فَتَحَ / يَفْتَحُ is the sound Form-I verb “open,” from root ف-ت-ح. It is primarily transitive: someone opens a door, file, account, investigation, or route. Its extensions remain connected to the idea of making something accessible, beginning access to it, or removing a barrier.
English uses open both transitively (“she opened the shop”) and intransitively (“the shop opens at nine”). Formal MSA permits a schedule reading such as يفتح المصرف في التاسعة, with the institution understood to begin service, but a physical object that opens by itself is normally clearer with انفتح: انفتح الباب “the door opened.” The unvocalized string فتح الباب can otherwise represent active فَتَحَ البابَ “he opened the door” or passive فُتِحَ البابُ “the door was opened.”
The Form-I overview covers the conjugation family; this lookup entry focuses on فتح and the boundary between its transitive and intransitive readings.
Lookup card and principal parts
| Item | Verified form | Function |
|---|---|---|
| root and Form | ف-ت-ح، Form I | sound and usually transitive |
| perfect | فَتَحَ | he opened / conquered |
| imperfect indicative | يَفْتَحُ | he opens / is opening |
| imperative, 2 m.sg. | اِفْتَحْ | open! |
| maṣdar | فَتْح | opening; conquest in historical contexts |
| active participle | فَاتِح | opener; conqueror in historical usage |
| passive participle | مَفْتُوح | open, opened |
| passive | فُتِحَ — يُفْتَحُ | was opened — is opened |
The principal-parts bundle is فَتَحَ — يَفْتَحُ — اِفْتَحْ — فَتْحًا. Both the perfect and imperfect stem vowel are a. The command begins with hamzat al-waṣl; it is heard at the start of an utterance as iftaḥ but elides after a preceding vowel.
فتح الحارس البوابة قبل وصول الحافلة.
fataḥa l-ḥārisu l-bawwābata qabla wuṣūli l-ḥāfila.
The guard opened the gate before the bus arrived. (Formal neutral.)
يفتح المتحف أبوابه للزوار عند التاسعة.
yaftaḥu l-matḥafu ʾabwābahu liz-zuwwāri ʿinda t-tāsiʿa.
The museum opens its doors to visitors at nine. (Formal neutral.)
Compact paradigm, moods, and command
The stem remains sound through person and mood changes.
| Environment | Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| perfect samples | فَتَحْتُ، فَتَحَتْ، فَتَحُوا | I/she/they opened |
| indicative samples | أَفْتَحُ، تَفْتَحِينَ، يَفْتَحُونَ | I open; you f.sg. open; they open |
| subjunctive | لَنْ يَفْتَحَ، لَنْ يَفْتَحُوا | will not open |
| jussive | لَمْ يَفْتَحْ، لَمْ يَفْتَحُوا | did not open |
| imperatives | اِفْتَحْ، اِفْتَحِي، اِفْتَحُوا | open! by addressee |
لن تفتح المكتبة يوم الجمعة بسبب أعمال الصيانة.
lan taftaḥa l-maktabatu yawma l-jumuʿati bisababi ʾaʿmāli ṣ-ṣiyāna.
The library will not open on Friday because of maintenance work. (Formal; schedule reading and subjunctive after لن.)
افتحوا الكتاب على الصفحة الخامسة والثلاثين.
iftaḥū l-kitāba ʿalā ṣ-ṣafḥati l-khāmisati wa-th-thalāthīn.
Open the book to page thirty-five. (Formal classroom instruction.)
The written contrast between افتح “open!” and أفتح “I open” matters. The former has ordinary alif for hamzat al-waṣl; the latter has أ for the first-person prefix. After ثم, the command is pronounced without a glottal stop: ثم افتح thumma ftaḥ.
Ranked meanings and valency
1. Physically open: direct object
Doors, windows, containers, books, envelopes, valves, and similar objects are direct objects. The verb describes the action that removes a physical barrier; مفتوح describes the resulting state.
فتحت المهندسة الصمام ببطء لتخفيف الضغط.
fataḥati l-muhandisatu ṣ-ṣimāma bibuṭʾin litakhfīfi ḍ-ḍaghṭ.
The engineer opened the valve slowly to reduce the pressure. (Technical/formal.)
هل فتحت الرسالة التي أرسلتها الجامعة؟
hal fataḥta r-risālata llatī ʾarsalathā l-jāmiʿatu?
Did you open the message that the university sent? (Formal neutral.)
An object can be omitted when it is obvious in a schedule or business context: يفتح المطعم في السابعة “the restaurant opens at seven.” This does not mean that every physical object freely becomes the active subject of فتح. For spontaneous movement, say انفتح الباب بفعل الريح “the door opened because of the wind.”
انفتح الباب فجأة بسبب تيار الهواء.
infataḥa l-bābu fajʾatan bisababi tayyāri l-hawāʾ.
The door opened suddenly because of the draft. (Formal neutral; spontaneous intransitive event.)
2. Create access or begin an institutional process
Common direct objects include حسابا “an account,” ملفا “a file,” تحقيقا “an investigation,” نقاشا “a discussion,” فرعا “a branch,” and باب التسجيل “registration.” The verb presents the activity as becoming available or officially initiated.
فتحت الشركة فرعا جديدا في مدينة طنجة.
fataḥati sh-sharikatu farʿan jadīdan fī madīnati ṭanja.
The company opened a new branch in Tangier. (Business/formal.)
فتح الادعاء تحقيقا في أسباب الحادث.
fataḥa l-iddiʿāʾu taḥqīqan fī ʾasbābi l-ḥādith.
The prosecution opened an investigation into the causes of the accident. (Legal/formal.)
For the ceremonial inauguration of a conference, exhibition, or building, افتتح is often more specific: افتتح الوزير المؤتمر “the minister inaugurated/opened the conference.” فتح remains natural for access, a file, an account, a branch, or a process. This is a collocational distinction, not a claim that one form can never overlap with the other.
3. Open a path or opportunity: أمام and لـ
فتح الباب أمام is the productive metaphor “open the door for/to,” followed by a person, development, or maṣdar. فتح المجال لـ means “make room / create scope for.” In a literal clause, لـ can mark the beneficiary: فتح الباب للضيف “opened the door for the guest.”
فتح الاتفاق الباب أمام تعاون أوسع بين الجامعتين.
fataḥa l-ittifāqu l-bāba ʾamāma taʿāwunin ʾawsaʿa bayna l-jāmiʿatayn.
The agreement opened the way for broader cooperation between the two universities. (Formal.)
فتحت الجلسة المجال للطلاب كي يطرحوا أسئلتهم.
fataḥati l-jalsatu l-majāla liṭ-ṭullābi kay yaṭraḥū ʾasʾilatahum.
The session gave the students room to ask their questions. (Academic/formal.)
4. Open onto or overlook: فتح على
With a room, door, or window as subject, فتح على can describe the space onto which it opens: تفتح النافذة على الحديقة. This is a relational intransitive use, not the ordinary spontaneous-change meaning “came open.”
تفتح الشرفة على ساحة داخلية هادئة.
taftaḥu sh-shurfatu ʿalā sāḥatin dākhiliyyatin hādiʾa.
The balcony opens onto a quiet inner courtyard. (Formal descriptive prose.)
5. Conquer: historical and military register
فتح مدينة أو بلدا can mean “conquer, take” a city or country. The maṣdar الفتح and plural الفتوحات are frequent in historical writing, especially for early Islamic conquests. This sense is (historical/formal) and should not be smuggled into ordinary “opening” contexts.
فتح الجيش المدينة بعد حصار طويل، وفقا للمصدر التاريخي.
fataḥa l-jayshu l-madīnata baʿda ḥiṣārin ṭawīlin, wafqan lil-maṣdari t-tārīkhiyy.
The army conquered the city after a long siege, according to the historical source. (Historical/formal.)
Passive, participles, and common clusters
The passive فُتِحَ / يُفْتَحُ is extremely useful for public schedules and institutional announcements. It allows the thing made accessible to become the subject.
فتح باب التسجيل للمنح حتى نهاية الشهر.
futiḥa bābu t-tasjīli lil-minaḥi ḥattā nihāyati sh-shahr.
The scholarship application window was opened through the end of the month. (Administrative passive.)
يفتح المختبر للباحثين بتصريح مسبق فقط.
yuftaḥu l-mukhtabaru lil-bāḥithīna bitaṣrīḥin musbaqin faqaṭ.
The laboratory is open to researchers only with prior authorization. (Administrative passive.)
مفتوح is the normal result adjective: الباب مفتوح “the door is open,” نقاش مفتوح “an open discussion,” مفتوح للجمهور “open to the public.” فاتح can denote an opener or conqueror in historical language; it is not the ordinary adjective for an open door.
| Collocation | Meaning and register |
|---|---|
| فَتَحَ الْبَابَ / النَّافِذَةَ | open the door/window (neutral) |
| فَتَحَ حِسَابًا / مَلَفًّا | open an account/file (administrative) |
| فَتَحَ تَحْقِيقًا / نِقَاشًا | open an investigation/discussion (formal) |
| فَتَحَ الْبَابَ أَمَامَ | open the way for (formal) |
| فَتَحَ الْمَجَالَ لِـ | make room for (formal) |
| مَفْتُوحٌ لِلْجُمْهُورِ | open to the public (public-information register) |
Common Mistakes
Guessing the imperfect vowel
❌ يفتح الموظف المكتب في الثامنة.
yaftuḥu
Incorrect reading—the verified active imperfect is yaftaḥu, with a after t.
✅ يفتح الموظف المكتب في الثامنة كل صباح.
yaftaḥu l-muwaẓẓafu l-maktaba fī th-thāminati kulla ṣabāḥ.
The employee opens the office at eight every morning.
Writing the command like the first-person imperfect
❌ أفتح النافذة قليلا.
Incorrect if this is a command—أفتح means ‘I open’; the command begins with hamzat al-waṣl: افتح.
✅ افتح النافذة قليلا.
iftaḥi n-nāfidhata qalīlan.
Open the window a little.
Marking the physical object with بـ
❌ فتح الحارس بالبوابة قبل وصول الحافلة.
Incorrect for ordinary ‘opened the gate’—the thing opened is a direct object, without بـ.
✅ فتح الحارس البوابة الرئيسية قبل وصول الحافلة.
fataḥa l-ḥārisu l-bawwābata r-raʾīsiyyata qabla wuṣūli l-ḥāfila.
The guard opened the main gate before the bus arrived.
Using فاتح as the ordinary result adjective
❌ الباب فاتح منذ الصباح.
Incorrect in neutral formal MSA for ‘the door is open’—use the passive participle مفتوح.
✅ الباب مفتوح منذ الصباح.
al-bābu maftūḥun mundhu ṣ-ṣabāḥ.
The door has been open since morning.
Key Takeaways
- Memorize فَتَحَ — يَفْتَحُ — اِفْتَحْ — فَتْحًا; the imperfect has a.
- Physical and institutional things opened are normally direct objects.
- A business can “open” on a schedule, but spontaneous physical opening is clearer with انفتح.
- فتح على can mean “open onto,” while historical transitive فتح can mean “conquer.”
- The passive فُتِحَ / يُفْتَحُ and adjective مفتوح are common in announcements and descriptions.
Related Topics
- ترك — leaveB1 — Conjugate ترك and distinguish leaving behind, abandoning, leaving something in a state, and letting someone act.
- أغلق — close as a Form IV causative-like verbB1 — Conjugate أغلق and distinguish neutral closing, institutional shutdown, passive and result forms, and the valid غلق and غلّق alternatives.
- Form I: The Lexical BaseA2 — Learn why Form I must be stored through verified principal parts, stem-vowel class, valency, and maṣdar rather than one universal pattern.
- The Internal Passive: OverviewB1 — Understand how Arabic marks passive voice inside the verb, suppresses the agent, and promotes a nominative argument in formal MSA.