The Five Verbs and Nūn Retention or Deletion | Arabic (Modern Standard) Grammar

Arabic grammar groups five imperfect shapes as الأفعال الخمسة, “the five verbs”: تفعلان، يفعلان، تفعلون، يفعلون، تفعلين. They are not five lexical verbs. They are five agreement patterns whose indicative forms retain a final nūn and whose subjunctive and jussive forms delete that nūn.

English hides most of these distinctions inside invariant you and they. Arabic shows dual, masculine plural, and feminine singular addressee agreement on the verb. Mood then changes the ending without erasing the subject category. Weak stems add another layer, developed on the weak-final mood page.

Why five shapes cover more than five meanings

Regular Form I كَتَبَ / يَكْتُبُ “write,” root ك-ت-ب, supplies a sound model:

Shape	Indicative model	Possible subject
تَفْعَلَانِ	تَكْتُبَانِ	أنتما “you two” or هما “they two,” feminine
يَفْعَلَانِ	يَكْتُبَانِ	هما “they two,” masculine/mixed
تَفْعَلُونَ	تَكْتُبُونَ	أنتم “you,” masculine/mixed plural
يَفْعَلُونَ	يَكْتُبُونَ	هم “they,” masculine/mixed plural
تَفْعَلِينَ	تَكْتُبِينَ	أنتِ “you,” feminine singular

The label counts morphological shapes, not pronoun cells: تكتبانِ serves two second-person genders plus third-person feminine dual. Context or an explicit pronoun supplies the intended reading.

أنتما تكتبان ملاحظاتكما في الملف نفسه

ʾantumā taktubāni mulāḥaẓātikumā fī l-malaffi nafsih

You two write your notes in the same file.

الباحثتان تكتبان تحليلهما بصورة مستقلة

al-bāḥithatāni taktubāni taḥlīlahumā biṣūratin mustaqilla

The two female researchers write their analysis independently.

أنت تكتبين الرد بصفتك ممثلة الفريق

ʾanti taktubīna r-radda biṣifatiki mumaththilata l-farīq

You are writing the reply in your capacity as the team’s representative. (One woman.)

💡

Do not memorize “five verbs” as vocabulary. Memorize the five agreement frames and ask which pronoun each prefix–suffix combination represents.

Indicative retains nūn

When no subjunctive or jussive governor applies, these forms are indicative (مرفوع) and keep ن:

المهندسان يراجعان القياسات قبل كل اختبار

al-muhandisāni yurājiʿāni l-qiyāsāti qabla kulli khtibār

The two engineers check the measurements before every test.

المحررون يراجعون الأسماء والتواريخ مرتين

al-muḥarrirūna yurājiʿūna l-ʾasmāʾa wat-tawārīkha marratayn

The editors check the names and dates twice.

Form III رَاجَعَ / يُرَاجِعُ “review/check,” root ر-ج-ع, keeps the same lexical stem and على or a direct object according to meaning. Nūn retention says “indicative”; it does not determine the complement.

Questions and ordinary negative لا do not delete nūn:

هل ترسلون النسخة إلى جميع المشاركين؟

hal tursilūna n-nuskhata ʾilā jamīʿi l-mushārikīn?

Are you sending the copy to all participants? (Addressing men or a mixed group.)

أنت لا تستخدمين هذا الحساب خارج المكتب

ʾanti lā tastakhdimīna hādhā l-ḥisāba khārija l-maktab

You do not use this account outside the office. (One woman.)

Non-governing لا النافية leaves تستخدمينَ indicative. Prohibitive لا would address the same woman with jussive لا تستخدمي.

Subjunctive deletes nūn

After أنْ، لن، كي and other subjunctive governors, the five verbs are منصوب by deletion of nūn (حذف النون):

Indicative	Subjunctive	Example governor
تَكْتُبَانِ	أَنْ تَكْتُبَا	أنْ
يَكْتُبَانِ	لَنْ يَكْتُبَا	لن
تَكْتُبُونَ	كَيْ تَكْتُبُوا	كي
يَكْتُبُونَ	لَنْ يَكْتُبُوا	لن
تَكْتُبِينَ	أَنْ تَكْتُبِي	أنْ

يريد الطبيبان أن يكتبا توصية مشتركة

yurīdu ṭ-ṭabībāni ʾan yaktubā tawṣiyatan mushtaraka

The two doctors want to write a joint recommendation. (Main verb first.)

Main يريدُ is singular before the explicit dual subject. Embedded يكتبا has an understood dual subject and loses nūn after أنْ.

الموظفون لن يرسلوا البيانات قبل تشفيرها

al-muwaẓẓafūna lan yursilū l-bayānāti qabla tashfīrihā

The employees will not send the data before encrypting it.

وصلت المتطوعات مبكرا كي يرتبن القاعة

waṣalati l-mutaṭawwiʿātu mubakkiran kay yurattibna l-qāʿa

The volunteers arrived early to arrange the hall. (All female.)

The last purpose verb is feminine plural يرتبنَ, which is not one of the five verbs. Its nūn is nūn al-niswa and remains after كي.

Jussive also deletes nūn

After لم، لا الناهية، لام الأمر and in the relevant conditional environments, the five verbs are مجزوم by the same nūn deletion:

الطالبتان لم ترسلا الطلب قبل إغلاق المنصة

aṭ-ṭālibatāni lam tursilā ṭ-ṭalaba qabla ʾighlāqi l-minaṣṣa

The two students did not send the application before the platform closed. (Both female.)

لا تضعوا الصناديق أمام مخرج الطوارئ

lā taḍaʿū ṣ-ṣanādīqa ʾamāma makhraji ṭ-ṭawāriʾ

Do not put the boxes in front of the emergency exit. (Addressing men or a mixed group.)

لا تهملي رقم المرجع عند ملء الاستمارة

lā tuhmilī raqma l-marjiʿi ʿinda malʾi l-istimāra

Do not omit the reference number when completing the form. (One woman.)

The surface nūn-less shapes do not distinguish subjunctive from jussive. لن يرسلوا is subjunctive because of لن; لم يرسلوا is jussive because of لم.

💡

When nūn is absent, look left. The surviving ending tells you gender and number; the governor tells you whether the form is subjunctive or jussive.

What remains after nūn deletion

Deleting nūn does not remove the entire suffix:

تكتبي keeps ي for one female addressee.
يكتبا / تكتبا keep ا for dual agreement.
يكتبوا / تكتبوا keep وا for masculine or mixed plural agreement; the final separator alif is written but silent.

This matters especially in unvocalized text, where تكتبا can still mean “you two” or “the two women.” Mood does not resolve the prefix’s ordinary ambiguity.

Word order and nonhuman agreement

The five-verb plural and dual forms normally occur with a preverbal subject, detached pronoun, or understood subject. In neutral formal VSO, a verb before an explicit human dual/plural subject is singular:

يراجع المهندسان القياسات قبل الاختبار

yurājiʿu l-muhandisāni l-qiyāsāti qabla l-ikhtibār

The two engineers review the measurements before the test. (Verb first.)

Nonhuman plurals normally take feminine-singular agreement, not يفعلون:

الطلبات تصل إلى القسم في نهاية الأسبوع

aṭ-ṭalabātu taṣilu ʾilā l-qismi fī nihāyati l-ʾusbūʿ

The applications reach the department at the end of the week.

Common Mistakes

Deleting nūn in an ordinary indicative

❌ الباحثان يراجعا القياسات يوميا

Incorrect—without a subjunctive or jussive governor, dual يراجعان keeps nūn.

✅ الباحثان يراجعان القياسات في بداية كل يوم

al-bāḥithāni yurājiʿāni l-qiyāsāti fī bidāyati kulli yawm

The two researchers review the measurements at the beginning of each day.

Keeping nūn after لن

❌ الموظفون لن يرسلون البيانات

Incorrect—لن governs the subjunctive, so يرسلون loses nūn.

✅ الموظفون لن يرسلوا البيانات عبر قناة غير آمنة

al-muwaẓẓafūna lan yursilū l-bayānāti ʿabra qanātin ghayri ʾāmina

The employees will not send the data through an insecure channel.

Keeping nūn after لم

❌ الطالبتان لم ترسلان الطلب

Incorrect—لم governs the jussive, so ترسلان loses nūn.

✅ الطالبتان لم ترسلا الطلب قبل الموعد

aṭ-ṭālibatāni lam tursilā ṭ-ṭalaba qabla l-mawʿid

The two students did not send the application before the deadline. (Both female.)

Deleting feminine-plural nūn

❌ المتطوعات حضرن كي يرتبوا القاعة

Incorrect—an all-female subject requires invariant يرتبن, not a five-verb masculine plural.

✅ المتطوعات حضرن كي يرتبن المقاعد

al-mutaṭawwiʿātu ḥaḍarna kay yurattibna l-maqāʿid

The volunteers came to arrange the seats. (All female.)

Using full agreement in neutral VSO

❌ يراجعان المهندسان القياسات

Incorrect in neutral formal VSO—use singular يراجع before the explicit dual subject.

✅ يراجع المهندسان القياسات بعد كل تعديل

yurājiʿu l-muhandisāni l-qiyāsāti baʿda kulli taʿdīl

The two engineers review the measurements after every modification.

Key Takeaways

The five verbs are five imperfect agreement shapes, not five vocabulary items.
Indicative forms retain nūn; subjunctive and jussive forms delete it.
The remaining yāʾ, alif, or wāw still marks feminine singular, dual, or masculine plural agreement.
Nūn al-niswa is not part of this system and remains in all moods.
Governor, word order, and human/nonhuman agreement must be analyzed separately.

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