Elementary Arabic Morphology 1

Active and Passive Participles

  1. What is an active participle?

  2. How is an active participle formed?

  3. What is a passive participle?

  4. How is a passive participle formed?

  5. An active participle is a form that denotes the actor of an action.

  6. An active participle is formed:

• from triliteral verbs: using the form فَاعِل , for example: ضَارِب سَامِع (listener, hitter)

• from other than triliteral verbs: one must take the aorist active verb and replace the aorist letter with a mīm that has a dummah. For example: مُنطَلِق مُتقَدّم(starting point, well-advanced)

  1. The passive participle is a form that denotes what the verb happened on.

  2. The passive participle is formed:

• from triliteral verbs: using the form مَفعول , for example: مَضرُوب مَسمُوع (what was hit, what was heard)

• from other than triliteral verbs: one must take the aorist passive verb and replace the aorist letter with a mīm that has a dummah. For example: مُکرَم مُقَدّم (honored, put forth)