Template:ar-conj

The following documentation is located at Template:ar-conj/documentation.

Useful links: subpage list • links • redirects • transclusions • errors (parser/module) • sandbox

This template creates a conjugation table for all Arabic verbs.

This template should be placed in a conjugation section, headed by a ====Conjugation==== section header. The template automatically categorizes the entry into the appropriate Arabic verb subcategory (e.g. Category:Arabic form-IV verbs). Form-I verbs are also categorized according to the last vowel in the past and non-past, since these vowels vary from verb to verb (e.g. Category:Arabic form-I verbs with past vowel a and non-past vowel u). Verbs that are conjugate geminate, such as form-X اِسْتَرَدَّ (istaradda), are categorized accordingly, in this case in Category:Arabic geminate form-X verbs. If the verb is irregular, it will be categorized into Category:Arabic irregular verbs.

This template has a single required parameter, which is used to specify the verb form (I, II, III, ..., XV, as well as Iq ... IVq). For non-form-I verbs, often that is all that needs to be specified, although typically you should also specify whether there is a passive voice and if so, what type of passive (e.g. full passive, impersonal passive, passive-only, etc.). An example of a form-II verb ِis رَدَّدَ (raddada, “to repeat”), which can be declared as {{ar-conj|<II.pass>}}, where <II.pass> is an angle-bracket spec and the parts of the angle-bracket spec between periods/full stops are called indicators. In this spec there are two indicators, II (the verb form) and pass (indicating that a full passive occurs). In practice, this is written just as {{ar-conj|II.pass}}, since angle brackets can be omitted when the spec contains angle brackets at the beginning and end, and nowhere else. (Beware that if you embed a template like {{m}} or {{q}} in a footnote — see below for footnotes — you will need to use the form with explicit angle brackets, because {{m}}, {{q}} and several other templates generate HTML under the hood, which contains angle brackets that confuse the parser if the outer angle brackets have been omitted.)

Form-I verbs need extra information specified, including the past and non-past vowels as well as the verbal nouns (which are unpredictable) and in some cases the active participle(s), when they are unpredictable and do not follow the normal فَاعِل (fāʕil) pattern. A typical example is كَتَبَ (kataba, “to write”), which might use the following spec: {{ar-conj|I/a~u.pass.vn:كِتَابَة,كَتْب,كِتَاب}}. This contains three indicators, the first of which (I/a~u) is a compound indicator that embeds several pieces of information, in this case the form (I), the past vowel a (i.e. kataba, not #katiba or katuba) and the non-past vowel u (i.e. yaktubu, not #yaktibu or yaktaba). The third indicator is also compound and is an override, explicitly specifying the forms in a slot (in this case the verbal noun slot, whose abbreviation is vn). This is needed for form-I verbs because there is no default verbal noun for these verbs.

You can also specify the verb explicitly, e.g. {{ar-conj|ردد<II.pass>}}. This is useful on pages where the pagename is not the verb lemma, e.g. test and documentation pages as well as multiword expressions, which are described in more detail below. It is also used in {{ar-verb form}}, which is used on pages describing non-lemma verb forms but takes the same syntax as {{ar-conj}}.

For the form-II verb رَدَّدَ (raddada, “to repeat”), use {{ar-conj|II.pass}} (as described above), which produces:

For the form-VIII geminate verb اِضْطَرَّ (iḍṭarra, “to compel, to force”), use {{ar-conj|VIII.pass}}, which produces:

Note that the module correctly knows how to conjugate all verb forms and weaknesses. In the above form-VIII verb, there are multiple possible jussive and imperative forms, all of which are generated and shown in the table.

For the form-X hollow hamzated verb استضاء (“to be lit; to seek enlightenment”), use {{ar-conj|X.II:و.ipass}}, which produces:

Here, ipass indicates that the verb has only an impersonal passive (i.e. only third-person masculine singular forms exist) rather than a full passive, and II:و specifies that the second radical is a و (wāw), which cannot be inferred from the lemma. Note that for non-form-I verbs, it's not strictly necessary to specify the non-inferrable second radical of hollow verbs or third radical of final-weak verbs, because it doesn't affect the conjugation. Doing so, however, allows the verbs to be correctly categorized by weak radical. For example, the above verb will be categorized into Category:Arabic form-X verbs with و as second radical.

Note also that the module knows the rules for determining the correct seat of hamzas, which follows complex rules and for which there are sometimes alternatives, as in the third-person masculine plural non-past indicative of the above verb, which is either يَسْتَضِيئُونَ (yastaḍīʔūna) (with the hamza over a ي) or يَسْتَضِيؤُونَ (yastaḍīʔūna) (with the hamza over a و).

For form-I كَتَبَ (kataba, “to write”), use {{ar-conj|I/a~u.pass.vn:كِتَابَة,كَتْب,كِتَاب}} (as described above), which produces:

For form-I تَرَّ (tarra, “to be cut off, to be severed”), which has non-past vowel either u or i, use {{ar-conj|I/a~u,i.nopass.vn:تَرّ,تُرُور}}, which produces:

Here, commas separate the different possible non-past vowels, and nopass means there is no passive.

Form-I stative verbs (generally those whose past vowel is i or u) typically have unpredictable active participles as well as verbal nouns, and both must be specified. An example is تَلِفَ (talifa, “to perish, to be spoiled”), which uses {{ar-conj|I/i~a.ipass.vn:تَلَف.ap:+,+++,+an}}, producing:

Here, there is both a verbal noun override specifying the verbal noun تَلَف (talaf) and an active participle override specifying three possible active participles. Because certain active participle patterns are very common, shortcuts are provided for them. Here, + indicates the default فَاعِل (fāʕil) participle shape; +++ indicates the فَعِل (faʕil) participle shape; and +an indicates the فَعْلَان (faʕlān) participle shape. This is documented in more detail below.

If there is more than one possible combination of past/non-past vowels, but the combinations differ in both the past and non-past vowels, it is recommended to use multiple conjugation tables. An example is رَفَقَ (rafaqa, “to be kind; to be a friend”) with non-past vowel u, which also occurs as رَفِقَ (rafiqa) with non-past vowel a and رَفُقَ (rafuqa) with non-past vowel u. This would be written as follows:

{{ar-conj|I/a~u.ipass.vn:رِفْق,مَرْفِق,مِرْفَق,مَرْفَق.ap:+,++}}
{{ar-conj|I/i~a.ipass.vn:رَفَق.ap:+,++}}
{{ar-conj|I/u~u.ipass.vn:رَفَاقَة,رِفْق.ap:++}}

which produces

Note that in this case, the different vowel patterns are also associated with different verbal nouns and (to some extent) different active participles.

In general, you must specify the past and non-past vowels for a form-I verb, or an error is thrown. There are only two exceptions: (1) passive-only verbs, and (2) final-weak verbs. An example of the latter is بَكَى (bakā, “to cry; to weep over”), which would be written {{ar-conj|I.pass.vn:بُكَاء,بُكًى}}, which produces:

Here, the vowels are inferred as a~i, consistent with the last letter of the unvocalized form. (Vowel pattern a~u ends in ا and vowel pattern i~a ends in ي.)

For form-I weak verbs, it is important to know the identity of all radicals, as it determines the form of the passive participles. This applies in particular to hollow and final-weak verbs. Most of the time, radical can be safely inferred from the non-past vowel, but this is not the case when the non-past vowel is a. In this situation, the radical must be given or an error occurs. An example is نَامَ (nāma, “to sleep; to forget about”), which has vowel pattern i~a and an impersonal passive, hence a passive participle (مَنُوم (manūm) since the second radical is و). For this verb, the second radical must be given explicitly or an error occurs. Thus it should be written {{ar-conj|I/i~a.II:و.ipass.vn:نَوْم,مَنَام.ap:+}}, which produces: