حَاوَلَ is the main formal-MSA verb for “try” or “attempt.” Its most useful frame is حاول أن + subjunctive: حاولت أن أتصل “I tried to call.” It can also take a verbal noun or another noun directly: حاول حل المشكلة “he attempted to solve the problem” and حاول الأمر “he attempted the matter.”
The verb is Form III from ح-و-ل. Although the root contains weak و, the active paradigm keeps it as a consonant in حاول، يحاول، محاولة; it does not alternate like the hollow Form-I verb قال. The initial long ā belongs to the Form-III pattern, while و remains the second root consonant. Compare the next decision stage in the قرر reference: trying does not entail deciding.
Lookup card and principal parts
| Item | Verified form | Use |
|---|---|---|
| root and Form | ح-و-ل، Form III | weak-root verb with a stable active stem |
| perfect | حَاوَلَ | he tried / attempted |
| imperfect indicative | يُحَاوِلُ | he tries / is trying |
| imperative, 2 m.sg. | حَاوِلْ | try! |
| verbal noun | مُحَاوَلَةٌ | attempt, act of trying |
| active participle | مُحَاوِلٌ | trying; a person attempting |
| passive | حُووِلَ — يُحَاوَلُ | was/is attempted; correct but stylistically heavy |
| passive participle | مُحَاوَلٌ | attempted; uncommon outside technical description |
The principal-parts chain is حَاوَلَ — يُحَاوِلُ — حَاوِلْ — مُحَاوَلَةً. Form III has u on the imperfect prefix: يُحاول, not يَحاول. The passive perfect is written حُووِلَ with two consecutive wāws: one writes the Form-III passive long vowel and the other is the root consonant. The form is grammatically legitimate, but modern prose usually chooses جرت محاولة “an attempt was made” because it reads more easily.
حاولت أن أتصل بك صباحا، لكن هاتفك كان مغلقا.
ḥāwaltu ʾan ʾattaṣila bika ṣabāḥan, lākinna hātifaka kāna mughlaqan.
I tried to call you this morning, but your phone was switched off. (Formal neutral.)
يحاول الفريق إيجاد حل قبل نهاية الأسبوع.
yuḥāwilu l-farīqu ʾījāda ḥallin qabla nihāyati l-ʾusbūʿ.
The team is trying to find a solution before the end of the week. (Formal neutral.)
A compact useful paradigm
The active stem is unusually transparent across persons. The perfect adds ordinary suffixes to حاول-: حاولت، حاولنا، حاولوا. The imperfect changes only its person prefix and endings: أحاول، تحاول، يحاول، نحاول. With feminine singular أنت, use تحاولين; with masculine plural هم, use يحاولون.
Mood acts on the ending. After أن or لن, masculine singular is يحاولَ and the five verbs lose ن: أن يحاولوا. After لم, singular is يحاولْ, while plural is again يحاولوا. The command is حاولْ، حاولي، حاولا، حاولوا.
لن نحاول تغيير النتيجة بعد إعلانها.
lan nuḥāwila taghyīra n-natījati baʿda ʾiʿlānihā.
We will not try to change the result after it is announced. (Formal.)
حاولوا أن تصلوا قبل بدء الجلسة.
ḥāwilū ʾan taṣilū qabla badʾi l-jalsa.
Try to arrive before the session begins. (Formal instruction to a group.)
Ranked meanings and valency
1. Try to perform an action: أن + subjunctive
This is the clearest general-purpose frame. The subject of حاول normally controls the understood subject of the following verb: حاولت أن أشرح means that I both tried and explained. أن makes the second imperfect subjunctive.
حاول الطبيب أن يطمئن الطفل قبل الفحص.
ḥāwala ṭ-ṭabību ʾan yuṭmaʾina ṭ-ṭifla qabla l-faḥṣ.
The doctor tried to reassure the child before the examination. (Formal neutral.)
حاولت اللجنة ألا تؤجل التصويت مرة أخرى.
ḥāwalati l-lajnatu ʾallā tuʾajjila t-taṣwīta marratan ʾukhrā.
The committee tried not to postpone the vote again. (Formal.)
The negative belongs inside the attempted action as ألا + subjunctive when the meaning is “try not to.” By contrast, لم يحاول أن... negates the attempt itself: “did not try to.”
لم يحاول المتحدث الإجابة عن السؤال.
lam yuḥāwili l-mutaḥaddithu l-ʾijābata ʿani s-suʾāl.
The speaker did not try to answer the question. (Formal.)
2. Attempt an action as a verbal noun
Formal prose often replaces the أن-clause with a direct verbal noun: حاول إصلاح الجهاز. This is compact and avoids repeating a subject. The verbal noun is the direct object of حاول, so no preposition intervenes.
حاول رجال الإطفاء احتواء الحريق قبل اشتداد الرياح.
ḥāwala rijālu l-ʾiṭfāʾi iḥtiwāʾa l-ḥarīqi qabla shtidādi r-riyāḥ.
The firefighters tried to contain the fire before the winds intensified. (Formal news style.)
نحاول تقليل استهلاك الورق في المكتب.
nuḥāwilu taqlīla stihlāki l-waraqi fī l-maktab.
We are trying to reduce paper consumption in the office. (Formal neutral.)
3. Attempt a thing, goal, or maneuver directly
The older broad sense is “seek to attain or accomplish something,” so a noun can be the direct object: حاول الأمر “attempted the matter.” Contemporary institutional language retains direct objects in expressions such as حاول الانقلاب if the noun names the attempted act, though a verbal noun or أن-clause is usually clearer. Do not insert إلى merely because English says make an attempt at.
حاول الفريق المستحيل لإنقاذ المشروع.
ḥāwala l-farīqu l-mustaḥīla li-ʾinqādhi l-mashrūʿ.
The team attempted the impossible to save the project. (Formal and emphatic.)
4. محاولة as “attempt”
محاولة is far more frequent than the participles. It takes an iḍāfa with a verbal noun (محاولة إنقاذ) or an لـ phrase describing purpose (محاولة للتوصل إلى اتفاق). In formal reporting, في محاولة لـ means “in an attempt to.”
عقد الطرفان اجتماعا جديدا في محاولة للتوصل إلى اتفاق.
ʿaqada ṭ-ṭarafāni jtimāʿan jadīdan fī muḥāwalatin lit-tawaṣṣuli ʾilā ttifāq.
The two sides held another meeting in an attempt to reach an agreement. (Formal news style.)
Passive and participles: possible, rarely the best prose
The passive حُووِلَ and يُحَاوَلُ are morphologically regular, but their spelling and processing are heavy. Formal writers normally prefer an active subject, جرت محاولة لـ, or تمت محاولة لـ. The active participle محاول can describe someone “trying,” but an imperfect verb usually sounds more natural. Do not force every dictionary form into active production.
جرت محاولة لإنقاذ الوثائق من المبنى.
jarat muḥāwalatun li-ʾinqādhi l-wathāʾiqi mina l-mabnā.
An attempt was made to save the documents from the building. (Formal; preferred over a heavy passive verb.)
High-frequency collocations
| Collocation | Meaning and register |
|---|---|
| حَاوَلَ أَنْ يَفْعَلَ | tried to do (neutral/formal) |
| حَاوَلَ جَاهِدًا | tried hard (formal-neutral) |
| حَاوَلَ مَرَّةً أُخْرَى | tried again (neutral) |
| مُحَاوَلَةٌ فَاشِلَةٌ / نَاجِحَةٌ | a failed / successful attempt |
| فِي مُحَاوَلَةٍ لِـ | in an attempt to (journalistic/formal) |
| مُحَاوَلَةُ الِاغْتِيَالِ | assassination attempt (formal/news) |
Common Mistakes
Adding a preposition before the attempted action
❌ حاول إلى إصلاح الجهاز.
Incorrect—the verbal noun is a direct object; حاول does not govern إلى here.
✅ حاول إصلاح الجهاز.
ḥāwala ʾiṣlāḥa l-jihāz.
He tried to repair the device.
Keeping the indicative after أن
❌ حاول أن يشرح الفكرة.
ḥāwala ʾan yashraḥu l-fikra
Incorrect reading—the unvocalized spelling hides the issue, but indicative yashraḥu is not licensed after أن.
✅ حاول أن يشرح الفكرة.
ḥāwala ʾan yashraḥa l-fikra.
He tried to explain the idea. (Read يشرحَ in the subjunctive.)
Confusing “did not try” with “tried not to”
❌ حاول لا أن يتأخر.
Incorrect—the negated أن-clause uses the fused sequence ألا, not لا أن.
✅ حاول ألا يتأخر.
ḥāwala ʾallā yataʾakhkhara.
He tried not to be late.
Giving the imperfect a fatḥa prefix
❌ يحاول الموظف حل المشكلة.
yaḥāwilu l-muwaẓẓafu ḥalla l-mushkila
Incorrect reading—the Form-III imperfect begins yuḥāwilu, not yaḥāwilu.
✅ يحاول الموظف حل المشكلة.
yuḥāwilu l-muwaẓẓafu ḥalla l-mushkila.
The employee is trying to solve the problem.
Key Takeaways
- Learn حاول — يحاول — حاول — محاولة with the Form-III imperfect prefix يُـ.
- Use أن + subjunctive or a direct verbal noun for the attempted action.
- Distinguish لم يحاول “did not try” from حاول ألا “tried not to.”
- Recognize the passive, but prefer جرت محاولة when it produces clearer modern prose.
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