Moods of the Arabic Verb Gordon Center for Language Mood Just as case changes the voweling for nouns, mood changes the voweling for verbs. Mood only affects the present tense of the verb, never the past tense. Arabic has three moods: indicative, subjunctive and jussive. Indicative is the default mood. A verb will be in the subjunctive if it is preceded by the following particles: ل, ْكي, حتى, كيال, ْأن, ْألن, ْلن, أل, ّْ لئال, ّْ عسى A verb will be in the jussive when it is preceded by لم, when it is the verb in a conditional clause introduced by ْإن, or if it is in the imperative (affirmative or negative). Mood Important changes for the jussive Except for 2nd and 3rd person feminine plural (ّْ هن,ّْ)انتن, verb conjugations ending in نlose their final ن Hollow verbs lose their middle vowel (e.g. ْيقوم becomes ْ (يقمExceptions: when the vowel is pronounced as a consonant, or if the conjugation ends in a long vowel sound, it is retained. Defective verbs lose their final vowel (e.g. ْيدعو becomes ْ(يدع Doubly weak verbs also lose their final vowel (e.g. ْ ياتيbecomes ْ)يات Hamzated verbs keep their Hamza Mood Important changes for the subjunctive Except for 2nd and 3rd person feminine plural (ّْ هن,ّْ)انتن, verb conjugations ending in نlose their final ن Changes in Unsound Verbs Subjunctive Jussive Hollow Same as ْيقومْ= يقم indicative except for fatha Defective Same as ْ =ْيدعو يدع indicative except for fatha Same as ْت ِ ياتيْ= يا indicative except for fatha Doubly Weak Conjugations Jussive Subjunctive Subject يفعلوا يفعلوا هم تفعلي تفعلي تْ ان ِ تفعلوا تفعلوا انتم يفعال يفعال هما تفعال تفعال هما تفعال تفعال انتما