Complete Imperfect Paradigm: Active, Passive, Affirmative and Negative

1. Introduction to the imperfect conjugation

The Arabic imperfect (muḍāriʿ) can express present or future time, depending on context. Its prefixes and endings indicate person, number and voice.

Word / formMeaning / explanation
يَفْعَلُhe does / will do.
يُفْعَلُit is done / will be done to him.
لَا يَفْعَلُhe does not / will not do.
لَا يُفْعَلُit is not / will not be done to him.

These four forms combine active/passive with affirmative/negative. The paradigm uses the model Form I stem associated here with فَعَلَ.

2. Active imperfect: third-person masculine

The three affirmative active third-person masculine forms refer to one man, two men, or a masculine plural group.

Word / formMeaning / explanation
Singular: يَفْعَلُhe does / will do.
Dual: يَفْعَلَانِthose two men do / will do.
Plural: يَفْعَلُونَthey (masculine plural) do / will do.

The dual has ـانِ, while masculine plural has ـونَ. In their indicative forms, their endings contain the grammatical nūn discussed later in this lesson.

3. Active imperfect: third-person feminine

The affirmative active third-person feminine paradigm distinguishes one woman, two women and a feminine plural group.

Word / formMeaning / explanation
Singular: تَفْعَلُshe does / will do.
Dual: تَفْعَلَانِthose two women do / will do.
Plural: يَفْعَلْنَthose women do / will do.

The singular and dual begin with تَ, but the feminine third-person plural begins with يَ and ends with ـنَ. This feminine-plural nūn is not the same as the inflectional nūn of indicative dual and masculine-plural forms.

4. Active imperfect: second-person masculine

The active second-person masculine forms address one man, two men or a group of men. All three begin with تَ.

Word / formMeaning / explanation
Singular: تَفْعَلُyou (one man) do / will do.
Dual: تَفْعَلَانِyou two men do / will do.
Plural: تَفْعَلُونَyou men do / will do.

تَفْعَلُ is also the surface form for third-person feminine singular. The explicit pronoun أَنْتَ or context identifies the second-person meaning.

5. Active imperfect: second-person feminine

Affirmative active second-person feminine forms address one woman, two women and a group of women.

Word / formMeaning / explanation
Singular: تَفْعَلِينَyou (one woman) do / will do.
Dual: تَفْعَلَانِyou two women do / will do.
Plural: تَفْعَلْنَyou women do / will do.

The singular feminine ends with ـينَ, and feminine plural has ـنَ. The same form تَفْعَلَانِ serves both masculine and feminine second-person dual positions; gender must come from pronoun or context.

6. Active imperfect: two first-person forms

The imperfect has exactly two first-person positions, without separate masculine and feminine forms.
Singular: أَفْعَلُ — I do / will do.
Plural: نَفْعَلُ — we do / will do.
Initial أَ marks first-person singular, and نَ marks first-person plural.
Examples:
أَكْتُبُ — I write / am writing.
نَكْتُبُ — we write / are writing.
A female speaker uses the same Arabic first-person verbal forms as a male speaker.

7. The basic imperfect passive formation rule

To form the imperfect passive from the active, place ḍammah on the imperfect prefix and fatḥah on the penultimate root consonant, while preserving the person-number-gender endings.

Word / formMeaning / explanation
يَفْعَلُ → يُفْعَلُhe does → he is acted upon.
تَفْعَلُ → تُفْعَلُyou do → you are acted upon.
أَفْعَلُ → أُفْعَلُI do → I am acted upon.
نَفْعَلُ → نُفْعَلُwe do → we are acted upon.

In the passive, the event is predicated of the grammatical passive subject, not expressed with an active agent. Person, number and gender still remain identifiable.

8. Passive imperfect: third-person masculine

The affirmative passive third-person masculine paradigm preserves singular, dual and plural distinctions.

Word / formMeaning / explanation
Singular: يُفْعَلُhe is / will be acted upon.
Dual: يُفْعَلَانِthe two men are / will be acted upon.
Plural: يُفْعَلُونَthe men are / will be acted upon.

The plural ending is the same in active يَفْعَلُونَ and passive يُفْعَلُونَ. Their voice difference comes from the prefix and stem vowels, not from replacing the plural suffix.

9. Passive imperfect: third-person feminine

The three affirmative passive feminine third-person forms are:

Word / formMeaning / explanation
Singular: تُفْعَلُshe is / will be acted upon.
Dual: تُفْعَلَانِthose two women are / will be acted upon.
Plural: يُفْعَلْنَthose women are / will be acted upon.

The third-person feminine plural is يُفْعَلْنَ, not تُفْعَلْنَ. Its initial يُ and feminine plural suffix ـنَ identify this paradigm position. The final root consonant is sākin before the nūn of feminine plural.

10. Passive imperfect: second-person masculine

The affirmative passive second-person masculine forms are:

Word / formMeaning / explanation
Singular: تُفْعَلُyou (one man) are / will be acted upon.
Dual: تُفْعَلَانِyou two men are / will be acted upon.
Plural: تُفْعَلُونَyou men are / will be acted upon.

تُفْعَلُ also occurs for third-person feminine singular passive. A surface form alone does not always determine person or gender; the sentence context identifies the intended relationship.

11. Passive imperfect: second-person feminine

The affirmative passive second-person feminine forms are:

Word / formMeaning / explanation
Singular: تُفْعَلِينَyou (one woman) are / will be acted upon.
Dual: تُفْعَلَانِyou two women are / will be acted upon.
Plural: تُفْعَلْنَyou women are / will be acted upon.

ـينَ in تُفْعَلِينَ marks second-person feminine singular. The feminine plural تُفْعَلْنَ instead ends with ـنَ. These endings distinguish the addressed number.

12. Passive imperfect: first-person forms

The affirmative passive first-person forms are:
Singular: أُفْعَلُ — I am / will be acted upon.
Plural: نُفْعَلُ — we are / will be acted upon.
أَفْعَلُ → أُفْعَلُ changes initial hamzah from fatḥah to ḍammah.
نَفْعَلُ → نُفْعَلُ likewise changes the initial nūn to ḍammah.
Changing active to passive does not change the number of the first-person subject. Arabic first-person imperfects also do not encode separate male and female forms.

13. Negating the imperfect with lā

Prefixing لَا to the affirmative imperfect produces the negative indicative imperfect used in this paradigm. Merely adding this negative particle does not change person, number, gender or voice.

Word / formMeaning / explanation
يَفْعَلُ → لَا يَفْعَلُhe does → he does not.
يُفْعَلُ → لَا يُفْعَلُit is done → it is not done.
تَفْعَلِينَ → لَا تَفْعَلِينَyou (f.s.) do → you do not.

Here لَا is ordinary negation, not a prohibitive command. Hence the model verbs retain their indicative endings: لَا يَفْعَلُ still ends in ḍammah.

14. Negative active imperfect: all third-person forms

In the negative active third-person masculine paradigm, لَا precedes each active verb without changing the person or number ending:

Word / formMeaning / explanation
Singular: لَا يَفْعَلُhe does not / will not do.
Dual: لَا يَفْعَلَانِthose two men do not / will not do.
Plural: لَا يَفْعَلُونَthe men do not / will not do.

The suffixes of يَفْعَلَانِ and يَفْعَلُونَ are unchanged when ordinary negative لَا is prefixed. This is different from the jussive forms governed by لَمْ, treated in the next section.
The negative active third-person feminine forms are:

Word / formMeaning / explanation
Singular: لَا تَفْعَلُshe does not / will not do.
Dual: لَا تَفْعَلَانِthe two women do not / will not do.
Plural: لَا يَفْعَلْنَthe women do not / will not do.

In the feminine third-person plural, the correct form is لَا يَفْعَلْنَ. The initial يَ is its active imperfect prefix; final ـنَ indicates feminine plural. Simple negation does not change these markers.

15. Negative active imperfect: all second-person forms

The negative active second-person masculine forms retain singular, dual and plural:

Word / formMeaning / explanation
Singular: لَا تَفْعَلُyou (one man) do not / will not do.
Dual: لَا تَفْعَلَانِyou two men do not / will not do.
Plural: لَا تَفْعَلُونَyou men do not / will not do.

لَا تَفْعَلُ is not the prohibitive 'do not!' form لَا تَفْعَلْ. The former negates a statement and retains the indicative ḍammah; the latter is jussive and used in prohibition.
The negative active second-person feminine forms are:

Word / formMeaning / explanation
Singular: لَا تَفْعَلِينَyou (one woman) do not / will not do.
Dual: لَا تَفْعَلَانِyou two women do not / will not do.
Plural: لَا تَفْعَلْنَyou women do not / will not do.

The singular feminine form لَا تَفْعَلِينَ retains its inflectional nūn in this paradigm. Feminine plural لَا تَفْعَلْنَ instead contains the nūn of feminine plural, which is morphologically different. The entire ending determines the distinction.

16. First-person negative active and passive

The negative active first-person forms are:
Singular: لَا أَفْعَلُ — I do not / will not do.
Plural: لَا نَفْعَلُ — we do not / will not do.
أَفْعَلُ → لَا أَفْعَلُ preserves the hamzah prefix and the indicative final ḍammah.
نَفْعَلُ → لَا نَفْعَلُ preserves the first-person plural nūn.
Arabic does not give separate masculine/feminine verbal endings for first-person imperfects; translation depends on speaker and context.
The negative passive first-person paradigm contains:
Singular: لَا أُفْعَلُ — I am not / will not be acted upon.
Plural: لَا نُفْعَلُ — we are not / will not be acted upon.
لَا أَفْعَلُ is negative active: the speaker is the doer.
لَا أُفْعَلُ is negative passive: the action is predicated of the speaker, without stating the agent.
Four full imperfect paradigms occupy 14 × 4 = 56 positions, although some surface forms recur across different pronouns.

17. Negative passive imperfect: third person

Negative passive imperfect, third-person masculine:

Word / formMeaning / explanation
Singular: لَا يُفْعَلُhe is not / will not be acted upon.
Dual: لَا يُفْعَلَانِthose two men are not / will not be acted upon.
Plural: لَا يُفْعَلُونَthose men are not / will not be acted upon.

Third-person feminine:

Word / formMeaning / explanation
Singular: لَا تُفْعَلُshe is not / will not be acted upon.
Dual: لَا تُفْعَلَانِthose two women are not / will not be acted upon.
Plural: لَا يُفْعَلْنَthose women are not / will not be acted upon.

In all six forms, لَا supplies negation without undoing the passive vowel pattern.

18. Negative passive imperfect: second person

Negative passive imperfect, second-person masculine:

Word / formMeaning / explanation
Singular: لَا تُفْعَلُyou (m.s.) are not / will not be acted upon.
Dual: لَا تُفْعَلَانِyou two men are not / will not be acted upon.
Plural: لَا تُفْعَلُونَyou men are not / will not be acted upon.

Second-person feminine:

Word / formMeaning / explanation
Singular: لَا تُفْعَلِينَyou (f.s.) are not / will not be acted upon.
Dual: لَا تُفْعَلَانِyou two women are not / will not be acted upon.
Plural: لَا تُفْعَلْنَyou women are not / will not be acted upon.

Negation retains the endings ـونَ، ـينَ، ـانِ and ـنَ, so all six addressed positions remain intact.

19. Imperfect prefixes: hamzah, nūn, yāʾ and tāʾ

The imperfect begins with one of four prefix letters: أ، ن، ي، ت. These are the ḥurūf al-muḍāraʿah, memorised through أَتَيْنَ.

Word / formMeaning / explanation
يَفْعَلُthird-person masculine singular; يَفْعَلْنَ also serves third-person feminine plural.
تَفْعَلُthird-person feminine singular or second-person masculine singular, among other tāʾ-initial forms.
أَفْعَلُfirst-person singular.
نَفْعَلُfirst-person plural.

The prefix helps identify the pronoun group, but accurate identification also depends on the ending.

20. The five forms with indicative ḍammah

In this model indicative paradigm, five pronoun positions end with ḍammah:

Word / formMeaning / explanation
يَفْعَلُthird-person masculine singular.
تَفْعَلُthird-person feminine singular.
تَفْعَلُsecond-person masculine singular.
أَفْعَلُfirst-person singular.
نَفْعَلُfirst-person plural.

There are five paradigm positions, although تَفْعَلُ is identical in two of them. Indicative status is shown by a final ḍammah in these forms and by retention of the inflectional nūn in others.

21. The seven forms with inflectional nūn

Seven imperfect positions have an inflectional nūn in the indicative. In the four dual positions it carries kasrah:

Word / formMeaning / explanation
يَفْعَلَانِthird-person masculine dual.
تَفْعَلَانِthird-person feminine dual.
تَفْعَلَانِsecond-person masculine dual.
تَفْعَلَانِsecond-person feminine dual.

In three other positions the nūn carries fatḥah:

Word / formMeaning / explanation
يَفْعَلُونَthird-person masculine plural.
تَفْعَلُونَsecond-person masculine plural.
تَفْعَلِينَsecond-person feminine singular.

The inflectional nūn is retained in these indicative forms; different endings appear when governing particles require subjunctive or jussive forms.

22. Feminine-plural nūn versus inflectional nūn

The feminine-plural imperfect forms يَفْعَلْنَ and تَفْعَلْنَ end with the nūn of feminine plural (nūn al-niswah), a pronominal suffix identifying the group.
By contrast, the nūn at the end of تَفْعَلِينَ is inflectional nūn retained in the indicative.
تَفْعَلِينَ — you (one woman) do; yāʾ plus inflectional nūn.
تَفْعَلْنَ — you (women) do; nūn al-niswah.
Before nūn al-niswah the last root consonant is sākin and the verb is indeclinable in this pattern. That nūn is not the indicative nūn that disappears under certain subjunctive/jussive conditions.

23. Practical conjugation: passive and negation

Forming a passive and negating it involve two independent processes: modifying prefix/stem vowels for voice, and adding لَا for negation.
يَضْرِبُ → يُضْرَبُ → لَا يُضْرَبُ — he strikes; he is struck; he is not struck.
يَسْمَعُ → يُسْمَعُ → لَا يُسْمَعُ — he hears; a sound is heard; a sound is not heard.
A natural full clause:

Word / formMeaning / explanation
يَكْتُبُ الرِّسَالَةَhe writes the letter.
تُكْتَبُ الرِّسَالَةُthe letter is written.
لَا تُكْتَبُ الرِّسَالَةُthe letter is not written.

Turning a whole clause passive can also alter the grammatical role of the associated noun; the morphological operation itself changes the verb's vowels.

24. Imperfect patterns across different verbs

The book's exercises include يَجْتَنِبُ، يَكْتُبُ، يَسْمَعُ، يَعْلَمُ and يَمْنَعُ. Their stem vowels should not be forced into one universal pattern; each verb follows its own morphological form.

Word / formMeaning / explanation
يَجْتَنِبُhe avoids; Form VIII (iftʿāl).
يَكْتُبُhe writes; basic root k-t-b.
يَسْمَعُhe hears; basic root s-m-ʿ.
يَعْلَمُhe knows; basic root ʿ-l-m.
يَمْنَعُhe prevents; basic root m-n-ʿ.

All five begin with يَ as active third-person masculine singular, yet their internal vowels identify different conjugational patterns.

25. Indicative, negation and the complete paradigm

Four imperfect paradigms provide 56 pronoun positions: fourteen affirmative active, fourteen affirmative passive, fourteen negative active and fourteen negative passive. Recognition involves person, number, gender, voice and polarity as distinct facts.

Word / formMeaning / explanation
يَفْعَلُونَthird-person masculine plural, active affirmative.
لَا يَفْعَلُونَsame person/number, active negative.
يُفْعَلُونَsame person/number, passive affirmative.
لَا يُفْعَلُونَsame person/number, passive negative.

With ordinary negative لَا, the indicative ending remains here. لَنْ and لَمْ introduce different inflectional conditions and belong to the next separate section.