The 14 Morphological Persons (Seegah)

1. What Does a Seegah Tell You?

A verb can change depending on who did the action.
In Sarf, each specific conjugated position is called a Seegah.
A Seegah helps answer three questions:
• Who? — third person, addressed person, or speaker
• How many? — one, two, or more than two
• Which gender? — masculine or feminine
The Arabic labels for these categories will appear in separate cells on the next slides.
The standard past/present conjugation grid has 14 positions.
For now, understand the system; memorizing every form comes later.

2. Number: One, Two, or More?

Arabic distinguishes three number categories:

Simple exampleMeaningTerm
one man / one womanoneواحد
two men / two womenexactly twoتثنیہ
a groupmore than twoجمع

The dual category is especially important: Arabic gives exactly two people their own grammatical form.

3. Ghaa'ib, Haadhir and Mutakallim

Simple ideaWhen it is usedCategory
he / she / theyWe speak about someoneغائب
youWe speak directly to someoneحاضر
I / weThe speaker speaks about selfمتکلم

Quick check:
• Third person = Ghaa'ib
• Addressed person = Haadhir
• Speaker = Mutakallim

4. Masculine and Feminine

For Ghaa'ib and Haadhir forms, the grid also distinguishes gender:

Example ideaMeaningTerm
he / you (male)masculineمذکر
she / you (female)feminineمؤنث

A masculine Ghaa'ib form refers to a male being spoken about.
A feminine Haadhir form refers to a female being addressed.
In the first person, male and female speakers use the same forms.

5. How the 14 Positions Are Built

Now the full grid becomes easy:

CountPluralDualSingularGroup
3they (m.)they two (m.)heMasculine Ghaa'ib
3they (f.)they two (f.)sheFeminine Ghaa'ib
3you all (m.)you two (m.)you (m.)Masculine Haadhir
3you all (f.)you two (f.)you (f.)Feminine Haadhir
2we—IMutakallim

Memory trick: 6 Ghaa'ib + 6 Haadhir + 2 Mutakallim = 14.

6. Why Does Mutakallim Have Only 2 Forms?

The first person is simpler than the other groups:
• First-person singular = “I”
• First-person plural = “We”
The same first-person forms are used by male and female speakers.
The “we” form covers two or more speakers, so there is no separate first-person dual form in the 14-position grid.
Arabic terms:
واحد متکلم
جمع متکلم

7. A Simple Map of the 14 Seegah

Three things help you identify a Seegah:

English meaningArabic termsWhat to identify
one / two / more than twoواحد / تثنیہ / جمعNumber
spoken about / spoken to / speakerغائب / حاضر / متکلمPerson
masculine / feminineمذکر / مؤنثGender

Easy formula: 6 Ghaa'ib + 6 Haadhir + 2 Mutakallim = 14
You do not need to memorize all 14 forms yet. If this map is clear, you are ready to learn the actual conjugation step-by-step.