Regular Indicative Imperfect Paradigm | Arabic (Modern Standard) Grammar

The regular Arabic imperfect wraps person-gender-number marking around a lexical stem. Using Form-I كَتَبَ / يَكْتُبُ “write” (root ك ت ب), the indicative paradigm ranges from أكتبُ “I write” to يكتبنَ “they write” for an all-female group. The four prefix consonants are أ، ت، ي، ن; suffixes distinguish feminine singular, dual, and plural cells.

Traditional paradigms display fourteen pronoun rows. Several cells are syncretic: masculine and feminine second-person dual are listed separately, but both share تكتبانِ with third-person feminine dual; تكتبُ likewise serves both third-person feminine singular and second-person masculine singular. There are therefore eleven distinct surface forms in this regular paradigm but fourteen grammatical cells.

The dedicated indicative mood guide expands the governed contrasts previewed below.

All fourteen indicative cells

The final mood vowel and mood nūn are written here because this is a paradigm page. Ordinary unvocalized Arabic normally hides short ـُ but writes the long-vowel endings and their ن.

#	Pronoun	Regular indicative	Agreement
1	هُوَ	يَكْتُبُ	third masculine singular
2	هُمَا	يَكْتُبَانِ	third masculine dual
3	هُمْ	يَكْتُبُونَ	third masculine/mixed plural
4	هِيَ	تَكْتُبُ	third feminine singular
5	هُمَا	تَكْتُبَانِ	third feminine dual
6	هُنَّ	يَكْتُبْنَ	third feminine plural
7	أَنْتَ	تَكْتُبُ	second masculine singular
8	أَنْتُمَا	تَكْتُبَانِ	second masculine dual
9	أَنْتُمْ	تَكْتُبُونَ	second masculine/mixed plural
10	أَنْتِ	تَكْتُبِينَ	second feminine singular
11	أَنْتُمَا	تَكْتُبَانِ	second feminine dual
12	أَنْتُنَّ	تَكْتُبْنَ	second feminine plural
13	أَنَا	أَكْتُبُ	first singular
14	نَحْنُ	نَكْتُبُ	first plural

The pronoun is often omitted because the verb identifies the cell. تكتبُ remains ambiguous between “you write” to one man and “she writes,” while تكتبانِ has several dual interpretations. Discourse or an explicit subject resolves those overlaps.

أكتب الملاحظات في دفتري بعد كل محاضرة.

ʾaktubu l-mulāḥaẓāti fī daftarī baʿda kulli muḥāḍara(h).

I write the notes in my notebook after every lecture.

نكتب التقرير معا، ثم يراجعه المدير.

naktubu t-taqrīra maʿan, thumma yurājiʿuhu l-mudīr.

We write the report together, and then the director reviews it.

Prefix consonant and prefix vowel are separate facts

The consonants أ، ت، ي، ن identify person categories. In this Form-I paradigm their prefix vowel is a: ʾa-ktubu, ta-ktubu, ya-ktubu, na-ktubu. The lexical stem contains u between the second and third radicals: -ktub-.

Do not generalize every vowel from this one verb. Form-I imperfect stem vowels are lexical: فَتَحَ / يَفْتَحُ “open” has -ftaḥ-, while جَلَسَ / يَجْلِسُ “sit” has -jlis-. Derived Forms also have their own prefix vowels; Forms II–IV commonly use u in the active imperfect, as in يُعَلِّمُ، يُشَارِكُ، يُرْسِلُ.

تفتح مريم النافذة كل صباح.

taftaḥu maryamu n-nāfidhata kulla ṣabāḥ.

Maryam opens the window every morning.

يرسل سامر الفاتورة إلى العميل بالبريد الإلكتروني.

yursilu sāmirun l-fātūrata ʾilā l-ʿamīli bi-l-barīdi l-ʾilikturūniyy.

Samer sends the invoice to the client by email.

Form-IV أَرْسَلَ / يُرْسِلُ has root ر س ل. Its yu- prefix belongs to the derived Form, not to third person alone.

💡

Store the vocalized third-person imperfect with every new verb. It reveals the lexical stem and, for derived Forms, the prefix vowel that the full paradigm will reuse.

The indicative ending is mood, not noun case

Regular singular cells and first-person plural have final ـُ in the indicative: يكتبُ، تكتبُ، أكتبُ، نكتبُ. Arabic grammarians call the indicative مرفوع, using terminology also associated with nominative case. The verb does not become a noun; this is verbal mood marking.

For تكتبينَ، تكتبانِ، يكتبانِ، تكتبونَ، يكتبونَ, indicative mood is marked by retaining final ن. These are the “five verbs” (الأفعال الخمسة) as structural templates, even though the complete person paradigm contains more than five cells.

أنت تكتبين العنوان، وزميلاك يراجعان الأرقام.

ʾanti taktubīna l-ʿunwāna, wa-zamīlāki yurājiʿāni l-ʾarqām.

You are writing the address, and your two colleagues are checking the numbers. (Addressing one woman; the colleagues are male or mixed.)

أنتم تكتبون النص، وهن يراجعن الترجمة.

ʾantum taktubūna n-naṣṣa, wa-hunna yurājiʿna t-tarjama(h).

You are writing the text, and they are reviewing the translation. (First group masculine/mixed; second group all female.)

Feminine-plural ـنَ is different from mood nūn. يكتبْنَ، تكتبْنَ are built on sukūn and do not lose their ن under subjunctive or jussive government.

Contrast the other moods at the edge

The indicative is the ungoverned base. A governor changes the final mood marking:

Environment	Singular	Masculine plural	Effect
indicative, no governor	يَكْتُبُ	يَكْتُبُونَ	final u / nūn retained
subjunctive after لن	لَنْ يَكْتُبَ	لَنْ يَكْتُبُوا	final a / nūn deleted
jussive after لم	لَمْ يَكْتُبْ	لَمْ يَكْتُبُوا	sukūn / nūn deleted

هم يكتبون التقرير اليوم، لكنهم لن يرسلوه قبل المراجعة.

hum yaktubūna t-taqrīra l-yawm, lakinnahum lan yursilūhu qabla l-murājaʿa(h).

They are writing the report today, but they will not send it before review.

Indicative يكتبونَ keeps nūn; subjunctive يرسلوا loses it before object suffix ـه. The subject remains masculine/mixed plural in both.

يكتب المحرر الرد الآن، ولم يكتبه أمس.

yaktubu l-muḥarriru r-radda l-ʾān, wa-lam yaktubhu ʾams.

The editor is writing the reply now and did not write it yesterday.

Perfect/imperfect and mood are different axes: كتبَ is perfect; يكتبُ is imperfect indicative; لم يكتبْ is imperfect jussive with past negation supplied by لم.

Full agreement and neutral VSO

With a subject before the verb, use the matching paradigm cell:

الطالبتان تكتبان ملاحظاتهما قرب النافذة.

ʾaṭ-ṭālibatāni taktubāni mulāḥaẓātihimā qurba n-nāfidha(h).

The two female students are writing their notes near the window.

الباحثات يكتبن ملاحظاتهن بعد المقابلات.

ʾal-bāḥithātu yaktubna mulāḥaẓātihinna baʿda l-muqābalāt.

The female researchers write their notes after the interviews.

In neutral verb–subject order, a preceding verb is normally singular before an overt dual or plural subject:

تكتب الباحثات ملاحظاتهن بعد المقابلات.

taktubu l-bāḥithātu mulāḥaẓātihinna baʿda l-muqābalāt.

The female researchers write their notes after the interviews.

Do not select يكتبنَ merely because the later noun is feminine plural; word order determines whether full number agreement appears.

Weak and geminate verbs need their own paradigms

The endings recur, but the stem may bend. Hollow قَالَ / يَقُولُ “say” (root ق و ل) has يقولونَ but feminine plural يقلْنَ, where the long vowel shortens. Geminate مَدَّ / يَمُدُّ “extend” (root م د د) has يمدُّ but feminine plural يمددْنَ, exposing both dāl radicals.

هم يقولون إن الطريق مفتوح، وهن يقلن إنه مغلق.

hum yaqūlūna ʾinna ṭ-ṭarīqa maftūḥ, wa-hunna yaqulna ʾinnahu mughlaq.

They say the road is open, while the women say it is closed.

الموظفات يمددن المهلة عند وجود سبب واضح.

ʾal-muwaẓẓafātu yamdudna l-muhlata ʿinda wujūdi sababin wāḍiḥ.

The female employees extend the deadline when there is a clear reason.

Do not copy the visible strong stem كتب into these families. Verified principal parts determine the internal shape.

💡

Separate three layers: prefix category, lexical stem, and indicative ending. The paradigm regularizes the outer agreement frame, not every weak, hamzated, or geminate stem.

Common Mistakes

Treating تكتب as one fixed person

❌ تكتب تعني دائما أنها تكتب.

Incorrect — تكتب can also address one man; context identifies the cell.

✅ أنت تكتب الرسالة، وهي تكتب العنوان.

ʾanta taktubu r-risālata, wa-hiya taktubu l-ʿunwān.

You are writing the message, and she is writing the address. (Addressing one man.)

Losing feminine or dual suffixes

❌ أنت تكتب الرسالة يا ندى، والطالبتان تكتب الملخص.

Incorrect — one female addressee requires تكتبين and a fronted feminine dual requires تكتبان.

✅ أنت تكتبين الرسالة يا ندى، والطالبتان تكتبان الملخص.

ʾanti taktubīna r-risālata yā nadā, wa-ṭ-ṭālibatāni taktubāni l-mulakhkhaṣ.

You are writing the message, Nada, and the two female students are writing the summary.

Using full plural agreement in neutral VSO

❌ يكتبون الطلاب الإجابات الآن.

Incorrect as neutral formal-MSA VSO — use singular يكتب before the overt plural subject.

✅ يكتب الطلاب الإجابات الآن.

yaktubu ṭ-ṭullābu l-ʾijābāti l-ʾān.

The students are writing the answers now.

Keeping indicative nūn after a governor

❌ لن تكتبون التقرير اليوم.

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

✅ لن تكتبوا التقرير اليوم.

lan taktubū t-taqrīra l-yawm.

You will not write the report today. (Addressing men or a mixed group.)

Regularizing a hollow feminine plural

❌ هن يقولن إن الاجتماع تأجل.

Incorrect — the long vowel in يقول shortens before feminine-plural ـنَ.

✅ هن يقلن إن الاجتماع تأجل.

hunna yaqulna ʾinna l-ijtimāʿa taʾajjal.

They say that the meeting was postponed. (All female.)

Key Takeaways

The fourteen traditional cells contain eleven distinct regular forms because several second- and third-person cells are syncretic.
Prefix consonants mark broad person categories; lexical stems and Verb Forms determine the vowel pattern.
Regular indicative singulars show final ـُ, while the five-verb templates retain mood nūn.
Feminine-plural ـنَ is a person suffix and does not behave like mood nūn.
Apply full agreement after a fronted subject, singular agreement before an overt non-singular subject in neutral VSO, and verified stem changes for weak or geminate verbs.

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