The verbal sentence in Arabic (الجُمْلة الاِسْميّة) is composed of a verb and its subject (either explicitly mentioned as a noun or implicit as a pronoun) as the two essential components. Direct objects, indirect objects, and direct/indirect circumstantial complements may be added to this essential couplet for further clarification.

The subject in a verbal sentence is the nominative case (مَرْفُوع), while direct complements (not preceded by prepositions) are in the accusative case (مَنْصوب), while any complements introduced by a preposition is ought to take on the genitive form (مَجْرور).

To sum this up:

Example:

The Verb / الفِعْل

The verb is conjugated in one of the three tenses in Arabic:

• The perfect tense (الماضي): corresponding to the English past or perfect tense.
• The present tense (المُضارِع): corresponding to the English present or future tense (see section on conjugation).
• The imperative (الأَمْر): which only exists in the 2nd person.

The Arabic language does not feature tenses which are precise reflections of the primary English verb tenses. Hence, the terms ‘perfect’ and ‘imperfect tense’ do not accurately apply. For better understanding, however, we will continue referring to them as such for reference purposes. More details on the conjugation page.

Note: In the 3rd person when the plural subject is explicitly mentioned after the verb, the verb is conjugated in the singular form.

The woman is laughing	تَضْحَكُ المَرْأَةُ
The women are laughing	تَضْحَكُ النِساءُ
The man is working	يَعْمَلُ الرَجُلُ
The men are working	يَعْمَلُ الرِجال

Note 2: Transitive verbs are referred to as مُتَعَدٍّ, and intransitive ones as لازِِم. While transitive verbs can take an object in the accusative case, intransitive verbs cannot (some may accept an accusative predicative complement). The nature of a verb – whether it is transitive or intransitive – depends on its underlying meaning and construction.

Examples of intransitive verbs:

He grieved	حَزِنَ
He grew up	كَبُرَ

The subject / الفاعِل

The subject can be either a noun or a pronoun:

• The subject is explicitly mentioned as a noun.
• The subject is alternatively implicitly mentioned as a pronoun conveyed in the verb conjugation through the past tense suffix or muḍāriʿprefix.

The pronoun “she” is here included in the conjugation of the verb “to take”

Note: To emphasize the subject or statement, a personal pronoun often precedes the verb to eliminate any ambiguity to put stress on the statement or subject. 

هُوَ قامَ بِالعَمَلِ

He is the one that did the work

The complement / المَفْعول

There’s five official complements ( مفاعيل ) in Arabic which are:

• The accusative object / المَفْعُول بِهِ
• The adverbial object / المَفْعُول فِيهِ
• The causative object / المَفْعُول لأَجْلِهِ  
• The concomitant object / المَفْعول مَعَهُ
• The absolute object / المَفْعُول المُطْلَق

📢 The absolute object will be treated under the Intermediate section along with other additional complements.

The accusative object / المَفْعول به