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

### Four-Consonant Roots (الفعل الرباعي)

Most Arabic words trace back to three-letter roots, but a special group of verbs is built on four core consonants. These are called quadriliteral verbs (الفعل الرباعي).

Their base conjugation is highly regular. The past tense follows the pattern فَعْلَلَ, and the present tense follows يُفَعْلِلُ.

{{item:1137597}}

{{item:1137598}}

{{item:1137603}}

### The Verbal Noun (المصدر)

The verbal noun for quadriliteral verbs is one of the easiest to form in Arabic. Simply add a ة to the end of the base past tense pattern, creating the pattern فَعْلَلَة.

{{item:1137601}}

{{item:1137606}}

### Academic and Artistic Actions

You will frequently encounter this four-letter pattern in academic, professional, and artistic contexts. Specialized concepts like indexing, translating, and decorating naturally fall into the فَعْلَلَ shape.

Note that the verb for "to prove" (برهن) is usually followed by the preposition على to express proving a fact or a point.

{{item:1137609}}

{{item:1137612}}

{{item:1137615}}

{{item:1137622}}

{{item:1137624}}

Quadriliteral verbs (فَعْلَلَ / يُفَعْلِلُ)

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 roll	دحرجdaḥraja
The boy rolled the ball while he was laughing.	دحرج الولد الكرة وهو يضحك.dahraja al-waladu al-kurata wa-huwa yadhaku
The boy rolls the wheel slowly.	يدحرج الولد العجلة ببطء.yudahriju al-waladu al-ajalata bibut'in
rolling	دحرجةdahraja
I saw the rolling of the stone.	رأيت دحرجة الحجر.ra'aytu dahrajata l-hajari.
Rolling the huge stone is impossible.	دحرجة الحجر الضخم مستحيلة.dahrajatu al-hajari ad-dakhmi mustahîlah.
to scatter	بعثرba'thara
The girl scattered the papers in the room.	بعثرت البنت الأوراق في الغرفة.ba'tharati l-bintu l-awrâqa fi l-ghurfah
He has scattered his clothes while I am tired.	قد بعثر ملابسه وأنا متعب.qad ba'thara malâbisahu wa ana mut'abun
scattering	بعثرةba'tharah
Scattering the clothes is a problem.	بعثرة الملابس مشكلة.ba'tharatu l-malâbisi mushkilatun
We prevented the scattering of the papers.	منعنا بعثرة الأوراق.mana'nâ ba'tharatal-awrâq
to index	فهرسfahrasa
The employee indexed the files to organize the work.	فهرس الموظف الملفات ليرتب العمل.faharasa al-muwadhdhafu al-malaffâti liyurattiba al-amala
Did the librarian index the books?	هل فهرست موظفة المكتبة الكتب؟hal fahrasat muwazzafatul maktabatil kutuba?
indexing	فهرسةfahrasah
Indexing the library requires time.	تحتاج فهرسة المكتبة إلى وقت.tahtâju fahrasatu al-maktabati ilâ waqtin
We finished indexing the huge dictionary.	أنهينا فهرسة القاموس الضخم.anhaynâ fahrasata-l-qâmûsi-d-dakhmi
to prove	برهن علىbarhana 'alâ
The scientist proved the truth.	برهن العالم على الحقيقة.barhana al-'âlimu 'alâ al-ḥaqîqati
She proved that she is innocent.	برهنت على أنها بريئة.barhanat 'alâ 'annahâ barî'ah
proving	برهنةbarhana
Proving the truth is difficult.	برهنة الحقيقة صعبة.barhanatu l-haqîqati sa'batun.
Proving the crime requires a proof.	تحتاج برهنة الجريمة إلى دليل.tahtâju barhanatu l-jarîmati ilâ dalîlin
translation	ترجمةtarjama
I read the translation of the novel while I was drinking coffee.	قرأت ترجمة الرواية وأنا أشرب القهوة.qara'tu tarjamata r-riwâyati wa ana ashrabu al-qahwata
The translation of the article was very accurate.	كانت ترجمة المقال صحيحة جدا.kânat tarjamatu al-maqâli saHîHatan jiddan
to decorate	زخرفzakhrafa
The artist decorated the wall with colors.	زخرف الفنان الجدار بالألوان.zakhrafa al-fannânu al-jidâra bil-alwâni
Did she decorate the palace before we arrived?	هل زخرفت القصر قبل أن نصل؟hal zakhrafati al-qasra qabla an nasila