Twenty Arabic Verbs Every Beginner Should Learn First
A high-frequency starter list of Arabic verbs with past and present forms, grouped by use, plus tips on learning them as pairs.
A small number of verbs do a lot of the work in daily conversation. Learning twenty well, in both past and present, gives you a base for hundreds of sentences.
Verbs of movement
- ذهب / يذهب (dhahaba / yadhhab) — to go
- جاء / يجيء (ja'a / yaji') — to come
- سافر / يسافر (safara / yusafir) — to travel
Verbs of daily life
- أكل / يأكل (akala / ya'kul) — to eat
- شرب / يشرب (shariba / yashrab) — to drink
- نام / ينام (nama / yanam) — to sleep
- سكن / يسكن (sakana / yaskun) — to live, to reside
- عمل / يعمل ('amila / ya'mal) — to work, to do
Verbs of communication and knowledge
- قال / يقول (qala / yaqul) — to say
- تكلم / يتكلم (takallama / yatakallam) — to speak
- كتب / يكتب (kataba / yaktub) — to write
- قرأ / يقرأ (qara'a / yaqra') — to read
- فهم / يفهم (fahima / yafham) — to understand
- عرف / يعرف ('arafa / ya'rif) — to know (a person or thing)
Verbs of perception and desire
- رأى / يرى (ra'a / yara) — to see
- سمع / يسمع (sami'a / yasma') — to hear
- أراد / يريد (arada / yurid) — to want
- أحب / يحب (ahabba / yuhibb) — to like or love
Verbs of giving and taking
- أخذ / يأخذ (akhadha / ya'khudh) — to take
- أعطى / يعطي (a'ta / yu'ti) — to give
Learn them as pairs
Always learn the past and the present together. The present-tense vowel is not always predictable from the past, so a card that says كتب / يكتب (kataba / yaktub) is more useful than one that only says "write".
Weak and irregular verbs
Some verbs on this list, such as جاء, رأى, قال and أعطى, are "weak", meaning one of their root letters is و, ي or ء. They change shape in different forms. This is normal, and dictionaries note it.
Sentence starters
- أنا أريد ماء — I want water.
- هو يذهب إلى العمل — He goes to work.
- هي تقرأ كتاباً — She reads a book.
Study routine
- Learn five verbs a week, past and present.
- Conjugate each with all pronouns once.
- Write a sentence for each.
- Use the dictionary to check meanings and vowel patterns.
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