Imperative Gender and Number Forms | Arabic (Modern Standard) Grammar

The Arabic positive imperative has five second-person agreement cells: أنتَ، أنتِ، أنتما، أنتم، أنتنّ. English uses the same bare command for all of them, but formal MSA distinguishes one man اكتبْ, one woman اكتبي, two people اكتبا, a masculine or mixed group اكتبوا, and an all-female group اكتبنَ.

These endings come from the corresponding second-person jussive forms after removing the prefix تـ. The subject pronoun is normally implicit; a vocative such as يا ليلى can make the addressee explicit. The preceding imperative-formation page explains prefix removal and the initial helping vowel.

The five regular forms

Use Form I كَتَبَ / يَكْتُبُ “write,” root ك-ت-ب:

Addressee	Jussive base	Imperative	Romanization
أنتَ	تَكْتُبْ	اُكْتُبْ	uktub
أنتِ	تَكْتُبِي	اُكْتُبِي	uktubī
أنتما	تَكْتُبَا	اُكْتُبَا	uktubā
أنتم	تَكْتُبُوا	اُكْتُبُوا	uktubū
أنتنّ	تَكْتُبْنَ	اُكْتُبْنَ	uktubna

The feminine singular keeps ي, the dual keeps ا, and masculine plural keeps وا after the mood nūn has already been deleted. Feminine-plural ـنَ is nūn al-niswa and remains.

اكتب اسمك كما يظهر في جواز السفر

uktubi smaka kamā yaẓharu fī jawāzi s-safar

Write your name as it appears in the passport. (One male addressee.)

اكتبي اسمك كما يظهر في جواز السفر يا ليلى

uktubī smaki kamā yaẓharu fī jawāzi s-safari yā laylā

Write your name as it appears in the passport, Layla.

اكتبا ملاحظاتكما في ورقة واحدة

uktubā mulāḥaẓātikumā fī waraqatin wāḥida

Write your notes on one sheet. (Two addressees.)

اكتبوا أسئلتكم قبل بدء الجلسة

uktubū ʾasʾilatakum qabla badʾi l-jalsa

Write down your questions before the session begins. (A male or mixed group.)

اكتبن أرقامكن في القائمة الأخيرة

uktubna ʾarqāmakunna fī l-qāʾimati l-ʾakhīra

Write your numbers in the final list. (An all-female group.)

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Attach a real addressee to every practice form. English “write!” is not enough: rehearse “to one woman” اكتبي, “to two” اكتبا, and “to women” اكتبنَ.

Dual is gender-neutral; plural is not

Second-person dual أنتما and its imperative do not distinguish gender. The same اكتبا addresses two men, two women, or a mixed pair. Plural commands distinguish masculine/mixed اكتبوا from all-female اكتبنَ.

راجعا البيانات معا يا سلمى ونور

rājiʿā l-bayānāti maʿan yā salmā wanūr

Review the data together, Salma and Noor. (Two female addressees.)

راجعوا خطة الإخلاء قبل دخول المبنى

rājiʿū khuṭṭata l-ʾikhlāʾi qabla dukhūli l-mabnā

Review the evacuation plan before entering the building. (A male or mixed group.)

راجعن خطة الإخلاء قبل دخول المبنى

rājiʿna khuṭṭata l-ʾikhlāʾi qabla dukhūli l-mabnā

Review the evacuation plan before entering the building. (An all-female group.)

Form III رَاجَعَ / يُرَاجِعُ “review,” root ر-ج-ع, shows its regular command stem راجعْ beneath all endings.

Unlike a finite verb before an explicit plural subject, an imperative has its addressee inside the verb. The VSO singular-agreement rule therefore does not turn اكتبوا into singular merely because a vocative plural follows.

Register and the force of a bare imperative

All five forms are standard (formal) MSA morphology. A bare imperative can be an instruction, invitation, permission, advice, or sharp order depending on context. Grammar marks the addressee, not politeness. Add من فضلك، يرجى، هل يمكنك or a reason when social context requires a request rather than a direct command.

ادخلوا من الباب الجانبي من فضلكم، فالمدخل الرئيسي مغلق

udkhulū mina l-bābi l-jānibiyyi min faḍlikum, fal-madkhalu r-raʾīsiyyu mughlaq

Please enter through the side door; the main entrance is closed. (A male or mixed group.)

Regional spoken varieties often reduce dual or feminine-plural contrasts (regional). Careful MSA retains all five.

Final-wāw commands: دعا / يدعو

Final-weak Form I دَعَا / يَدْعُو “invite/call,” root د-ع-و, shows different interactions between its root wāw and the agreement ending:

Addressee	Imperative	Romanization	What to notice
أنتَ	اُدْعُ	udʿu	final wāw deleted
أنتِ	اُدْعِي	udʿī	feminine yāʾ present
أنتما	اُدْعُوَا	udʿuwā	root w + dual alif
أنتم	اُدْعُوا	udʿū	plural wāw; separator alif silent
أنتنّ	اُدْعُونَ	udʿūna	root/long vowel before nūn al-niswa

Dual and masculine-plural targets are both written ادعوا when unvocalized, but their fully inflected pronunciations differ: dual udʿuwā, plural udʿū.

ادعي زميلتك إلى العرض يا هناء

udʿī zamīlataki ʾilā l-ʿarḍi yā hanāʾ

Invite your colleague to the presentation, Hanaa.

ادعوا المراجعين إلى جلسة قصيرة

udʿuwā l-murājiʿayni ʾilā jalsatin qaṣīra

Invite the two reviewers to a short session. (Two addressees.)

ادعوا المشاركين إلى القاعة الرئيسية

udʿū l-mushārikīna ʾilā l-qāʿati r-raʾīsiyya

Invite the participants into the main hall. (A male or mixed group.)

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In unvocalized ادعوا, use the addressee and object to decide between dual udʿuwā and plural udʿū. The final alif has a different morphological history in the two readings.

Final-yāʾ and geminate commands

Final-yāʾ رَمَى / يَرْمِي “throw,” root ر-م-ي, has masculine singular ارمِ, feminine singular ارمي, dual ارميا, masculine plural ارموا, and feminine plural ارمينَ.

ارم العبوة في الحاوية المخصصة للزجاج

irmi l-ʿubwata fī l-ḥāwiyati l-mukhaṣṣaṣati liz-zujāj

Throw the container into the bin designated for glass. (One male addressee.)

ارمين الكرات بعد سماع الإشارة

irmīna l-kurāti baʿda samāʿi l-ʾishāra

Throw the balls after hearing the signal. (An all-female group.)

Geminate Form I رَدَّ / يَرُدُّ “reply,” root ر-د-د, is contracted in رُدَّ، رُدِّي، رُدَّا، رُدُّوا but unfolds before feminine-plural nūn as اُرْدُدْنَ.

ارددن على الرسائل العاجلة أولا

urdudna ʿalā r-rasāʾili l-ʿājilati ʾawwalan

Reply to the urgent messages first. (An all-female group.)

Common Mistakes

Using one command for every “you”

❌ راجع الملاحظات يا ليلى

Incorrect—one female addressee requires راجعي.

✅ راجعي الملاحظات يا ليلى قبل إرسال الملف

rājiʿī l-mulāḥaẓāti yā laylā qabla ʾirsāli l-malaf

Review the notes before sending the file, Layla.

Keeping indicative nūn

❌ اكتبون أسماءكم هنا

Incorrect—the masculine-plural imperative is اكتبوا without indicative nūn.

✅ اكتبوا أسماءكم في الخانات المخصصة

uktubū ʾasmāʾakum fī l-khānāti l-mukhaṣṣaṣa

Write your names in the designated boxes. (A male or mixed group.)

Keeping the weak letter in masculine singular

❌ ادعو الخبير يا سامر

Incorrect—masculine singular ادعُ deletes final و.

✅ ادع الخبير يا سامر إلى مكتب المدير

udʿu l-khabīra yā sāmiru ʾilā maktabi l-mudīr

Invite the expert to the director’s office, Samer.

Misreading dual ادعوا as plural

❌ ادعوا يا فاطمة وعلي المراجعين

udʿū yā fāṭimatu waʿaliyyu l-murājiʿayn

Incorrect reading—exactly two addressees require dual udʿuwā.

✅ ادعوا يا فاطمة وعلي المراجعين إلى القاعة

udʿuwā yā fāṭimatu waʿaliyyu l-murājiʿayni ʾilā l-qāʿa

Invite the two reviewers into the hall, Fatima and Ali. (Two addressees.)

Contracting a geminate before feminine-plural nūn

❌ ردن على الرسائل أولا

Incorrect for an all-female group—the geminate stem unfolds as ارددن.

✅ ارددن على الرسائل التي وصلت هذا الصباح

urdudna ʿalā r-rasāʾili llatī waṣalat hādhā ṣ-ṣabāḥ

Reply to the messages that arrived this morning. (An all-female group.)

Key Takeaways

Positive imperatives distinguish one man, one woman, two people, a masculine/mixed group, and an all-female group.
Dual ـا, masculine plural ـوا, feminine singular ـي, and feminine plural ـنَ remain after jussive-based derivation.
Dual is gender-neutral; plural distinguishes masculine/mixed from all-female.
Weak-final forms may be spelled alike across categories but pronounced differently.
Geminate verbs can stay contracted in four cells and unfold before feminine-plural nūn.

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