Sarf "Verbology" Table of Present Tense (مضارع )

Since Yaf`a'lu means 'you are doing', it's the default word to refer to one man. 

All of Arabic begins with the singular (1) and masculine (Mudhakkar) forms. All of Arabic is therefore based on gender and an amount/number, so that you know who you talking to (human/sentient) or how many things (objects/non-sentient) you are talking about. 

But what if you are referring to 2 women, or the Qur'an is talking a group of masculine objects? This is where you need to study and memorise all the variations of Yaf`a'lu in a Sarf table. Sarf = Verbology. 

KEYWORDS: 

• Mudhakkar = Masculine. 
• Mu'annath = Feminine.
• Mufrad: = 1 person or object. Singular
• Muthanna' = 2 people or objects. Dual.
• Jam`ah = 3+ people or objects. Plural.

NOTE: The traditional verb table of the present-tense 'Yaf`a'lu' contains 14 variations which are broken down into First-Person, Second-Person, Third-Person. This is to differentiate whether the things you're talking about are in front of you, or somewhere else. 

Similarly in English, we would say, 'You are doing' to the person in front of us, this is therefore a singular Mufrad word but it's also Second-Person. We are directly talking to them. 

If I want to say that two sisters are doing an action, I would say 'those two (f) are doing', which includes the dual verb Muthanna, but this time I'm talking about two women who are not in front of me, this is therefore Third-Person.

Here are the 3 different keywords to differentiate:

• First-person = Mutakallim (saying I am, we are, regardless of gender).
• Second-person = Mukhaatab (saying You are doing, M + F, which includes both gender and the number of things being spoken about)
• Third-person = Ghaa'ib (the gender/number are included, but the things being about are not present, so we say Him, Her, Those 2, All of Them). 

The Sarf table below is sometimes structured with the 3rd person (Ghaa'ib) being listed first but this table begins with the First-Person. The meanings stay the same. Memorise it. The translations are below if you want to write them out.

TRANSLATIONS

• Af`alu: I am doing. M + F. 
• Naf`alu: We are doing. M + F (plural). 
• Taf`alu: You are doing (1 Masc) 
• Taf`alaani: You two are doing (2 Masc) 
• Taf`aloona: You all are doing (3+ Masc) 
• Taf`aleena: You are doing (1, Fem) 
• Taf`alaani: You two are doing (2, Fem) 
• Taf`alna: You all are doing (3+ Fem) 
• Yaf`alu: He is doing (,1 Masc) 
• Yaf`alaani: Those two are doing (2, Masc) 
• Yaf`aloona: Those all are doing (3+ Masc) 
• Taf`alu: She is doing (1, Fem) 
• Taf`alaani: Those two are doing (2, Fem) 
• Yaf`al'na: Those all are doing (3+ Fem)