Lesson 15

The present Tense (part I)

Please, concentrate with me in this lesson.

In the present tense, the standard verb begins with letter "ى", but when we add the verb to any subject, we change the first letter, or change the first letter and add a letter at the end of the verb, or just add a letter at the end of the verb, or we do not change anything. All this matter depends on the kind of the subject.

I hear you shout and say: “What does this mean?” Be patient. I will explain everything to you.

Let's take the verb "Eat" as an example to explain to you what I mean. This verb is “ياكل” in Arabic:

English	Arabic	Pronunciation
I eat	اكل
He eats	ياكل
She eats	تاكل
You eat (singular masculine)	تاكل
You eat (singular feminine)	تاكلى
You eat (plural)	تاكلوا
We eat	ناكل
They eat	ياكلوا

From the above it is clear to us the changing in the first letter or the addition after the last letter will be as in the table below:

I	ا / -
He	- / -
She	ت / -
You (singular masculine)	ت / -
You (singular feminine)	ت / ى
You (plural)	ت / وا
We	ن / -
They	- / وا

In Egyptian slang, we often add letter “ب” at the beginning of the verb when we talk in present simple, but we must add this letter when we talk in present continuous. Like this:

P. S.	Arabic verb	Pronunciation
I eat	اكل / باكل
He eats	ياكل / بياكل
She eats	تاكل / بتاكل
You eat (SM)	تاكل / بتاكل
You eat (SF)	تاكلى / بتاكلى
You eat (P)	تاكلوا / بتاكلوا
We eat	ناكل / بناكل
They eat	ياكلوا / بياكلوا

P. C.	Arabic verb	Pronunciation
I am eating	باكل
He is eating	بياكل
She is eating	بتاكل
You are eating (SM)	بتاكل
You are eating (SF)	بتاكلى
You are eating (P)	بتاكلوا
We are eating	بناكل
They are eating	بياكلوا

Let’s take another example. This time it will be the verb “Play”. The standard form of the verb “Play” is “يلعب”:

P. S. / P. C.	Arabic	Pronunciation
Play / Am playing	بالعب
Plays / Is playing	بيلعب
Plays / Is playing	بتلعب
Play / Are playing (SM)	بتلعب
Play / Are playing (SF)	بتلعبى
Play / Are playing (P)	بتلعبوا
Play / Are playing	بنلعب
Play / Are playing	بيلعبوا

This formula applies to all verbs except some, where there is a little change for these cases. I will teach you some of these cases now:

First case: if the verb ends with letter “ى”:

·       We do not add letter “ى” at the end of the verb with singular feminine form of “You”.

·       We delete the last letter “ى”, and add the letters “وا” with the plural form of “you” and “they”.

Let's take an example of this case. The verb “Walk” is “يمشى”. This verb ends with letter “ى”:

English	Arabic	Pronunciation
I walk	انا بامشى
He is walking	هو بيمشى
She walks	هى بتمشى
You are walking (SM)	انت بتمشى
You walk (SF)	انتى بتمشى
You are walking (P)	انتوا بتمشوا
We walk	احنا بنمشى
They are walking	هم بيمشوا

Second case is the verb “Read”. This verb is “يقرا” in Arabic. We delete the last letter “ا” with singular feminine form of “you”, plural form of “you”, and “they”:

English	Arabic	Pronunciation
I am reading	انا باقرا
He reads	هو بيقرا
She is reading	هى بتقرا
You read (SM)	انت بتقرا
You are reading (SF)	انتى بتقرى
You read (P)	انتوا بتقروا
We are reading	احنا بنقرا
They read	هم بيقروا

Last case: the verbs “Sit” is “يقعد”, and the verb “Stand” is “يقف”. When we use these verbs in the present continuous, they will be as below:

English	Arabic	Pronunciation
I am sitting	انا قاعد
He is sitting	هو قاعد
She is sitting	هى قاعده
You are sitting (SM)	انت قاعد
You are sitting (SF)	انتى قاعده
You are sitting (P)	انتوا قاعدين
We are sitting	احنا قاعدين
They are sitting	هم قاعدين

English	Arabic	Pronunciation
I am standing	انا واقف
He is standing	هو واقف
She is standing	هى واقفه
You are standing (SM)	انت واقف
You are standing (SF)	انتى واقفه
You are standing (P)	انتوا واقفين
We are standing	احنا واقفين
They are standing	هم واقفين

I hope everything is quite clear now.