If you've been following my blog lately, you'll see that I recently launched a series on "Top Arabic Words to Learn" and I think learning verbs is very crucial to understanding Arabic. If you check out my post on my Arabic learning journey, you'll see that I used to memorize only common phrases and sentences, but when I started learning verbs, my understanding of Arabic shot up by about 60%. Click here
So I decided to start this series, to bring to people words that would actually help them. I started out with more common words, so you can check them out below.
Part 1
Part 2
TOP ARABIC VERBS TO LEARN
Take note that I've written them in the past tense of the he form conjugation.
1. Jaa'a/ To come.
You know, when I was first learning this word, I used to confuse this word and dhahaba- which is actually below. It's because "go" and "jaa" sound so similar. In Egyptian Arabic, people actually read 'jeem' as 'g' (as in 'girl' ) even though it's supposed to be read as "j" as in "jolly"
I've done this before: using opposites to learn. You expect "jaa'a" to mean "go" but in fact it means "come". Neat, right?
2. Dhahaba/ To go
One of the first verbs I learned, in fact. I remember thinking, "How do I even start learning verbs? Which ones should I start with?" I thought back to my high school days of learning French, where they seamlessly integrated us into verbs and grammar. So much so that we were able to write short essays with just the verbs we had been given in the first few lessons. And of course the first verb was "aller". I even still remember the conjugations- je vais, tu vas.
3. Dakhala/ To enter
One of the easiest verbs, really. It occurs a lot in the Quran when talking about how the righteous people will enter paradise, as well as occurring in many ad'iyyah (plural of dua/ supplication) where you ask to enter jannah (paradise)
4.Shahada/ To watch
I know that the word "shahaada" is probably what you are well versed with. It means to bear witness and it's basically what people say when they are entering Islam. When I'm watching Arabic talk shows I always hear the host say "Mushaahideen AlKiraam" and I go, "What does that mean anyway?"
It in fact means "Honoured viewers" or watchers if you may. I think it's a good word to add to your vocabulary.
5. Akala/ To eat
If I recall, this was one of the first words I learned, right after "Dhahaba". I mean, I love food. How do I say to eat? To make learning verbs easier, you should take the past tense of the he form conjugation, where all you need to do is add 'a' to each root letter. He ate is "akala" and honestly, if I had known that, I would have saved myself a lot of hassle. Let me tell you this- it made me feel like Arabic may be mysterious, but I could indeed conquer it.
Most of these verbs were taken from this book as a reference. It's a great book for a native English speaker who is a beginner Arabic language learner.
How to Learn Arabic as a Native English Speaker: A Quick and Easy Guide to learning Arabic, Including Basic Nouns and Grammar by Allen Loper.
