The normal MSA verb for “be born” is the passive وُلِدَ — يُولَدُ, from the root و-ل-د. It is grammatically the passive of Form-I وَلَدَ — يَلِدُ “give birth to, beget,” but وُلد functions as a conventional lexical item in biographies and ordinary descriptions of birth. Arabic therefore resembles English was born in using passive morphology, although it does not need a separate auxiliary equivalent to was.
Three forms must remain distinct: وُلِدَ “was born,” active وَلَدَ “gave birth to/begot,” and Form II وَلَّدَ “generated, caused to arise; assisted in delivery” according to context. In unvocalized text all three may look similar, so syntax and meaning do real work.
The general voice mechanics are covered in the passive overview; this page focuses on the lexical family و-ل-د.
Lookup card: passive and active together
| Item | Form | Meaning and use |
|---|---|---|
| root and Form | و-ل-د، Form I | initial-wāw root; conventional passive for “be born” |
| passive perfect | وُلِدَ | he was born |
| passive imperfect | يُولَدُ | he/it is born, will be born |
| active perfect | وَلَدَ / وَلَدَتْ | he begot (older/literary) / she gave birth to |
| active imperfect | يَلِدُ / تَلِدُ | he begets / she gives birth to; initial wāw drops |
| active imperative | لِدْ / لِدِي | give birth!; morphologically valid but restricted to direct medical or literary contexts |
| maṣdar | وِلَادَةٌ | birth, childbirth |
| active participle | وَالِدٌ / وَالِدَةٌ | parent/father; mother, lexicalized family terms |
| passive participle | مَوْلُودٌ | born; newborn, child |
The root is initial-weak: active يَلِدُ drops the root wāw in the imperfect, as does active imperative لِدْ. The passive imperfect يُولَدُ retains the wāw because its vowel pattern is different. That contrast is much more useful than treating وُلد as an unrelated memorized word.
ولد المؤرخ في حلب عام 1948، ثم درس في دمشق.
wulida l-muʾarrikhu fī ḥalaba ʿāma ʾalfin wa-tisʿimiʾatin wa-thamāniyatin wa-ʾarbaʿīn, thumma darasa fī dimashq.
The historian was born in Aleppo in 1948 and later studied in Damascus. (Formal biographical register.)
يولد في المستشفى نحو عشرين طفلا كل يوم.
yūladu fī l-mustashfā naḥwa ʿishrīna ṭiflan kulla yawm.
About twenty children are born in the hospital every day. (Formal statistical register.)
The conventional passive paradigm
Birth biographies overwhelmingly use the perfect because birth is a completed event. The imperfect is nevertheless normal for general statements, recurring statistics, and future births. The passive has person and number agreement, but no ordinary imperative: one cannot directly command an addressee with a passive “be born!” form.
| Environment | Forms | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| passive perfect | وُلِدَ، وُلِدَتْ، وُلِدْتُ، وُلِدُوا | he/she/I/they were born |
| passive indicative | يُولَدُ، تُولَدُ، يُولَدُونَ | is/are born |
| passive subjunctive | لَنْ يُولَدَ، لَنْ يُولَدُوا | will not be born |
| passive jussive | لَمْ يُولَدْ، لَمْ يُولَدُوا | was/were not born |
| active imperative | لِدْ، لِدِي، لِدُوا | give birth!; semantically restricted |
ولدت في قرية صغيرة، لكنني نشأت في العاصمة.
wulidtu fī qaryatin ṣaghīratin, lākinnanī nashaʾtu fī l-ʿāṣima.
I was born in a small village, but I grew up in the capital. (Formal neutral.)
ستولد الطفلة في بداية الصيف إذا سار الحمل كما هو متوقع.
sa-tūladu ṭ-ṭiflatu fī bidāyati ṣ-ṣayfi ʾidhā sāra l-ḥamlu kamā huwa mutawaqqaʿ.
The baby girl will be born at the beginning of summer if the pregnancy proceeds as expected. (Formal neutral.)
لم يولد المشروع كاملا، بل تطور عبر سلسلة من التجارب.
lam yūladi l-mashrūʿu kāmilan, bal taṭawwara ʿabra silsilatin mina t-tajārib.
The project was not born fully formed; rather, it developed through a series of experiments. (Formal metaphorical use.)
Place, time, family, and parentage
1. Born in a place or period: في
Use في with a birthplace or a named period: ولد في القاهرة، ولد في القرن العشرين. With عام/سنة + date, the time noun may function directly as an adverbial accusative, so في is optional before the year phrase.
ولدت الباحثة في تونس سنة 1982، وتخصصت لاحقا في علم البحار.
wulidati l-bāḥithatu fī tūnisa sanata ʾalfin wa-tisʿimiʾatin wa-thnatayni wa-thamānīn, wa-takhaṣṣaṣat lāḥiqan fī ʿilmi l-biḥār.
The researcher was born in Tunis in 1982 and later specialized in marine science. (Formal biographical register.)
2. Born into a family: في أسرة / في عائلة
في أسرة profiles the family or social setting into which someone was born.
ولد في أسرة تهتم بالموسيقى، فتعلم العزف في سن مبكرة.
wulida fī ʾusratin tahtammu bi-l-mūsīqā, fa-taʿallama l-ʿazfa fī sinnin mubakkira.
He was born into a family interested in music, so he learned to play at an early age. (Formal.)
3. Born to parents: لـ or من ... وأم ...
لأبوين introduces the parents collectively: ولد لأبوين مهاجرين “was born to immigrant parents.” A more detailed lineage description can use من أب... وأم....
ولدت الطفلة لأبوين يعملان في المجال الطبي.
wulidati ṭ-ṭiflatu liʾabawayni yaʿmalāni fī l-majāli ṭ-ṭibbiyy.
The girl was born to parents who work in medicine. (Formal.)
ولد من أب مغربي وأم إسبانية، ونشأ بين لغتين.
wulida min ʾabin maghribiyyin wa-ʾummin ʾisbāniyyatin, wa-nashaʾa bayna lughatayn.
He was born to a Moroccan father and a Spanish mother and grew up between two languages. (Formal biographical register.)
Active وَلَدَ: give birth to or beget
In the active, the parent is subject and the child is the direct object. Contemporary neutral MSA chiefly uses a female subject: perfect وَلَدَتْ and imperfect تَلِدُ. Older and literary Arabic can use a male subject with the sense “beget,” but current prose normally prefers أنجب for a gender-neutral “have/father a child.” The initial wāw of the root disappears in active imperfect يلد/تلد.
ولدت الأم طفلا سليما بعد حمل بلا مضاعفات.
waladati l-ʾummu ṭiflan salīman baʿda ḥamlin bilā muḍāʿafāt.
The mother gave birth to a healthy child after a pregnancy without complications. (Formal clinical register.)
تلد أنثى الفيل غالبا صغيرا واحدا بعد حمل طويل.
talidu ʾunthā l-fīli ghāliban ṣaghīran wāḥidan baʿda ḥamlin ṭawīl.
A female elephant usually gives birth to one calf after a long pregnancy. (Formal scientific register.)
The biological sense applies to bearing live young. For egg-laying animals, use species-appropriate باض — يبيض “lay eggs” rather than forcing ولد onto every English use of produce offspring.
The active participles والد، والدة have become ordinary kinship nouns. والد usually means “father” and the pair الوالدان means “the two parents”; they do not merely mean “a person currently giving birth.”
Form II وَلَّدَ is a different verb
Form II وَلَّدَ — يُوَلِّدُ — تَوْلِيد commonly means “generate, produce, cause to arise.” In medical use it can mean “assist a woman in giving birth/deliver.” It is transitive and causative; it is not the biographical passive “was born.”
ولدت الاستثمارات الجديدة مئات فرص العمل في المنطقة.
walladati l-istithmārātu l-jadīdatu miʾāti furaṣi l-ʿamali fī l-minṭaqa.
The new investments generated hundreds of jobs in the region. (Formal economic register; Form II.)
يولد النظام الكهرباء من الطاقة الشمسية.
yuwallidu n-niẓāmu l-kahrabāʾa mina ṭ-ṭāqati sh-shamsiyya.
The system generates electricity from solar energy. (Formal technical register; Form II.)
Metaphorical birth and the noun مولود
The passive readily extends to ideas, institutions, and projects coming into existence. This use is formal or literary but productive.
ولدت الفكرة خلال نقاش عابر، ثم تحولت إلى مبادرة وطنية.
wulidati l-fikratu khilāla niqāshin ʿābirin, thumma taḥawwalat ʾilā mubādaratin waṭaniyya.
The idea was born during a passing discussion and then became a national initiative. (Formal metaphorical use.)
مولود may be an adjective “born” or, much more commonly, a noun “newborn, baby.” مَوْلِد with kasra on the lām instead denotes a birth, birthday, birthplace, or festival commemorating a birth. The Form-II active participle مُوَلِّد is “a generator” or “a producer.” Ordinary unvocalized writing hides some of these distinctions, so syntax and context remain essential.
غادرت الأم المستشفى مع مولودها الجديد صباح اليوم.
ghādarati l-ʾummu l-mustashfā maʿa mawlūdihā l-jadīdi ṣabāḥa l-yawm.
The mother left the hospital with her newborn this morning. (Formal news register.)
Common Mistakes
Assigning the wrong reading to unvocalized ولدت
Unvocalized ولدت can represent two grammatical words. Do not label the spelling itself wrong; use the roles in the clause to select active وَلَدَتْ “she gave birth” or passive وُلِدَتْ “she was born.”
ولدت الباحثة طفلا في تونس.
waladati l-bāḥithatu ṭiflan fī tūnis.
The researcher gave birth to a child in Tunis. (Active: the researcher is the parent.)
ولدت الباحثة في تونس سنة 1982.
wulidati l-bāḥithatu fī tūnisa sanata ʾalfin wa-tisʿimiʾatin wa-thnatayni wa-thamānīn.
The researcher was born in Tunis in 1982. (Passive: the researcher is the person born.)
Using masculine ولد with a feminine parent
❌ ولد الأم طفلا في المستشفى.
Incorrect for ‘the mother gave birth to a child’: the feminine singular subject requires perfect ولدت.
✅ ولدت الأم طفلا في المستشفى.
waladati l-ʾummu ṭiflan fī l-mustashfā.
The mother gave birth to a child in the hospital.
Adding a separate كان auxiliary to simple biographical birth
❌ كان المؤرخ ولد في حلب عام 1948.
Incorrect for the simple fact ‘the historian was born’; passive وُلد already contains past tense and passive voice.
✅ ولد المؤرخ في حلب عام 1948.
wulida l-muʾarrikhu fī ḥalaba ʿāma ʾalfin wa-tisʿimiʾatin wa-thamāniyatin wa-ʾarbaʿīn.
The historian was born in Aleppo in 1948.
Confusing مولود with مولد
❌ غادرت الأم المستشفى مع مولدها الجديد.
Incorrect for ‘her newborn’—the person born is مولود; مولد denotes a birth/birthday/birthplace or other lexicalized senses.
✅ غادرت الأم المستشفى مع مولودها الجديد.
ghādarati l-ʾummu l-mustashfā maʿa mawlūdihā l-jadīd.
The mother left the hospital with her newborn.
Key Takeaways
- وُلد — يولد is the conventional passive for “be born”; it needs no separate equivalent of English was.
- Active وَلَدَ — يَلِدُ means “give birth to, beget”; initial root wāw drops in its imperfect and imperative.
- في locates birth, a bare عام/سنة can date it, في أسرة describes the family setting, and لأبوين identifies parents.
- Form II وَلَّدَ means “generate, produce, cause to arise” or, in medical context, assist delivery; it is not “be born.”
- والد/والدة are lexicalized parent terms, while مولود is the common noun for a newborn.
Now practice Arabic
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- مات — die with hollow wāw alternationsB1 — Conjugate hollow-wāw مات, express causes and circumstances of death, and distinguish intransitive die from causative kill.
- أحب — love or like with Form IV geminate morphologyB1 — Conjugate أحب accurately and use its direct-object, أن-clause, comparative-preference, passive, and collocational frames.
- كان — beA2 — Reference the hollow verb كان across its full paradigm, copular and existential senses, predicate case, conditionals, and high-frequency collocations.
- Passive of Weak, Hamzated, and Geminate VerbsB2 — Build and recognize passive stems whose weak letters, hamza seats, or doubled radicals change across aspect and mood.