In this article we will take a short look at the main moods of the Standard Arabic verb: indicative, subjunctive, jussive, and imperative. We won’t go into excessive detail, just the contexts that beginning and intermediate learners of Arabic are likely to encounter. This is also the reason we won’t discuss the short and long “energetic” moods; they simply don’t occur very often in non-literary texts.

Overview

We discussing mood in Arabic, we are generally talking about different forms of the imperfect (such as يكتب yaktub ‘he writes’) as opposed to the perfect (as in كَتَبَ kataba ‘he wrote’). From a syntactic perspective, the Arabic perfect belongs to indicative mood, but that is not how people traditionally talk about mood in Arabic.

Before discussing how the different moods are used, let’s first get an idea of what they look like. We will postpone our discussion of the imperative, which is based on the jussive. The following table shows the indicative, subjunctive, and jussive forms of يكتب yaktub ‘he writes’:

Indicative	Subjunctive	Jussive
يَكْتُبُ	يَكْتُبَ	يَكْتُبْ
yaktubu	yaktuba	yaktub

Note how the indicative has the suffix -u, the subjunctive has the suffix -a, and the jussive has no suffix at all. In informal Arabic, the indicative u ending and the subjunctive a ending would not be pronounced, so that all three forms would be pronounced yaktub.

The following pattern (-u for indicative, -a for subjunctive, and no ending for jussive) holds for all persons that don’t take an inherent suffix (هو huwa, هي hiya, أنتَ ’anta, أنا ’anaa, and نحن naḥnu):

Subject	Indicative	Subjunctive	Jussive
هُوَ	يَكْتُبُ	يَكْتُبَ	يَكْتُبْ
huwa	yaktubu	yaktuba	yaktub
هِيَ	تَكْتُبُ	تَكْتُبَ	تَكْتُبْ
hiya	taktubu	taktuba	taktub
أَنْتَ	تَكْتُبُ	تَكْتُبَ	تَكْتُبْ
’anta	taktubu	taktuba	taktub
أَنا	أَكْتُبُ	أَكْتُبَ	أَكْتُبْ
’anaa	’aktubu	’aktuba	’aktub
نَحْنُ	نَكْتُبُ	نَكْتُبَ	نَكْتُبْ
naḥnu	naktubu	naktuba	naktub

The two feminine plurals (هُنَّ hunna ‘they’ and أَنْتُنَّ ’antunna ‘you’) remain exactly the same in these three moods:

Subject	Indicative	Subjunctive	Jussive
هُنَّ	يَكْتُبْنَ	يَكْتُبْنَ	يَكْتُبْنَ
hunna	yaktubna	yaktubna	yaktubna
أَنْتُنَّ	تَكْتُبْنَ	تَكْتُبْنَ	تَكْتُبْنَ
’antunna	taktubna	taktubna	taktubna

The remaining forms are all characterized by a suffix: either -iina (for أَنْتِ ‘anti ‘you (fem. sing.)’), -aani (for duals هُما humaa ‘they’ and أَنْتُما ‘antumaa ‘you’), or -uuna (for masculine plurals هُمْ hum ‘they’ and أَنْتُمْ ‘antum ‘you’) in the indicative (typically shortened to -iin, -aan, and -uun in informal Arabic). In both the subjunctive and the jussive, the na/ni of these suffixes is dropped. So the subjunctive and jussive forms for these persons are identical:

Subject	Indicative	Subjunctive/Jussive
أَنْتِ	تَكْتُبِينَ	تَكْتُبِي
’anti	taktubiina	taktubii
هُما	يَكْتُبانِ/تَكْتُبانِ	يَكْتُبا/تَكْتُبا
humaa	yaktubaani/taktubaani	yaktubaa/taktubaa
أَنْتُما	تَكْتُبانِ	تَكْتُبا
’antumaa	taktubaani	taktubaa
هُمْ	يَكْتُبُونَ	يَكْتُبُوا
hum	yaktubuuna	yaktubuu
أَنْتُمْ	تَكْتُبُونَ	تَكْتُبُوا
’antum	taktubuuna	taktubuu
أَنْتُمْ	تَكْتُبُونَ	تَكْتُبُوا
’antum	taktubuuna	taktubuu

In the table, two verb forms are given for هُما humaa ‘they’: the first is masculine, and the second is feminine.

That covers the most basic cases, that is, for all verbs except those that are defective, hollow, or doubled. A bit more will be said about these defective and hollow verbs in the discussion of jussive mood and the imperative.

Now that we have seen what the different moods look like, we can consider the most important contexts in which they occur.

Indicative

The indicative is used in a simple sentence or question in the present tense, whether affirmative or negated with لا laa:

أنا أَكْتُبُ خِطاباتٍ كَثيرة.

’anaa ’aktubu khiṭaabaatin kathiira.

‘I write a lot of letters.’

أنا لا أَكْتُبُ خطاباتٍ كَثيرة.

’anaa laa ’aktubu khiṭaabaatin kathiira.

‘I don’t write many letters.’

Many of the differences in the moods involve suffixes that would not be pronounced in informal Arabic. Therefore, for consistency’s sake, the example sentences in this article will be fully vocalized as they would be pronounced in formal or Classical Arabic.

The indicative is also used in the affirmative future tense, marked by either سَوْفَ sawfa or the prefix سَـ sa-:

سَوْفَ أَكْتُبُ الْخِطاباتِ غَدًا.

sawfa ’aktubu l-khiṭaabaati ghadan.

‘I will write the letters tomorrow.’

سَأَكْتُبُ الْخِطاباتِ غَدًا.

sa’aktubu l-khiṭaabaat ghadan.

‘I’ll write the letters tomorrow.’

Subjunctive

The subjunctive is used for a verb following the negative future particle لَنْ lan:

لَنْ أَكْتُبَ خِطابًا الْيَوْم.

lan ’aktuba khiṭaaban al-yawm.

‘I won’t write a letter today.’

The subjunctive is also used after various particles meaning ‘in order to’, ‘so that’, or with similar meanings, such as لِ li, لِكَيْ likay, and أَنْ ’an:

اِشْتَرَيْتُ قَلَمًا لِأَكْتُبَ خِطابًا.

’ishtaraytu qalaman li-’aktuba khiṭaaban.

‘I bought a pen to write a letter.’

اِشْتَرَيْتُ قَلَمًا لِكَيْ أَكْتُبَ خِطابًا.

’ishtaraytu qalaman likay ’aktuba khiṭaaban.

‘I bought a pen to write a letter.’

أُرِيدُ أَنْ أَكْتُبَ الْخِطابَ غَدًا.

’uriidu ’an ’aktuba l-khiṭaaba ghadan.

‘I want to write the letter tomorrow.’

There are a number of other particles and situations requiring the subjunctive. These are just the most crucial ones for beginners. See the section below on resources for more complete discussion.

Jussive

The jussive is used after the particle لَمْ lam, which is used to express the negative past tense:

لَمْ أَكْتُبْ خِطابًا الْيَوم.

lam ’aktub khiṭaaban al-yawm.

‘I didn’t write a letter today.’

The jussive is also used with لا laa for a negative command:

لا تَكْتُبْ الْخِطابَ الْيَوْمَ، مِنْ فَضْلِك.

laa taktub il-khiṭaaba l-yawma, min faḍli-ka.

‘Don’t write the letter today, please.’

There are a number of other situations requiring the jussive. The two just presented are simply the most crucial ones for beginners. See the section below on resources for more complete discussion of the jussive.

When a verb is hollow or defective, for the five forms lacking an inherent suffix in the imperfect (هو huwa, هي hiya, أنتَ ’anta, أنا ’anaa, and نحن naḥnu), the jussive can be hard for learners to recognize, since they involve shortening the last vowel in the stem, changing the spelling. So as to put the jussive in context, in the following examples we’ll use the negative past for a jussive context and compare it with the negative present, which is a context for the indicative mood. Notice how either a ا, و , ي, or ى is dropped in the jussive form.

Jussive	Indicative
لَم يَشْتَرِ	لا يَشْتَري
lam yashtari	laa yashtarii
‘he didn’t buy’	‘he doesn’t buy’
لَمْ يَصْحُ	لا يَصْحو
lam yaṣḥu	laa yaṣḥuu
‘he didn’t wake up’	‘he doesn’t wake up’
لَمْ يَبْقَ	لا يَبْقى
lam yabqa	laa yabqaa
‘he didn’t stay’	‘he doesn’t stay’
لَمْ يَصِحْ	لا يَصِيحُ
lam yaṣḥu	laa yaṣḥuu
‘he didn’t wake up’	‘he doesn’t wake up’
لَمْ يَدُرْ	لا يَدُورُ
lam yadur	laa yaduuru
‘he didn’t turn’	‘he doesn’t turn’
لَمْ يَنَمْ	لا يَنامُ
lam yanam	laa yanaamu
‘he didn’t sleep’	‘he doesn’t sleep’

Imperative

The imperative form is used for an affirmative command:

اِقْرَأْ هَذا الْكِتاب.

’iqra’ haadhaa l-kitaab.

‘Read this book.’

Remember that for a negative command we use the jussive preceded by لا laa, as shown in the section above.

The imperative is based on the jussive. Generally, you simply remove the prefix تََـ ta- or تُـ tu- from the jussive to form the imperative. If the word you are left with after removing the prefix starts with a single consonant, as in the case of تُفَكِّرْ tufakkir ‘you think (m.s., jussive)’, you’re done. Here are all of the imperative forms of that verb:

Subject	Indicative	Jussive	Imperative
أَنْتَ	تُفَنِّرُ	تُفَكِّرْ	فَكِّر
’anta	tufakkiru	tufakkir	fakkir
أَنْتِ	تُفَكِّرينَ	تُفَكِّري	فَكِّري
’anti	tufakkiriina	tufakkirii	fakkirii
أَنْتُما	تُفَكِّرانِ	تُفَكِّرا	فَكِّرا
’antumaa	tufakkiraani	tufakkiraa	fakkiraa
أَنْتُمْ	تُفَكِّرونَ	تُفَكِّروا	فَكِّروا
’antum	tufakkiruuna	tufakkiruu	fakkiruu
أَنْتُنَّ	تُفَكِّرْنَ	تُفَكِّرْنَ	فَكِّرْنَ
’antunna	tufakkirna	tufakkirna	fakkirna

Here are a variety of other verbs that form their imperative simply by removing the تََـ ta- or تُـ tu- prefix. Note how the resulting imperative begins with a single consonant.

Imperative	Jussive
فَكِّرْ	تُفَكِّرْ
fakkir	tufakkir
‘think’
شاهِدْ	تُشاهِدْ
shaahid	tushaahid
‘watch’
تَعَلَّمْ	تَتَعَلَّمْ
taʕallam	tataʕallam
‘learn’
تَراسَلْ	تَتَراسَلْ
taraasal	tataraasal
‘correspond (with someone)’
صِحْ	تَصِحْ
ṣiḥ	taṣiḥ
‘shout’
دُرْ	تَدُرْ
dur	tadur
‘turn’

So, how do you form the imperative of a verb like تَقْرَأْ taqra’ ‘you read (m.s., jussive)’? If we take off the تََـ ta- prefix we are left with قْرَأْ qra’, which begins with two consonants rather than one. In this case we need to add اِ ’i to the beginning (with an elidible glottal stop), giving us اِقْرَأْ ’iqra’. Here are a few different verbs that work like this, again in the masculine singular أَنْتَ ’anta form:

Jussive	Imperative
تَفْتَحْ	اِفْتَحْ
taftaḥ	’iftaḥ
‘open’
تَبْتَسِمْ	اِبْتَسِمْ
tabtasim	’ibtasim
‘smile’
تَسْتَعْمِلْ	اِسْتَعْمِلْ
tastaʕmil	’istaʕmil
‘use’

There are two major exceptions to this way of forming the imperative with a verb stem that begins with two consonants. The first is with verbs like تَكْتُبْ taktub ‘you write (m.s., jussive)’, in which the “stem vowel” (the vowel of the last syllable of the stem) is u. In this case, instead of adding اِ ’i, we will add an initial اُ ’u (again, with an elidible glottal stop), as in these examples:

Imperative	Jussive
تَكْتُبْ	اُكْتُبْ
taktub	’uktub
‘write’
تَدْرُسْ	أُدْرُسْ
tadrus	’udrus
‘study’
تَنْظُرْ	اُنْظُرْ
tunḍhur	’unḍhur
‘look’

The second exception is the so-called Form IV verbs, which are verbs with the patterns أَفْعَلَ ’afʕala and أَفْعَلَ yufʕilu. For these verbs, after removing the initial تُـ tu- prefix, we add an initial أَ ’a- prefix (with a real hamza):

Imperative	Jussive
تُكْمِلْ	أَكْمِلْ
tukmil	’akmil
‘complete’

Resources

Here are two additional sources on moods in Arabic that you may find useful:

• The layout on Tripod ain’t pretty, but the information seems very complete regarding the contexts requiring the various moods.
• The Arabic Language Blog on the Transparent Language site also has a page on Arabic moods that you may find useful. It is not as complete as the Tripod pages, but may be easier for a beginner to follow.