فَشِلَ is the broad Modern Standard Arabic verb for “fail, be unsuccessful.” It describes people, attempts, plans, systems, and negotiations. The central construction is فشل في + noun or maṣdar; a finite attempted action is normally فشل في أن + subjunctive. Bare فشل أن also occurs in contemporary formal prose, but it is a compressed and less conservative frame, not the safest default for learners.
Lookup card: فَشِلَ — يَفْشَلُ
The root is ف-ش-ل, Form I, and the verb is sound: there is no weak radical or hamza to reshape the stem described in the Form-I overview. Its standard contemporary principal part is يَفْشَلُ. The verb is intransitive, so a productive passive and passive participle are not part of its normal modern use.
| Part | Verified form | Use |
|---|---|---|
| root and Form | ف-ش-ل، Form I | sound intransitive verb |
| perfect, 3 m.sg. | فَشِلَ | he/it failed |
| imperfect, 3 m.sg. | يَفْشَلُ | he/it fails; is failing |
| imperative, 2 m.sg. | اِفْشَلْ | fail!; rare except rhetorically |
| maṣdar | فَشَلٌ | failure |
| active participle | فَاشِلٌ | failing; unsuccessful |
| passive | not normally used | use أُفْشِلَ from Form IV for “was thwarted” |
فشلت الخطة لأنها تجاهلت احتياجات السكان.
fashilati l-khuṭṭatu liʾannahā tajāhalati ḥtiyājāti s-sukkān.
The plan failed because it ignored residents’ needs. (Formal.)
يفشل النظام إذا انقطع الاتصال بالخادم.
yafshalu n-niẓāmu ʾidhā nqaṭaʿa l-ittiṣālu bil-khādim.
The system fails if the connection to the server is interrupted. (Formal technical register.)
في + noun or maṣdar: the neutral standard frame
Use فشل في + noun to name the field or undertaking in which failure occurred. Use فشل في + maṣdar to name an attempted action. The maṣdar is especially natural when the subject of the attempted action is the same as the subject of فشل.
فشلت الشركة في المفاوضات مع المورد الجديد.
fashilati sh-sharikatu fī l-mufāwaḍāti maʿa l-muwarridi l-jadīd.
The company failed in its negotiations with the new supplier. (Formal business register.)
فشل الباحثون في تكرار نتائج التجربة.
fashila l-bāḥithūna fī takrāri natāʾiji t-tajriba.
The researchers failed to replicate the experiment’s results. (Formal academic register.)
لم تفشل المحاولة بسبب نقص التمويل، بل بسبب سوء التنسيق.
lam tafshali l-muḥāwalatu bisababi naqṣi t-tamwīli, bal bisababi sūʾi t-tansīq.
The attempt did not fail because of insufficient funding, but because of poor coordination. (Formal.)
An official examination result deserves a distinction. فشل الطالب في الامتحان is understandable and can evaluate the student’s attempt, but رسب الطالب في الامتحان is the precise institutional expression “the student failed the exam.” Conversely, فشل الامتحان means “the examination system or event failed,” not “someone failed the examination.”
رسب الطالب في امتحان الإحصاء، لكنه نجح في بقية المواد.
rasaba ṭ-ṭālibu fī mtiḥāni l-ʾiḥṣāʾi, lākinnahu najaḥa fī baqiyyati l-mawādd.
The student failed the statistics exam, but passed the other courses. (Formal academic register.)
Finite attempts: في أن + subjunctive
When the attempted action is expressed as a finite clause, the conservative neutral frame is فشل في أن + subjunctive. This form is useful when the embedded verb has its own explicit subject, a long complement, or details that would make a maṣdar phrase cumbersome.
فشلت الإدارة في أن تقنع الموظفين بقبول الاقتراح.
fashilati l-ʾidāratu fī ʾan tuqniʿa l-muwaẓẓafīna biqabūli l-iqtirāḥ.
Management failed to persuade the employees to accept the proposal. (Formal.)
فشلت البعثة في أن تصل إلى القرية قبل حلول الظلام.
fashilati l-baʿthatu fī ʾan taṣila ʾilā l-qaryati qabla ḥulūli ẓ-ẓalām.
The expedition failed to reach the village before nightfall. (Formal narrative.)
أن assigns the subjunctive to the following imperfect: أن تقنعَ، أن تصلَ. In ordinary unvocalized text the mood ending is often invisible, but it remains part of the grammar.
What about bare فشل أن؟
Bare فشل أن + subjunctive is attested in contemporary journalism and other compressed formal prose, particularly under the influence of concise headline and translation styles. It is understood, and it should not be declared impossible. Nevertheless, many careful editors prefer فشل في أن, فشل في + maṣdar, or عجز عن + maṣdar. For neutral learner production, retain في.
فشل المرشح أن يحصل على الأغلبية المطلوبة.
fashila l-murashshaḥu ʾan yaḥṣula ʿalā l-ʾaghlabiyyati l-maṭlūba.
The candidate failed to obtain the required majority. (Attested compressed journalistic frame; less conservative.)
فشل المرشح في الحصول على الأغلبية المطلوبة.
fashila l-murashshaḥu fī l-ḥuṣūli ʿalā l-ʾaghlabiyyati l-maṭlūba.
The candidate failed to obtain the required majority. (Neutral formal wording.)
Ranked senses, collocations, and nearby verbs
| Frame | Meaning and register |
|---|---|
| فَشِلَتِ الْخُطَّةُ / التَّجْرِبَةُ | the plan/experiment failed (neutral/formal) |
| فَشِلَ فِي مُهِمَّةٍ | fail in a task (neutral/formal) |
| فَشِلَ فِي تَحْقِيقِ هَدَفٍ | fail to achieve a goal (very frequent formal collocation) |
| بَاءَتِ الْمُحَاوَلَةُ بِالْفَشَلِ | the attempt ended in failure (formal/journalistic) |
| مُنِيَ الْمَشْرُوعُ بِالْفَشَلِ | the project suffered failure (formal/journalistic) |
| فَشَلٌ ذَرِيعٌ | abject/resounding failure (strong formal evaluation) |
باءت محاولة الوساطة بالفشل بعد انسحاب أحد الطرفين.
bāʾat muḥāwalatu l-wasāṭati bil-fashali baʿda nsiḥābi ʾaḥadi ṭ-ṭarafayn.
The mediation attempt ended in failure after one party withdrew. (Formal journalistic register.)
اعتبر التقرير المشروع فشلا ذريعا في إدارة الموارد.
iʿtabara t-taqrīru l-mashrūʿa fashalan dharīʿan fī ʾidārati l-mawārid.
The report considered the project an abject failure in resource management. (Formal evaluative register.)
Do not collapse nearby verbs into exact synonyms. أخفق في is a formal “fail to achieve”; عجز عن says someone was unable; رسب في records an academic failure; تعطّل says equipment or a process broke down. Choosing among them tells the reader what kind of failure occurred.
Form IV أفشل: cause failure or thwart
Form IV أَفْشَلَ — يُفْشِلُ — إِفْشَالًا is transitive: someone or something causes a plan to fail, frustrates an attempt, or thwarts an attack. Its passive أُفْشِلَ is common. This is distinct from intransitive فَشِلَ.
أفشل خلل تقني عملية الإطلاق في اللحظة الأخيرة.
ʾafshala khalalun tiqniyyun ʿamaliyyata l-ʾiṭlāqi fī l-laḥẓati l-ʾakhīra.
A technical fault caused the launch operation to fail at the last moment. (Formal.)
أفشلت الشرطة محاولة تهريب الآثار.
ʾafshalati sh-shurṭatu muḥāwalata tahrībi l-ʾāthār.
The police thwarted an attempt to smuggle antiquities. (Formal news register.)
Common Mistakes
Giving فشل a direct action object
❌ فشل الفريق تحقيق الهدف.
Incorrect in neutral MSA—the attempted action needs في before its maṣdar.
✅ فشل الفريق في تحقيق الهدف.
fashila l-farīqu fī taḥqīqi l-hadaf.
The team failed to achieve the goal.
Treating every academic failure as فشل
❌ فشل الطالب الامتحان.
Incorrect—فشل does not take the examination as a direct object, and an official failed grade is normally expressed with رسب في.
✅ رسب الطالب في الامتحان.
rasaba ṭ-ṭālibu fī l-imtiḥān.
The student failed the examination.
Using a perfect verb after أن in this frame
❌ فشلت الإدارة في أن أقنعت الموظفين.
Incorrect—أن in this attempted-action frame introduces an imperfect subjunctive, not a perfect verb.
✅ فشلت الإدارة في أن تقنع الموظفين.
fashilati l-ʾidāratu fī ʾan tuqniʿa l-muwaẓẓafīn.
Management failed to persuade the employees.
Confusing intransitive فشل with transitive أفشل
❌ فشل العطل العملية.
Incorrect for ‘the fault caused the operation to fail’—Form I is intransitive and cannot take العملية as this direct object.
✅ أفشل العطل العملية.
ʾafshala l-ʿuṭlu l-ʿamaliyya.
The fault caused the operation to fail.
Key Takeaways
- فَشِلَ — يَفْشَلُ — فَشَلًا is a sound intransitive Form-I verb.
- The neutral frame is فشل في + noun/maṣdar; with a finite action, prefer فشل في أن + subjunctive.
- Bare فشل أن is attested in compressed contemporary formal prose, but it is not the best neutral learner default.
- Use رسب في for an official failed academic result and عجز عن when inability is the focus.
- Transitive أفشل means “cause to fail, thwart” and has a common passive.
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