Ahlan wa Sahlan! We’ve previously posted articles related to basic Arabic words and phrases, but then we realized that, no matter how many nouns you might know, you’ll also need Arabic verbs to construct a sentence!
You might know how to say school in Arabic, but what’s the point if you don’t know how to ask, “Where is the school?” in Arabic? Or you might know how to say Tuesday in Arabic, but you don’t know how to ask your friends out on Tuesday. Luckily, Arabic verbs follow the same rule as the rest of the vocabulary because they are based on a set of two, three, four and sometimes even five (but mainly three) consonants called the root. This root communicates the basic meaning of the verb, and any changes to the vowels between the consonants, along with any prefixes or suffixes attached to it, specify grammatical functions such as a person, gender, number, tense, mood, and voice.
There is one curious thing, though. In the Arabic present tense, there is no verb “to be” (am, is, are, etc.), so, instead of saying, “I am Henry”, you would simply say, “I Henry”. Well, at least that’s one less verb to learn.
With this list of basic Arabic verbs, we hope that you’ll soon be able to form some sentences yourself (with the help of our previous articles, of course).
Check out our list of basic Arabic verbs
| English | Transliteration | Arabic |
|---|---|---|
| To love in Arabic | ‘aHaba | أحب |
| To go in Arabic | THhaba | ذهب |
| To eat in Arabic | ‘akala | أكل |
| To work in Arabic | ‘amila | عمل |
| To help in Arabic | saa’ada | ساعد |
| To play in Arabic | l’aiba | لعب |
| To give in Arabic | ‘a’Taa | أعطى |
| To travel in Arabic | saafara | سافر |
| To like in Arabic | ‘aHaba | أحب |
| To drink in Arabic | shariba | شرب |
| To call in Arabic (via phone) | ‘ittaSala | اتصل |
| To call in Arabic (by voice) | naadaa | نادى |
| To leave in Arabic | taraka | ترك |
| To drive in Arabic | saaqa | ساق |
| To write in Arabic | kataba | كتب |
| To listen in Arabic | sami’a | سمع |
| To sleep in Arabic | naama | نام |
| To walk in Arabic | mashaa | مشى |
| To meet in Arabic | qaabala | قابل |
| To want in Arabic | ‘araada | أراد |
| To bring in Arabic | jalaba | جلب |
Naturally, there are many other verbs to remember. For now, however, this list should help you while you’re roaming around a Middle Eastern country. Keep in mind that these verbs are in Modern Standard Arabic and they might be different in Colloquial Arabic, depending on your travel destination.
In conclusion
If you want to remember these Arabic verbs, along with the many other common Arabic words we’ve already posted, you can use flashcards! This is a great way to learn vocabulary. By now, you should have enough words for a round of flashcards. Write down the word in Arabic on one side of the flashcard and the meaning of the word on the other side. Memorize them, and then shuffle them up. Choose the one at a time and whatever comes up, try to remember its pronunciation and meaning. You can always contact us if you want a list of specific words or fields, and we’ll be more than happy to provide them to you! Also, don’t forget to download our Arabic learning app.
