وَعَدَ / يَعِدُ / عِدْ “promise” is the model initial-wāw verb. Its root is و-ع-د, and it belongs to Form I. The root و appears throughout the perfect—وَعَدْتُ, وَعَدَتْ, وَعَدُوا—but drops from the active imperfect and imperative: يَعِدُ, تَعِدُ, نَعِدُ, عِدْ.
English has one visible verb stem in promise, promises, and promised. Arabic divides the labor between a regular-looking perfect stem وعد- and a shorter imperfect stem عِد-. The assimilated-verbs overview explains the wider class; here, learn both principal parts rather than trying to restore و everywhere.
The principal parts and their jobs
The central lexical set is وَعَدَ perfect, يَعِدُ imperfect indicative, imperative عِدْ, and verbal noun وَعْد. The active participle is وَاعِد “promising; one who promises,” and the passive participle مَوْعُود “promised.”
| Form | Arabic | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| perfect, 3 m.sg. | وَعَدَ | root و is present |
| imperfect indicative, 3 m.sg. | يَعِدُ | root و is deleted |
| imperfect subjunctive | لَنْ يَعِدَ | final fatḥa after لن |
| imperfect jussive | لَمْ يَعِدْ | final sukūn after لم |
| imperative, 2 m.sg. | عِدْ | built from the short jussive stem |
| passive perfect/imperfect | وُعِدَ / يُوعَدُ | passive has its own internal vowels |
وعدت الطبيبة المريض بأن تتصل به مساء.
waʿadati ṭ-ṭabībatu l-marīḍa bi-ʾan tattaṣila bihi masāʾ.
The doctor promised the patient that she would call him in the evening. (Neutral formal MSA.)
يعد التطبيق بحفظ نسخة احتياطية تلقائيا.
yaʿidu t-taṭbīqu bi-ḥifẓi nuskhatin iḥtiyāṭiyyatin tilqāʾiyyan.
The app promises to save a backup automatically. (Product description.)
The perfect example begins وعدت but is pronounced waʿadat because the subject is the following feminine noun. With I promised, the same unvocalized spelling is pronounced waʿadtu. Vocalization and context distinguish them.
The perfect keeps wāw and takes regular suffixes
The perfect stem behaves like a sound verb. Before consonantal suffixes, keep all three radicals: وَعَدْتُ “I promised,” وَعَدْتِ “you (f.sg.) promised,” وَعَدْنَا “we promised,” وَعَدْنَ “they (f.) promised.” The ordinary third-person forms are وَعَدَ, وَعَدَتْ, وَعَدَا, وَعَدَتَا, and وَعَدُوا.
وعدنا الجيران بأن نخفض صوت الموسيقى بعد العاشرة.
waʿadnā l-jīrāna bi-ʾan nakhfiḍa ṣawta l-mūsīqā baʿda l-ʿāshira.
We promised the neighbors that we would turn the music down after ten. (Neutral MSA.)
الطالبتان وعدتا أستاذتهما بتسليم المشروع في موعده.
aṭ-ṭālibatāni waʿadatā ʾustādhatahumā bi-taslīmi l-mashrūʿi fī mawʿidih.
The two students promised their professor that they would submit the project on time. (Subject-first dual agreement.)
وعدت المشاركات أسرهن بالعودة قبل المساء.
waʿadati l-mushārikātu ʾusarahunna bi-l-ʿawdati qabla l-masāʾ.
The female participants promised their families that they would return before evening. (Verb-first; feminine-singular verb before a human plural.)
The imperfect: person prefixes plus the short stem
Once و has dropped, the short stem remains across persons: أَعِدُ, تَعِدُ, يَعِدُ, نَعِدُ. Number and gender endings attach normally: تَعِدِينَ, يَعِدَانِ, يَعِدُونَ, يَعِدْنَ. In neutral verb-first order, however, an overt dual or plural subject follows a singular verb.
تعدينني دائما بالمساعدة عندما أحتاج إليها.
taʿidīnanī dāʾiman bi-l-musāʿadati ʿindamā ʾaḥtāju ʾilayhā.
You always promise me help when I need it. (Addressed to one woman.)
يعد المهندسون السكان بإصلاح المصعد غدا.
yaʿidu l-muhandisūna s-sukkāna bi-ʾiṣlāḥi l-miṣʿadi ghadan.
The engineers promise the residents that they will repair the elevator tomorrow. (Formal VSO; singular verb.)
المهندسون يعدون السكان بإرسال تحديث يومي.
al-muhandisūna yaʿidūna s-sukkāna bi-ʾirsāli taḥdīthin yawmī.
The engineers promise the residents a daily update. (Subject-first; full plural agreement.)
Mood: the stem stays short
Indicative يَعِدُ changes to subjunctive يَعِدَ after لن or أن, and to jussive يَعِدْ after لم. In the five verbs, subjunctive and jussive remove final ن: لن يَعِدُوا, لم يَعِدُوا. None of these environments restores root و.
لن يعد المدير بشيء قبل مراجعة الميزانية.
lan yaʿida l-mudīru bi-shayʾin qabla murājaʿati l-mīzāniyya.
The director will not promise anything before reviewing the budget. (Formal; subjunctive.)
لم تعد الشركة الموظفين بزيادة محددة.
lam taʿidi sh-sharikatu l-muwaẓẓafīna bi-ziyādatin muḥaddada.
The company did not promise the employees a specific raise. (Formal; jussive.)
The helping kasra heard in لَمْ تَعِدِ الشركة links final دْ to the following article. It is not an indicative ending: the verb remains jussive.
Commands: عِدْ without an initial alif
Remove the imperfect person prefix from jussive تَعِدْ and the result is already pronounceable: عِدْ. Arabic therefore adds no hamzat al-waṣl. Other imperatives are عِدِي (f.sg.), عِدَا (dual), عِدُوا (m.pl.), and عِدْنَ (f.pl.).
عدني بأنك ستخبرني إذا تغير الموعد.
ʿidnī bi-ʾannaka satukhbirunī ʾidhā taghayyara l-mawʿid.
Promise me that you'll tell me if the appointment changes. (Direct but neutral.)
عدننا يا زميلات بأن تحافظن على سرية البيانات.
ʿidnanā yā zamīlātu bi-ʾan tuḥāfiẓna ʿalā sirriyyati l-bayānāt.
Promise us, colleagues, that you will maintain data confidentiality. (Addressed to a group of women; formal.)
Complement frames: who receives what promise?
The person receiving the promise is normally a direct object: وعدتُه “I promised him.” The promised content can be:
- بـ + noun/verbal noun: وعده بالمساعدة “promised him help”;
- بأنْ + subjunctive imperfect for a promised action: وَعَدْتُهُ بِأَنْ أُسَاعِدَهُ “I promised him that I would help him”;
- بأنَّ + a complete nominal clause when its subject is stated explicitly: وَعَدْتُهُ بِأَنَّنِي سَأُسَاعِدُهُ “I promised him that I would help him”;
- a second direct object in established formal usage: وعده خيرا “promised him good.”
The two clause markers look identical as unvocalized بأن, but their grammar differs: أنْ governs the subjunctive, whereas أنَّ introduces a nominal clause and takes a subject such as ـه or ـك. If no recipient is named, وعد بأنْ... or وعد بـ... is sufficient. Do not mechanically insert English to: Arabic does not use إلى for the recipient of وعد.
وعدت الوزارة المتضررين بتعويض تكاليف الإصلاح.
waʿadati l-wizāratu l-mutaḍarrirīna bi-taʿwīḍi takālīfi l-ʾiṣlāḥ.
The ministry promised those affected that it would reimburse the repair costs. (Administrative.)
مَوْعِد usually means an appointment, scheduled time, or deadline in modern usage; it is not an interchangeable replacement for event noun وَعْد “a promise.”
The internal passive
Passive وُعِدَ / يُوعَدُ restores a visible و. This is a separate passive stem, not a reversal of the active deletion rule. The recipient can become the deputy subject: وُعِدَ الموظفون بمكافأة “the employees were promised a bonus.”
وعد الموظفون بمكافأة إذا اكتمل المشروع في موعده.
wuʿida l-muwaẓẓafūna bi-mukāfaʾatin ʾidhā ktamala l-mashrūʿu fī mawʿidih.
The employees were promised a bonus if the project was completed on time. (Formal VSO passive.)
Common Mistakes
Deleting wāw from the perfect
❌ عدت صديقي بالمساعدة.
Incorrect for ‘I promised’—the perfect keeps root wāw; عُدتُ means ‘I returned.’
✅ وعدت صديقي بالمساعدة.
waʿadtu ṣadīqī bi-l-musāʿada.
I promised my friend help.
Restoring wāw in the active imperfect
❌ هو يوعد العملاء بنتائج فورية.
Incorrect for Form I ‘promise’—the active imperfect is يَعِدُ.
✅ هو يعد العملاء بنتائج سريعة لا فورية.
huwa yaʿidu l-ʿumalāʾa bi-natāʾija sarīʿatin lā fawriyya.
He promises clients quick results, not immediate ones.
Adding an imperative alif
❌ اوعدني بأنك ستأتي.
Incorrect for Form I—its imperative is عِدْ without alif or wāw.
✅ عدني بأنك ستأتي في الوقت المحدد.
ʿidnī bi-ʾannaka sataʾtī fī l-waqti l-muḥaddad.
Promise me that you'll arrive at the agreed time.
Using إلى for the recipient
❌ وعدت إلى زميلتي بإرسال الملف.
Incorrect—وعد takes the recipient directly, without إلى.
✅ وعدت زميلتي بإرسال الملف قبل الظهر.
waʿadtu zamīlatī bi-ʾirsāli l-malafi qabla ẓ-ẓuhr.
I promised my colleague that I would send the file before noon.
Using full plural agreement in VSO
❌ يعدون المهندسون السكان بإصلاح العطل.
Incorrect in neutral formal VSO—an overt plural subject follows singular يَعِدُ.
✅ يعد المهندسون السكان بإصلاح العطل اليوم.
yaʿidu l-muhandisūna s-sukkāna bi-ʾiṣlāḥi l-ʿuṭli l-yawm.
The engineers promise the residents that they will repair the fault today.
Key Takeaways
- Learn وَعَدَ / يَعِدُ / عِدْ / وَعْد as one lexical set.
- Keep و throughout the regular suffixed perfect; delete it throughout the active prefix conjugation and imperative.
- Mood changes the imperfect ending: يَعِدُ، لن يَعِدَ، لم يَعِدْ.
- The recipient is a direct object; content commonly follows with بـ or بأن.
- Passive وُعِدَ / يُوعَدُ has its own stem and can make the recipient the deputy subject.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Assimilated Verbs: First Radical و or يA2 — Recognize initial-weak roots and predict when Form I drops root wāw in the imperfect and imperative—and when it does not.
- وَجَدَ-type VerbsA2 — Use وَجَدَ / يَجِدُ for finding, experiencing, and judging, and distinguish its passive existential forms and specialized verbal nouns.
- The Arabic Verb SystemA1 — See how Arabic verb stems, agreement, mood, voice, and derived Forms work together in complete sentences.