Arabic and English Sentence Patterns: A Comparative Guide

17 | P a g e moods are derived from the present-tense indicative but are not themselves marked for tense and do not locate the action in time. The time reference of these moods depends on indicative verbs and other sentence elements. Beginning with the indicative ﺗَﻔْﻌَﻞُ ( you [masc. sing.] do, make ), vowel/affix changes signaling different moods are readily recognizable in the subjunctive ﺗَﻔْﻌَﻞَ , jussive ﺗَﻔْﻌَﻞْ , and imperative إِﻓْﻌَﻞْ . Other changes occur in order to agree with the noun to which the verb refers. 32F34F 35 While English mood forms are most often defined semantically (narrowing the gap between mood and modality), Arabic mood forms are usually defined formally, with little reference to meaning. This is what we could expect, as the form of the Arabic verb is easy to describe. This concentration on form, though, widens the gap between mood and modality. With the exception of the imperative, which, as in English, consistently indicates the modality of obligation, Arabic mood forms have even less correspondence with modality than do English forms. The Arabic and English indicative are similar in meaning. She studies/is studying. ﺗَﺪْرُسُ. The Arabic imperative also carries the same semantic weight as the English. Study! (2 nd Person, Singular, Feminine : أﻧﺖِ ) أُدْرُﺳﻲ ! The Arabic jussive has no English parallel; it is most commonly used in the following ways: Past Negation / اﻟﻨﻔﻲ اﻟﻤﺎﺿﻲ She did not study/has not studied. ﻟَﻢْ ﺗَﺪْرُسْ. Negative Imperative / اﻟﻨﮭﻲ Don’t study! (2 nd Person, Singular, Feminine : أﻧﺖِ ) ﻻ ﺗَﺪْرُﺳﻲ! Conditional Clauses / اﻟﺸﺮط No matter what the weather is (like), he goes out / is outside.