هم يوقعون عقد الإيجار.

Because Arabic verbs already show the subject, يوقعون by itself can mean they sign. Adding هم is optional and usually gives extra emphasis or clarity.

So:

• يوقعون عقد الإيجار = They are signing the lease contract
• هم يوقعون عقد الإيجار = They are signing the lease contract with a bit more emphasis on they

A native English speaker might expect the pronoun to be required, but in Arabic it often is not.

يوقعون is the 3rd person masculine plural imperfect form of the verb وقّع.

Here it means:

• they sign
• they are signing
• sometimes, depending on context, they will sign

In Modern Standard Arabic, the imperfect can cover present and near-future meanings, and it does not automatically distinguish between sign and are signing the way English does.

The ending -ون marks the verb as:

• plural
• masculine
• they

So يوقعون = they (masculine or mixed group) sign / are signing

This is a very common ending for the imperfect tense with they.

For comparison:

• هو يوقع = he signs
• هم يوقعون = they sign

If the group were all female, the form would be different: يوقّعن in fully vocalized Arabic.

Arabic often uses the imperfect tense for both:

• a general present action: they sign
• an action happening now: they are signing

So the exact English translation depends on context.

In a sentence like هم يوقعون عقد الإيجار, the context naturally suggests an action happening now or around now, so they are signing the lease is a very natural translation.

The dictionary form is وقّع.

This verb means to sign.

Its root letters are و-ق-ع. The root has meanings related to falling or occurring, but the doubled middle consonant in وقّع gives a different derived meaning: to sign.

So learners should treat وقّع as its own vocabulary item.

With full vowels, it is pronounced:

yuwaqqiʿūna

Key points:

• the و after ي helps produce yu-
• the middle consonant is doubled in the fully vocalized form: وقّ
• the ending -ون is -ūna

In normal Arabic writing, short vowels and the doubling mark are often not written, so learners must know the word from context and vocabulary.

Because عقد الإيجار is an iḍāfa construction, often called a genitive construction or noun-noun possessive phrase.

It literally works like:

• عقد = contract
• الإيجار = the renting / the lease

Together:

• عقد الإيجار = the lease contract or the rental contract

In an iḍāfa:

1. the first noun usually does not take ال
2. the second noun can make the whole phrase definite

So even though عقد has no ال, the whole phrase is definite because الإيجار is definite.

In an iḍāfa construction, the first noun does not take tanwīn.

So:

• عقد in عقد الإيجار has no tanwīn
• that is normal and required in this structure

This is one of the big signs that a phrase is iḍāfa.

الإيجار means renting, rental, or lease, depending on context.

So عقد الإيجار can be translated as:

• the lease contract
• the rental agreement
• the lease

In natural English, people often just say the lease, even though the Arabic phrase literally includes contract.

Yes, structurally it is that kind of relationship.

Arabic uses iḍāfa where English might use:

• of
• a noun before another noun
• a possessive phrase

So عقد الإيجار is literally something like:

• contract of the lease/rental

But in natural English, the best translation is usually:

• lease contract
• rental contract
• lease agreement

Arabic allows more than one normal word order.

Two common possibilities are:

• يوقعون عقد الإيجار
• هم يوقعون عقد الإيجار

Starting with the pronoun can add emphasis, contrast, or simply make the subject more explicit.

A verb-initial sentence is also very common in Arabic, so learners should recognize both patterns.

Because it begins with هم, many learners wonder about this.

Traditional Arabic grammar would often treat a sentence beginning with a pronoun like this as closer to a nominal sentence with a verbal predicate:

• هم = subject/topic
• يوقعون عقد الإيجار = predicate/comment

But for a learner, the most useful point is simpler: it means They are signing the lease, and the pronoun is there for emphasis or explicitness.

In Modern Standard Arabic, هم is used for:

• a group of males
• a mixed group of males and females

It is not normally used for a group of only females.

For an all-female group, Arabic would use:

• هنّ

So هم يوقعون normally refers to they as a masculine or mixed plural.

Yes, in some contexts the imperfect can refer to the future, especially if the context makes that clear.

However, without a future marker such as:

• سـ
• سوف

the most natural reading is usually present: they sign / they are signing.

If you wanted a clearer future meaning, you might say:

• سيوقعون عقد الإيجار = They will sign the lease

In ordinary Modern Standard Arabic writing, short vowels and most case endings are usually omitted.

So the fully vocalized form would be something like:

هُمْ يُوَقِّعُونَ عَقْدَ الإِيجَارِ

But in normal text, it is written simply as:

هم يوقعون عقد الإيجار

Learners should know that the grammatical endings still exist in formal grammar, even when they are not written.

In full formal grammar:

• عقدَ is the direct object, so it is accusative
• الإيجارِ is the second term of the iḍāfa, so it is genitive

So the fully vocalized phrase is:

عقدَ الإيجارِ

This is useful mainly for reading formal texts, recitation, or studying grammar in depth. In everyday printed Arabic, these endings are usually left unwritten.

Yes. Without diacritics, يوقعون can look ambiguous to a learner.

But in this sentence, the object عقد الإيجار makes the meaning clear: it means they sign.

So context is very important in Arabic, especially because normal writing usually omits short vowels and doubling marks.