Arabic and English Sentence Patterns: A Comparative Guide

18 | P a g e ﻣَﮭْﻤﺎ ﯾَﻜُﻦِ اﻟﻄ ﱠ ﻘْﺲُ ﯾَﺨْﺮُجْ / ﻓَﺈِﻧ ﱠ ﮫُ ﺧﺎرِجٌ. 36 If you study, you (will) succeed. ﺗَﻨْﺠَﺢْ . إنْ ﺗَﺪْرُسْ The Arabic subjunctive is quite different from its modern English counterpart and is perhaps best categorized with classical languages such as Ancient Greek and Latin, in which the subjunctive subordinates a verb in a dependent (subordinate) clause to a verb in an independent clause. 37 Arabic subjunctive verbs nearly always follow this rule. He stood (up) in order to see. 38 ﻗﺎمَ )لِ ، ﻛَﻲْ ، ﻟِﻜَﻲْ ، ﻷِنْ ، ﺣَﺘّﻰ( ﯾُﺸﺎھِﺪَ . As mentioned earlier (p. 6), Arabic does not use modal auxiliary verbs to express modality. 39 Rather, forms such as the following are employed. Active Participle / إﺳﻢ اﻟﻔﺎﻋﻞ May, Might, Can, Could ﻣُﻤْﻜِﻦٌ Adjective / اﻟﺼﻔﺔ Necessary ﺿَﺮوري Fixed-Inflection Lexical Verb 40 / اﻟﻔﻌﻞ اﻟﻐﯿﺮ ﻣﻌﺮب Must ﯾَﺠِﺐُ Can, Could ﯾُﻤْﻜِﻦُ Noun / اﻻﺳﻢ Necessity ﺿَﺮورَةٌ Must (as in ﻻ ﺑُﺪﱠ ) ﺑُﺪﱞ Particle / ةاداﻷ Will, Shall ﺳَﻮْفَ Passive Participle / اﺳﻢ اﻟﻤﻔﻌﻮل