INTRODUCTION
Forms are tools for the westerners to learn the derived verbs of the
Arabic language easily. They are invented by the western teachers of
the Arabic language to facilitate teaching. There are fifteen forms but
only ten of them are used commonly. Despite the fact that Arabic only
has two tenses, i.e., present (imperfect) and perfect (past), it is a
rich language. History tells us that Arabic language reached its zenith
during the time of Prophet Muhammad (May peace and blessings be
upon him.) During his time, poets yearly would come to the Macca and
read their poems and compete for the prize. The best poem would be
selected and posted to the wall of big Mosque there until the next year.
The arabs of that era were preoccupied with writing and talking poetry.
This was due to the richness of the Arabic language and poet's using
this richness to express his abilities. There is a saying in the
Turkish language, it goes like this, "The tool does the work, but the
hand brags about it." For example, one drives a nail with the hammer.
The hand says that the hand drove the nail but I want to see that hand
driving the nail without the hammer! A poet might have all the superior
qualities but if the tool, i.e., the language does not possess
the necessary richness, the poet cannot show his superior qualities.
Why am I laboring about this is that the richness of the Arabic language
comes from the tool called derived verbs and other derived words. Derived
verbs enrich the Arabic language. As I mentioned elsewhere in this tutorial
Arabic verbs mostly are represented by three root letters. There are also
many
four letter root verbs but I will concentrate on the three letter root
verbs. English language also has many derived words, e.g., nouns derived
from the verbs, e.g., "accomplishment" derived from the verb "accomplish"
or prefixes and suffixes are attached to the verbs to give some additional
meaning. Similarly, this concept of deriving other words from the verbs
reaches its extreme richness in Arabic language. For example, there are
verbs exclusively used for describing a group interaction or expressing a
meaning of one person's interaction with another person or object. So it is
very important to learn the derived verbs and forms enable us for this
purpose. Anyway, I think this much of an introduction is good enough and
let's get to the heart of the subject. Please click on the verbs in the left
frame to see the conjugation of the FORM 1 verbs.
If you see any error or any other comments please send me
mail at:
(PrayerWare)