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

### The Passive Participle (اسم المفعول)

In Arabic, the passive participle (اسم المفعول) describes the person or object that receives the action of a verb, similar to "-ed" or "-en" adjectives in English (like "broken" or "stolen"). 

For Form I verbs, the passive participle is built on the predictable pattern **مَفْعُول**. You form it by adding the prefix مـ before the first root letter and inserting a و between the second and third root letters.

For example, from the verb فَقَدَ (to lose), we derive the passive participle مَفْقُود (lost).

{{item:1121459}}

### Passive Participles as Adjectives

Passive participles frequently function as descriptive adjectives. Just like any other adjective in Arabic, a passive participle must agree with the noun it describes in gender, number, and definiteness.

When describing an indefinite masculine noun like كنز (treasure), the participle remains in its base form.

{{item:1121462}}

If the noun is definite, the passive participle must also take the definite article الـ.

{{item:1121472}}

If the noun is feminine, you simply add the feminine marker ة to the end of the participle pattern, making it مَفْعُولَة. 

{{item:1121473}}

### Describing Artifacts and Materials

When exploring historical sites, you will often use passive participles to describe artifacts, their conditions, or what they are made of. A common example is مَصْنُوع (made / manufactured). You will frequently see it paired with the preposition من (from / of) to describe materials.

{{item:1121466}}

Here are more examples of passive participles describing the state of archaeological discoveries. Notice how they continue to behave exactly like regular adjectives:

{{item:1121471}}

{{item:1121467}}

{{item:1121478}}

Passive participles (اسم المفعول)

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
temple	معبدma'bad
to lose (misplace, lose possession of)	فقدfaqada
There is a lost temple in the forest.	هناك معبد مفقود في الغابة.hunâka ma'badun mafqûdun fî al-ghâbati
treasure	كنزkanz
to bury	دفنdafana
There is no buried treasure under the temple.	ليس هناك كنز مدفون تحت المعبد.laysa hunâka kanzun madfûnun tahta al-ma'bad.
statue	تمثالtimthâl
to make	صنعsana'a
stone	حجرhajar
This statue is made of stone.	هذا التمثال مصنوع من الحجر.hâdhâ at-timthâlu masnû'un mina al-hajar
The door of the temple's room is broken.	باب غرفة المعبد مكسور.bâbu ghurfati-l-ma'badi maksûr
silver	فضةfiddah
The treasure is made of silver.	الكنز مصنوع من الفضة.al-kanzu masnooun mina al-fiddah
to engrave	نقشnaqasha
The engraved stone is very old.	الحجر المنقوش قديم جدا.al-hajaru al-manqûshu qadîmun jiddan
We searched for the lost treasure because it is important.	بحثنا عن الكنز المفقود لأنه مهم.bahathnâ ani alkanzi almafqûdi li'annahu muhimm
The silver buried in the temple is beautiful.	الفضة المدفونة في المعبد جميلة.al-fiddatu al-madfûnatu fî al-ma'badi jamîlah
The statue is broken because the guard slept.	التمثال مكسور لأن الحارس نام.at-timthâlu maksûrun li'anna al-ḥârisa nâma.
The wall of the temple is engraved with a beautiful picture.	جدار المعبد منقوش بصورة جميلة.jidâru al-ma'badi manqûshun bisûratin jamîlatin
The researchers who found the stolen treasure are famous.	الباحثون الذين وجدوا الكنز المسروق مشهورون.al-bâhithûna alladhîna wajadû al-kanza al-masrûqa mashhûrûna.
to preserve	حفظhafiza
There is a preserved statue in this museum.	هناك تمثال محفوظ في هذا المتحف.hunâka timthâlun mahfûzhun fî hâdhâ al-mathafi.
The preserved treasure in the museum is very old.	الكنز المحفوظ في المتحف قديم جدا.al-kanzu al-mahfûdhu fî al-matHafi qadîmun jiddan