Formal Arabic often reports a claim, belief, observation, or permission without naming a human agent: يُقَالُ إِنَّ... “it is said that…,” يُعْتَقَدُ أَنَّ... “it is believed that…,” and يُسْمَحُ لِـ... “it is permitted for….” English supplies a dummy it; Arabic does not. The passive verb is normally third-person masculine singular because its content is a following clause or prepositional complement, not an English-style pronoun subject.
These formulas are especially common in journalism, administration, and academic prose (formal/academic). They create evidential distance: the writer presents information as reported, believed, or permitted without making the source the grammatical subject. That distance does not prove the claim, and it does not automatically express doubt. The journalistic and administrative register page compares these choices with active attribution and nominalization.
يقال: reporting what people say
Form I قَالَ — يَقُولُ — قَوْلًا “say,” root ق-و-ل, has the irregular hollow passive قِيلَ — يُقَالُ. Present يقال presents a current or general report; perfect قيل locates the act of reporting in a past context.
يقال إن المفاوضات دخلت مرحلتها الأخيرة.
yuqālu ʾinna l-mufāwaḍāti dakhalat marḥalatahā l-ʾakhīra.
It is said that the negotiations have entered their final stage. (formal reportive)
قيل إن الطريق سيفتح بعد الظهر، لكنه ما زال مغلقا.
qīla ʾinna ṭ-ṭarīqa sayuftaḥu baʿda ẓ-ẓuhri, lākinnahu mā zāla mughlaqan.
It was said that the road would open in the afternoon, but it is still closed. (the report is not endorsed)
إنَّ introduces a complete content clause. Its noun is accusative and its predicate remains nominative: إنَّ الطريقَ مغلقٌ. A recipient can be added with لـ: قيل للطلاب إن... “the students were told that….”
قيل للطالبات إن النتائج ستنشر يوم الخميس.
qīla liṭ-ṭālibāti ʾinna n-natāʾija satunsharu yawma l-khamīs.
The female students were told that the results would be published on Thursday.
The plural recipient sits inside a prepositional phrase; it does not trigger plural قيلوا. There is no such agreement because للطالبات is not the subject.
يعتقد: belief with أنَّ
Form VIII اِعْتَقَدَ — يَعْتَقِدُ — اِعْتِقَادًا “believe,” root ع-ق-د, has passive اُعْتُقِدَ — يُعْتَقَدُ. The common reportive formula is يُعْتَقَدُ أَنَّ + nominal clause: “it is believed that….” Here أنَّ introduces a proposition; it is not verbal أنْ.
يعتقد أن البيانات الحالية غير كافية لاتخاذ قرار.
yuʿtaqadu ʾanna l-bayānāti l-ḥāliyyata ghayru kāfiyatin li-ttikhādhi qarār.
It is believed that the current data are insufficient for making a decision. (academic)
يعتقد أن الظروف ستتحسن خلال الأشهر المقبلة.
yuʿtaqadu ʾanna ẓ-ẓurūfa satataḥassanu khilāla l-ʾashhuri l-muqbila.
It is believed that conditions will improve during the coming months. (formal)
يعتقد أن الباحثتين قادرتان على إكمال التحليل في موعده.
yuʿtaqadu ʾanna l-bāḥithatayni qādiratāni ʿalā ʾikmāli t-taḥlīli fī mawʿidih.
The two female researchers are believed capable of completing the analysis on time. (formal)
The main reportive verb remains masculine singular. Feminine dual agreement appears inside the أنَّ clause: accusative الباحثتين with nominative predicate قادرتان.
يسمح: permission with لـ and بـ or أنْ
Form I سَمَحَ — يَسْمَحُ — سَمَاحًا “permit; allow,” root س-م-ح, has passive سُمِحَ — يُسْمَحُ. In the impersonal construction, the permitted person is normally marked by لـ, while the activity is expressed by بـ + verbal noun or by أنْ + subjunctive.
يسمح للزوار بالدخول من البوابة الشرقية فقط.
yusmaḥu liz-zuwwāri bid-dukhūli mina l-bawwābati sh-sharqiyyati faqaṭ.
Visitors are permitted to enter only through the east gate. (formal notice)
سمح للباحثتين بأن تطلعا على الوثائق الأصلية.
sumiḥa lil-bāḥithatayni biʾan taṭṭaliʿā ʿalā l-wathāʾiqi l-ʾaṣliyya.
The two female researchers were allowed to examine the original documents. (formal)
لن يسمح للموظفين باستخدام النظام خارج المكتب.
lan yusmaḥa lil-muwaẓẓafīna bi-stikhdāmi n-niẓāmi khārija l-maktab.
Employees will not be allowed to use the system outside the office. (subjunctive after lan)
لم يسمح للصحفيات بطرح أسئلة إضافية.
lam yusmaḥ liṣ-ṣaḥafiyyāti biṭarḥi ʾasʾilatin ʾiḍāfiyya.
The female journalists were not allowed to ask additional questions. (jussive after lam)
Neither الموظفين nor الصحفيات is a nominative passive subject. Both are governed by لـ, so the impersonal verb stays singular. English promotes them to subject position; Arabic keeps them as the beneficiary/permission-holder.
Other reportive passives and source control
Formal prose also uses ذُكِرَ أَنَّ “it was mentioned that,” لُوحِظَ أَنَّ “it was observed that,” and أُفِيدَ بِأَنَّ “it was reported that.” Each verb keeps its own complement. أفاد بـ motivates بأنّ; do not assume every reporting verb takes the same particle.
لوحظ أن الأسعار ارتفعت في المدن الساحلية أكثر من غيرها.
lūḥiẓa ʾanna l-ʾasʿāra rtafaʿat fī l-muduni s-sāḥiliyyati ʾakthara min ghayrihā.
It was observed that prices rose more in coastal cities than elsewhere. (academic)
أفيد بأن الرحلتين ألغيتا بسبب سوء الأحوال الجوية.
ʾufīda biʾanna r-riḥlatayni ʾulghiyatā bisababi sūʾi l-ʾaḥwāli l-jawwiyya.
It was reported that the two flights had been canceled because of bad weather. (formal journalism)
An impersonal passive can responsibly signal an unknown or deliberately backgrounded source. If the source is known and relevant, an active attribution is more transparent: قالت الوزارة إن... or أفاد المتحدث بأن.... Repeated يقال without evidence can make prose vague rather than objective.
Not every passive is impersonal
When a lexical noun becomes نائب الفاعل, the verb agrees according to ordinary passive and word-order rules. Compare fixed reportive ذُكر أن... with personal passive ذُكرت أسبابٌ عدةٌ “several reasons were mentioned.” The latter is feminine singular because أسباب is a nonhuman plural.
ذكرت أسباب عدة لتأجيل الجلسة.
dhukirat ʾasbābun ʿiddatun litaʾjīli l-jalsa.
Several reasons were mentioned for postponing the session. (personal passive with a nonhuman plural subject)
Common Mistakes
Adding an English dummy pronoun
❌ هو يقال إن النتائج غير نهائية.
Incorrect calque—Arabic does not use هو as dummy ‘it’ before the impersonal passive.
✅ يقال إن النتائج غير نهائية.
yuqālu ʾinna n-natāʾija ghayru nihāʾiyya.
It is said that the results are not final.
Making the permission-holder the direct object
❌ يسمح الزوار بالدخول.
Incorrect for the impersonal passive—the permitted people require لـ: يسمح للزوار.
✅ يسمح للزوار بالدخول بعد التاسعة.
yusmaḥu liz-zuwwāri bid-dukhūli baʿda t-tāsiʿa.
Visitors are allowed to enter after nine.
Giving the impersonal verb plural agreement
❌ يسمحون للموظفات بالعمل من المنزل.
Incorrect passive structure—the following لـ phrase does not trigger plural agreement; use singular يسمح.
✅ يسمح للموظفات بالعمل من المنزل يومين أسبوعيا.
yusmaḥu lil-muwaẓẓafāti bil-ʿamali mina l-manzili yawmayni ʾusbūʿiyyan.
Female employees are permitted to work from home two days a week.
Keeping the indicative ending after permission + أنْ
❌ سمح للباحثتين بأن تطلعان على الأرشيف.
Incorrect—verbal أنْ governs the subjunctive, so the dual five-verb form drops its final ن: تطلعا.
✅ سمح للباحثتين بأن تطلعا على الأرشيف هذا الأسبوع.
sumiḥa lil-bāḥithatayni biʾan taṭṭaliʿā ʿalā l-ʾarshīfi hādhā l-ʾusbūʿ.
The two female researchers were allowed to consult the archive this week.
Treating يقال as proof
❌ يقال إن العلاج فعال، ولذلك ثبت نجاحه.
Faulty evidential logic—يقال reports a claim; it does not establish that the claim has been proven.
✅ يقال إن العلاج فعال، لكن النتائج المنشورة لا تكفي لإثبات ذلك.
yuqālu ʾinna l-ʿilāja faʿʿālun, lākinna n-natāʾija l-manshūrata lā takfī liʾithbāti dhālik.
It is said that the treatment is effective, but the published results are insufficient to prove that.
Key Takeaways
- Arabic reportive passives need no dummy equivalent of English it.
- يقال إنّ, يعتقد أنّ, and يسمح لـ... بـ.../أنْ... each keep their own complement structure.
- A following clause or prepositional phrase normally leaves the main passive verb third-person masculine singular.
- Governors still control mood: لن يسمحَ, لم يسمحْ, and أن تتحسنَ.
- Reportive distance attributes information; it neither guarantees truth nor necessarily signals disbelief.
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