Mood Endings on Weak-Final Verbs | Arabic (Modern Standard) Grammar

Weak-final imperfects do not display mood like sound يكتبُ / يكتبَ / يكتبْ. A final-wāw verb such as يدعو, a final-yāʾ verb such as يرمي, and an alif-maqṣūra verb such as يسعى each handle indicative, subjunctive, and jussive endings differently. The decisive facts are the verified principal parts, the written weak letter, and the local mood governor.

These verbs are traditionally called ناقص, “defective/final-weak.” That label describes the position of the weak radical; it does not mean the verb is incomplete or optional. When an agreement suffix follows, the five-verbs system may carry the visible mood contrast instead.

The three-way map

Three Form-I principal-part pairs show the core system:

Weak class	Principal parts	Indicative	Subjunctive after لن	Jussive after لم
final wāw	دَعَا / يَدْعُو	يَدْعُو	لَنْ يَدْعُوَ	لَمْ يَدْعُ
final yāʾ	رَمَى / يَرْمِي	يَرْمِي	لَنْ يَرْمِيَ	لَمْ يَرْمِ
alif maqṣūra	سَعَى / يَسْعَى	يَسْعَى	لَنْ يَسْعَى	لَمْ يَسْعَ

Indicative يدعو، يرمي، يسعى has an estimated nominative ending rather than an additional audible -u. Subjunctive fatḥa is audible after wāw and yāʾ (يدعوَ، يرميَ) but only estimated on alif maqṣūra (يسعى). The jussive deletes the final weak letter and leaves the preceding stem vowel: يدعُ، يرمِ، يسعَ.

💡

Do not reduce the rule to “weak verbs lose the last letter.” Deletion is the jussive singular pattern; the subjunctive normally retains wāw or yāʾ, and alif maqṣūra behaves differently on the surface.

Final wāw: دعا / يدعو

Form I دَعَا / يَدْعُو “invite, call upon,” root د-ع-و, often takes a direct object plus إلى for the event or action invited to.

يدعو المركز الباحثين إلى ندوة شهرية

yadʿū l-markazu l-bāḥithīna ʾilā nadwatin shahriyya

The center invites researchers to a monthly seminar. (Indicative.)

لن يدعو المركز ضيوفا إضافيين هذا الشهر

lan yadʿuwa l-markazu ḍuyūfan ʾiḍāfiyyīna hādhā sh-shahr

The center will not invite additional guests this month. (Subjunctive.)

لم يدع المركز أي ممثل عن الشركة

lam yadʿu l-markazu ʾayya mumaththilin ʿani sh-sharika

The center did not invite any representative of the company. (Jussive.)

The vowel u in jussive يدعُ is the stem vowel exposed after deletion of و. It is not an indicative ending.

Final yāʾ: رمى / يرمي

Form I رَمَى / يَرْمِي “throw,” root ر-م-ي, retains written yāʾ in indicative and subjunctive but loses it in the jussive.

يرمي الجهاز النسخ التالفة في حاوية مغلقة

yarmī l-jihāzu n-nusakha t-tālifata fī ḥāwiyatin mughlaqa

The machine discards defective copies into a closed container. (Indicative.)

لن يرمي العمال المخلفات قرب مجرى الماء

lan yarmiya l-ʿummālu l-mukhallafāti qurba majrā l-māʾ

The workers will not dump waste near the watercourse. (Subjunctive; singular verb in VSO.)

لم يرم العامل العبوة في سلة النفايات العادية

lam yarmi l-ʿāmilu l-ʿubwata fī sallati n-nufāyāti l-ʿādiyya

The worker did not throw the container into the ordinary-waste bin. (Jussive.)

Unvocalized يرم visibly confirms yāʾ deletion. Do not write لم يرمي in careful standard orthography.

Alif maqṣūra: سعى / يسعى

Form I سَعَى / يَسْعَى “seek, strive,” root س-ع-ي, commonly selects إلى before a goal. Indicative and subjunctive look and sound alike because neither an estimated ḍamma nor an estimated fatḥa can appear on final alif maqṣūra.

يسعى الفريق إلى خفض استهلاك الطاقة

yasʿā l-farīqu ʾilā khafḍi stihlāki ṭ-ṭāqa

The team seeks to reduce energy consumption. (Indicative.)

لن يسعى الفريق إلى حل مؤقت

lan yasʿā l-farīqu ʾilā ḥallin muʾaqqat

The team will not seek a temporary solution. (Subjunctive.)

لم يسع الفريق إلى إخفاء نتائج الاختبار

lam yasʿa l-farīqu ʾilā ʾikhfāʾi natāʾiji l-ikhtibār

The team did not seek to conceal the test results. (Jussive.)

The jussive deletes ى and leaves audible a on ع. That audible fatḥa does not make يسعَ subjunctive; لم makes it jussive.

💡

When indicative and subjunctive يسعى coincide, only the governor distinguishes them. When jussive يسعَ ends in fatḥa, do not identify mood from the last vowel alone.

Person and number endings can override the simple map

The table above describes forms without a following person-number suffix. In the five verbs, mood is marked by nūn retention or deletion instead:

Subject	Indicative	Subjunctive	Jussive
هم, from يدعو	يَدْعُونَ	لَنْ يَدْعُوا	لَمْ يَدْعُوا
هما, from يرمي	يَرْمِيَانِ	لَنْ يَرْمِيَا	لَمْ يَرْمِيَا
أنتِ, from يسعى	تَسْعَيْنَ	لَنْ تَسْعَيْ	لَمْ تَسْعَيْ

The weak radical and agreement suffix interact; you cannot obtain these forms by merely erasing the last written letter of the singular.

المحاميان يرميان إلى تسوية النزاع قبل المحاكمة

al-muḥāmiyāni yarmiyāni ʾilā taswiyati n-nizāʿi qabla l-muḥākama

The two lawyers aim to settle the dispute before trial.

Here رَمَى / يَرْمِي has the lexical extension يرمي إلى “aim at,” rather than literal throwing. Principal parts are the same; complement and context select the meaning.

الناشطات لن يدعون إلى مقاطعة الاجتماع

an-nāshiṭātu lan yadʿūna ʾilā muqāṭaʿati l-ijtimāʿ

The activists will not call for boycotting the meeting. (All female.)

Feminine-plural يدعونَ keeps nūn al-niswa after لن. It is distinct from masculine-plural subjunctive لن يدعوا.

Nonhuman plurals and VSO remain separate

Weakness does not alter agreement syntax. A verb before an explicit human plural subject is singular in neutral formal VSO; a nonhuman plural takes feminine-singular agreement.

لن تسعى الشركات إلى رفع الأسعار هذا الموسم

lan tasʿā sh-sharikātu ʾilā rafʿi l-ʾasʿāri hādhā l-mawsim

The companies will not seek to raise prices this season. (Nonhuman plural agreement.)

Common Mistakes

Deleting the weak letter in the subjunctive

❌ لن يدع المتحدث الحضور إلى المغادرة

Incorrect for subjunctive دعا / يدعو—the wāw remains: لن يدعوَ.

✅ لن يدعو المتحدث الحضور إلى المغادرة قبل نهاية الجلسة

lan yadʿuwa l-mutaḥaddithu l-ḥuḍūra ʾilā l-mughādarati qabla nihāyati l-jalsa

The speaker will not ask the audience to leave before the end of the session.

Retaining the weak letter in the jussive

❌ لم يرمي العامل العبوة

Incorrect in careful MSA—jussive يرمي loses final ي.

✅ لم يرم العامل العبوة قرب مصدر الحرارة

lam yarmi l-ʿāmilu l-ʿubwata qurba maṣdari l-ḥarāra

The worker did not throw the container near the heat source.

Calling يسعى jussive because its ending is invisible

❌ المدير يسعى إلى اتفاق فعل مجزوم

Incorrect analysis—without a jussive governor, يسعى is indicative with an estimated ending.

✅ المدير يسعى إلى اتفاق طويل الأمد

al-mudīru yasʿā ʾilā ttifāqin ṭawīli l-ʾamad

The director seeks a long-term agreement.

Applying singular deletion inside the five verbs

❌ المحاميان لن يرم إلى تسوية

Incorrect after a preverbal dual subject—use dual يرميا, with nūn deleted.

✅ المحاميان لن يرميا إلى تسوية مؤقتة

al-muḥāmiyāni lan yarmiyā ʾilā taswiyatin muʾaqqata

The two lawyers will not aim for a temporary settlement.

Losing VSO agreement while focusing on weakness

❌ لن يرموا العمال المخلفات هنا

Incorrect in neutral formal VSO—use singular subjunctive يرميَ before the explicit human plural subject.

✅ لن يرمي العمال المخلفات قرب النهر

lan yarmiya l-ʿummālu l-mukhallafāti qurba n-nahr

The workers will not dump waste near the river.

Key Takeaways

Final wāw and yāʾ remain in indicative and subjunctive singulars but disappear in the jussive.
Alif maqṣūra hides indicative and subjunctive endings, then disappears in the jussive.
The vowel left after jussive deletion belongs to the stem and does not reliably identify mood.
Five-verb and feminine-plural endings interact with weak stems through their own paradigms.
Verify principal parts, governor, agreement, and lexical complement separately.

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