do not need dummy هو or هي.
- من الضروري/المهم/الصعب introduces an evaluation; an أن-clause or verbal noun supplies its content.
- Impersonal يمكن normally remains masculine singular and can be followed by أن, لـ plus an experiencer, or a verbal noun.
- Explicit nonhuman plural weather nouns normally take feminine-singular agreement.
- كان and سيكون add past or future time; they are not obligatory present copulas.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Coordinating Complete SentencesA2 — Connect complete Arabic clauses with wa-, fa-, thumma, and lākin while preserving sequence, contrast, subject continuity, and readable punctuation.
- Presentational and Identification SentencesA2 — Present people and documents, identify definite referents, and distinguish demonstrative phrases from complete focused sentences.
- The Present Nominal SentenceA1 — Build basic present-tense Arabic sentences from a definite subject and a noun, adjective, or phrase predicate without an overt copula.