Active and Passive Voice

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Quick Navigation: Past Tense | Present Tense | Present Tense Negation | Plural Negation | Emphasis Singular & Plural.


Vowel: A = Active voice | U = Passive voice.


Active Voice: tells Who did/does the Action
| Passive Voice: does Not mention Who did the Action (but that 'the action WAS / IS done' )


Past Tense words: Vowel applied on 1st root letter [of the 3 Root letters of a Word].
Present tense words: Vowel applied on Prefix letter attached [to the 3 Root letters of a Word].


Past Tense:


Singular:
DARaBa = he hit - ضَرَبَ

DARaBat = she hit ضَرَبَت

DURiBa - he/it WAS hit* ضُرِبَ

  
DARaBnee
= Hit Me ضُرِبنِي
DARaBtu = I Hit ضَرَبتَُ
DARaBta = You Hit. [singular]
ضَرَبتَ
  


Plural:

 DARaBnaa = We Hit ضَرَبنَا
 DARaBtumaa = You two Hit ضَرَبتُمَا
 DARaBtum = You all Hit.
ضَرَبتُم
  
 
NOTE: * The Passive form can apply to all the Active voices, except that the A on the 1st root letter is replaced by the U. i.e. DARaBta [You Hit] = DURiBta ضُرِبتَ [You WERE Hit] etc.

 

Present tense:


Singular:

yADRiBu - he hits يَضرِبُ
yUDRiBu - he IS hit يُضرِبُ

Plural:

yADRiBoon - they ARE hitting يَضرِبُون
yUDRiBoon - they WERE hit? يُضرِبُون

  

Present Tense Negation:
  

 If you add either of the following words in the front of the above mentioned [Past or Present phrases];

 
LaM [ لَم ] = Past Tense "No"
 LaN [ لَن ] = Future Tense "No"

 

 - There will be some slight changes in the way the Phrases are said.
  

   Past Tense:


   The words will stay the same.

   I.e.
   LaM DARaBtu [لَم ضَر َبتُ ]= I DID NOT hit.
   [LaN (Future tense 'No') - has not been used because we are referring to the Past tense.]

  


   Present Tense:

   Singular:

 
   By adding the 'Lam' or 'Lan' before a Verb - the Damma/Peysh off a word's last letter will be removed.

   I.e.
   LaM yaDRiB[u] = He DID NOT hit. [ لَم يَضرِب ]
   LaN yaDRiB[u] = He WILL NOT hit. [ لَن يَضرِب]

   (The Letter or Sound in [square brackets] has been removed due to the 'LaN' and 'LaM'.)



   Plural Negation:


   By adding the 'Lam' or 'Lan' before a Verb in the Plural - the final letter Nuun/N is dropped*, and it is said;

   LaM yADRiboo[n] (i.e. they DID NOT hit) [ لَم يَضرِبُوا ]
   LaN yaDRiboo[n] (i.e. they WILL NOT hit) [ لَن يَضرِبُوا]

 
  (The Letter or Sound in [square brackets] has been removed due to the 'LaN' and 'LaM'.)

   NOTE: *Other words which also follow this rule (of removing the Damma or Nuun/N) are the Words/Prepositions:

   In [If] ( إن ), Lammaa [When] (لَمَّا ), Li [ لِ For], & Laa [No]
.لاَ


 

Emphasis – LA [prefix] and –UNNA [suffix]:


In arabic, the letter Laam with a 'A' [fat-ha/zabar] on it ['LA'] has a meaning of "Surely". This is said before the Verb/Action, and the Doer. [i.e. LA yaDRiBu = SURELY he hit]
 
Along with this 'LA', the suffix '-nna' [Nuun with Shadda] can be attached to the end - to strengthen the Emphasis even more.


Due to the '-nna' suffix attached to the end of the Verb/action & Doer, it makes it difficult to attach or say 'OO' [plural] as mentioned in Present-Tense Negation section. Therefore the 'A' and 'U'  is used to describe Singular, or Plural respectively.

 

La-yADRibA-nna - He will surely hit [active, singular]
La-yUDRiBU-nna - They WERE surely hit. [passive, plural]


NOTE: Changes can be made with vowels accordingly for different meanings, i.e. La-yADRiBUnna = They WERE Surely hitting. [active, plural] etc.


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