Arabic and English Sentence Patterns: A Comparative Guide

61 | P a g e 16 Historically, there has been significant controversy over the characterization of verbs. Grammarians categorizing the present with the future referred to اﻟﻤﺎﺿﻲ and اﻟﻤﺴﺘﻘﺒﻞ only, while others (the Basra school in particular) kept اﻟﻤﺎﺿﻲ but used اﻟﻤﻀﺎرع to combine the present and future into one category. The latter designation has become the standard. See Ja’far, Time 105-7. 17 Simple refers to the verb form without explicit aspectual distinctions, for example He writes as opposed to He has written / is writing / has been writing . Semantically, the English simple tense can indicate aspect based on context, for example He wrote (completed action) or He wrote for an hour (ongoing action). 18 Structures using ﻗَﺪْ in this manner are not common in spoken Arabic. For spoken equivalents, see Gomaa, Lina. From MSA to CA: A Beginner's Guide for Transitioning into Colloquial Arabic . PDXOpen: 2015. http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/pdxopen/8 19 This is an uncommon structure in MSA; it might be encountered in writing but is not recommended for use. Similarly rare or archaic structures will also be identified with an *. 20 This does not apply to all verbs. ﯾَﺬْھَﺐُ , for example, does not generally mean “He is going”; the progressive meaning is usually expressed by the active participle ذاھِﺐٌ . Peter Abboud, et al, eds., Intermediate Modern Standard Arabic , revised ed. (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, 1997) 102. Arabic uses progressive aspect with stative verbs more persistently than does English. For example, أﻧﺎ ﻋﺎرِفٌ , “I am knowing,” and أﻧﺎ ﻓﺎھِﻢٌ , “I am understanding,” are common. 21 Arabic participles differ grammatically and semantically from their English counterparts. Arabic participles are generally considered nouns that “match” the verb either substantively, indicating the doer of an action ( ھﻲ ﺒﺔ ﻛﺎﺗِ ), or adjectivally, using the action to modify another noun ( اﻟﻜﻠﻤﺔ اﻟﻤﻜﺘﻮﺑﺔ ). See Beeston, Arabic 25.