Lesson 16

In the name of Allah, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful.

Assalamu'alaikum and greetings to all.


LESSON 16 MOODS OF THE IMPERFECT TENSE

1. The imperfect tense, مُضَارِعٌ فِعْلٌ ( fi’il mudhori’ ) denotes unfinished action.
2. It may be made to indicate the distant future by putting سَوْفَ( saufa ) before it or to indicate near future by prefixing سَ ( sa ). For example, سَيَكْتُبُ زَيْدٌ ( sayaktubu zaidun ) meaning ‘Zaid will write’.
3. A present tense imperfect verb may be found in one of three grammatical moods i.e. the indicative, the subjunctive and the jussive.
4. Note that mood is only applicable to imperfect verbs and not perfect verbs, فِعْلٌ مَاضِىٌ ( fi’il madhi ).
5. Table 39 below shows some features of the moods.

TABLE 39 FEATURES OF THE MOODS OF THE IMPERFECT

MOODS	INDICATIVE	SUBJUNCTIVE	JUSSIVE
Traditional Arabic	مَرْفُوعٌ ( marfuʿ )	مَنْصُوبٌ ( manṣub )	مَجْزُومٌ ( majzum )
Ending of the imperfect	ُ ( dhommah )	َ ( fathah )	ْ ( sukun )
Use of the verb	‘default form’	intent, purpose, expectation, permission, possibility or necessity	command, prohibition, as a result of an imperative, in conditional clauses
Particles that bring about the changes	Absence of any particle	Kindly see Table 40 below.	Kindly see Table 41 below.

TABLE 40 THE SUBJUNCTIVE

No	PARTICLES THAT CHANGE THE ENDING	ENGLISH	EXAMPLES	ENGLISH
1)	أَنْ an	that	أَنْ يَذْهَبَ an yazhaba	That he goes.
2)	لَنْ lan	certainly not	لَنْ يَذْهَبَ lan yazhaba	He will never go.
3)	إِذَنْ izan	in that case	إِذَنْ يَذْهَبَ izan yazhaba	In that case he goes.
4)	كَيْ kai	in order that	كَيْ يَذْهَبَ kai yazhaba	In order that he goes.

TABLE 41 THE JUSSIVE

No	PARTICLES THAT CHANGE THE ENDING	ENGLISH	EXAMPLES	ENGLISH
1)	لَمْ lam	not	لَمْ يَفْعَلْ lam yaf’al	He did not do.
2)	ل ‘lam’	lam of command	لِيُنْفِقْ ذُو سَعَةٍ liyunfiq zu sa’at	The prosperous must spend.
3)	لا la	لا of prohibition	لَا تَحْزَنْ la tahzan	Do not grieve.
4)	إِنْ in	if	إِنْ تَعْجَلْ تَنْدَمْ in ta’jal tandam	If you hurry, you will regret.
5)	لَمَّا lamma	never	لَمَّا يَضْرِبْ lamma yadhrib	He never beats.

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