القواعد · Grammar
Levantine Arabic grammar tables
Every form of 12 everyday verbs in every tense, plus possessive endings and “to have”, with audio, example sentences and practice.
- المُضارِع
Present tense
In spoken Levantine Arabic the everyday present tense starts with بـ. It covers what you do now and what you usually do: بَدرُس means both “I study” and “I’m studying”.
See the tables → - بدون ب
Present without بـ
Drop the بـ and you get the form Levantine Arabic uses after words like بدّي (I want), لازم (must), ممكن (can) and بحب (I like): بدّي أدرُس, “I want to study”.
See the tables → - المُستقبل
Future tense
To talk about the future, put رح in front of the present tense without بـ: رح أدرُس, “I’m going to study / I will study”. رح never changes.
See the tables → - الماضي
Past tense
The past tense works with endings instead of prefixes. The “he” form is the bare verb (أكَل, he ate), and every other person adds an ending to it.
See the tables → - الأمر
Commands
Commands only exist for “you”: one form for a man, one for a woman and one for a group. روح! (go!) · روحي! · روحوا!
See the tables → - مُلكية
Possessive endings
Arabic doesn’t have separate words for “my” or “your”: you add an ending to the noun. كتاب (book) → كتابي (my book), كتابها (her book).
See the tables → - عِند و مع
To have
To say “I have”, Levantine Arabic uses عِند (at) or مع (with) plus a possessive ending: عِندي سيّارة, “I have a car”; مَعي مصاري, “I’ve got money on me”.
See the tables → - الاسم والصفة
Noun + adjective
In Arabic the thing comes first and the describing word comes after it. English says “the favourite thing”; Arabic says “the thing the favourite”: الاشي المفضّل.
See the rules →