Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

### Possible Conditions with إن

To express a possible or likely condition, Arabic uses the particle إن (if). It places both the condition verb (the "if") and the result verb (the "then") into the **jussive mood (مجزوم)**.

### The Jussive Mood: Regular and Weak Verbs

For most regular present-tense verbs, the jussive mood replaces the final short vowel with a silent *sukun*. If a verb ends in a weak letter (like ي or ا), that letter is dropped entirely. For example, يشتري (he buys) becomes يشتر.

{{item:1135901}}

{{item:1135904}}

### Dropping the Final ن

For present-tense verbs ending in a ن suffix—such as the masculine plural (ـون), dual (ـان), and feminine singular "you" (ـين)—the jussive mood drops the final ن. 

*Note: When dropping the ن from a masculine plural verb, an unpronounced alif (ا) is added after the final و.*

{{item:1135907}}

{{item:1135909}}

{{item:1135917}}

### Seeing the endings

This course writes Arabic the way books and newspapers print it, without the short-vowel marks, so the ending this lesson is about is something you hear in the audio but never see in the drills. Here are some of them with every vowel written out:

| as written | fully vocalized | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| إن تساوم تشتر السيف القديم. | إِنْ تُسَاوِمْ تَشْتَرِ السَّيْفَ القَدِيمَ. | If you bargain, you will buy the old sword. |
| إن يسقط هذا الخزف، ينكسر. | إِنْ يَسْقُطْ هَذَا الخَزَفُ، يَنْكَسِرْ. | If this pottery falls, it will break. |
| إن يخفضوا السعر نشتر العملة. | إِنْ يَخْفِضُوا السِّعْرَ نَشْتَرِ العُمْلَةَ. | If they reduce the price, we will buy the coin. |

Both verbs, the condition and the result, are jussive. On a regular verb that is a sukun, which no unvocalized text can show: **تُسَاوِمْ**, **يَسْقُطْ**, **يَنْكَسِرْ**. Before ال the sukun is pronounced as a linking *-i* (**تَشْتَرِ السَّيْفَ**). Two changes are visible: a verb ending in ي loses it (تشتري → تشتر), and the plural loses its ن (يخفضون → يخفضوا).

Conditionals with the jussive (إن + jussive)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

interrogative

noun

numeral

particle

prefix

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

The definite article and locatives (الـ)

Basic noun gender (ة)

Sun and moon letters

Singular subject pronouns (أنا، أنت، هو، هي)

Indefinite nouns and nominal sentences (ـٌ)

Demonstrative pronouns for 'this' (هذا / هذه)

Separate prepositions (في، من، إلى، على)

Attributive adjectives

Predicative adjectives

Yes/No questions (هل، أ)

Basic questions (من، ما، أين)

Singular possessive pronouns (ـي، ـك، ـه، ـها)

Plural subject pronouns (نحن، أنتم، هم)

Plural possessive pronouns (ـنا، ـكم، ـهم)

Noun possession

Attached prepositions (بـ، لـ، كـ)

Pronouns with prepositions

Having and possessing (عند، لـ، مع)

Regular plural nouns (ـون، ـين، ـات)

Broken plurals

Dual nouns (ـان / ـين)

Plural and distant demonstratives (هؤلاء، ذلك، تلك)

Non-human plural agreement

Present tense singular verbs

Verbal sentences (VSO)

Present tense plural verbs

Topicalized sentences (SVO)

The indefinite accusative case (ـاً)

Verb object pronouns (-ني، -ك، -ه)

Present tense negation (لا)

Question words with verbs (متى، كيف...)

Adverbs of time and place

The future tense (سـ / سوف)

Intentions and desires (أن)

Negating states and possession (ليس)

Past tense singular suffixes

Past tense plural suffixes

Negating past events (ما)

Singular commands

Numbers 1 to 10

Number agreement for 1 and 2 (واحد، اثنان)

Asking how many (كم)

Numbers 3 to 10 (ثلاثة إلى عشرة)

Ordinal numbers 1 to 10 (الأول، الثاني)

Basic conjunctions (فـ، أو، لكن)

Ordering at a café (واحد، اثنان)

Food and drink with conjunctions (و، ف، أو، لكن)

There is and there are (هناك / ليس هناك)

Direct address (يا)

Giving reasons (لأنّ)

Relative pronouns (الذي / التي)

Quantifiers (كل / بعض)

The past tense of 'to be' (كان)

Past possession

Numbers 11 to 19 and tens to 80

Telling time (الساعة)

This book vs this is a book (هذا الكتاب، هذا كتاب)

Greetings (مرحبا، السلام عليكم)

How are you? and goodbye (كيف حالك، مع السلامة)

Nationalities (مصري، مصرية)

Roots and patterns (كتب، كتاب، مكتب)

Politeness (من فضلك، آسف)

Complex possession chains

Colors and traits (أفعل / فعلاء)

Plural colors and traits (فُعْل)

Comparative adjectives (أفعل من)

Superlative adjectives (أفعل)

Adverbs of manner (ـاً)

The nominative case (ـُ)

The genitive case (ـِ)

The accusative case (ـَ)

Dual noun cases (ـان / ـين)

Masculine plurals and 'the best of' (أفضل النجارين)

Emphasizing sentences (إنّ)

Connecting clauses (أنّ)

Reporting speech (قال إنّ)

Expressing contrast (لكنّ)

Comparison and probability (كأنّ, لعلّ)

Distant plural pointing (أولئك)

Plural relative pronouns (الذين, اللواتي)

Past habits (كان + present)

Ongoing actions (ما زال)

Masculine plurals online (مبرمجون، مؤثرون)

Perfective past (قد)

Probability (قد)

The subjunctive mood (أن)

Question	Answer
to bargain	ساومsâwama
sword	سيفsayf
If you bargain, you will buy the old sword.	إن تساوم تشتر السيف القديم.in tusâwim tashtari s-sayfa l-qadîm.
to reduce	خفضkhafd
metal	معدنma'din
If Fatima reduces the price, we will buy the metal.	إن تخفض فاطمة السعر نشتر المعدن.in takhfid fâtimato s-sira nashtari l-ma'dina
vase	مزهريةmizhariyya
rare	نادرnâdir
If you agree to this price, you will take a rare vase.	إن توافقوا على هذا السعر تأخذوا مزهرية نادرة.in tuwâfiquu 'alâ hâdhâ as-si'ri ta'khudhuu mizhariyyatan nâdiratan
coin	عملة'umla
Maryam, if you bargain well, you will find a beautiful coin.	يا مريم، إن تساومي جيدا تجدي عملة جميلة.yâ maryamu, in tusâwimî jayyidan tajidî 'umlatan jamîlatan.
If you sell the vase, I will give you a box of metal.	إن تبع المزهرية أعطك صندوقا من المعدن.in tabii al-mizhariyyata u'tika sundouqan mina al-maadini
to concede	تنازلtanâzala
copper	نحاسnuhâs
If the woman concedes, she will sell the copper.	إن تتنازل المرأة تبع النحاس.in tatanâzali al-mar'atu tabi'i an-nuhâs
If you two concede, Aisha will buy the copper.	إن تتنازلا تشتر عائشة النحاس.in tatanâzalâ tashtari 'â'ishatu n-nuḥâsa
If they reduce the price, we will buy the coin.	إن يخفضوا السعر نشتر العملة.in yakhfidu as-si'r nashtari al-'umlah
Fatima, if you buy these old swords, I will lower the price.	يا فاطمة، إن تشتري هذه السيوف القديمة أخفض السعر.yâ fâtimatu, in tashtarî hâdhihi s-suyûfa l-qadîmata akhfidi s-sira.
If the two men bargain, they will buy a rare book.	إن يساوم الرجلان يشتريا كتابا نادرا.in yusâwimi r-rajulâni yashtariyâ kitâban nâdiran.
ceramics	خزفkhazaf
price	ثمنthaman
Madam, if you take this pottery, I will lower the price.	يا سيدتي، إن تأخذي هذا الخزف، أخفض الثمن.yâ sayyidatî, in ta'khudhî hâdhâ al-khazafa, akhfidi ath-thamana.
Vendor, if you lower the price, I will pay in cash.	يا بائع، إن تخفض الثمن، أدفع نقدا.yâ bâ'i`u, in tukhaffidi ath-thamana, adfa` naqdan.
exorbitant	باهظbâhiz
If you ask for an exorbitant price, I will refuse the offer.	إن تطلبي ثمنا باهظا، أرفض العرض.in tatlubî thamanan bâhidhan, arfudi al-arda.
If this pottery falls, it will break.	إن يسقط هذا الخزف، ينكسر.in yasqut hâdhâ-l-khazafu, yankasir.
The price is not exorbitant; if you examine the piece, you will realize that.	الثمن ليس باهظا؛ إن تفحص القطعة، تدرك ذلك.ath-thamanu laysa bâhizhan; in tafhasi l-qit'ata, tudrik dhâlika.

Contributors