Participles are noun/adjective forms derived from verbs that describe the doer of an action (active participle) or the receiver of an action (passive participle). They are among the most commonly used derived forms in Arabic and appear constantly in everyday speech and classical texts.
Active Participle (اسم الفاعل)
The active participle describes the one who performs the action. For Form I trilateral verbs, the pattern is فَاعِل:
- كَتَبَ (he wrote) → كَاتِب (writer/one who writes).
- عَلِمَ (he knew) → عَالِم (knower/scholar).
- طَبَخَ (he cooked) → طَابِخ (cook/one who cooks).
Passive Participle (اسم المفعول)
The passive participle describes the one upon whom the action is performed. For Form I, the pattern is مَفْعُول:
- كَتَبَ (he wrote) → مَكْتُوب (written/something written).
- عَلِمَ (he knew) → مَعْلُوم (known).
- فَتَحَ (he opened) → مَفْتُوح (opened).
For augmented forms (II–X), the active participle uses the prefix مُ with a كسرة on the letter before the last root letter, while the passive participle uses مُ with a فتحة on that same letter. For example, Form II: مُعَلِّم (teacher — active) vs. مُعَلَّم (taught — passive).
Participles can function as nouns or adjectives in a sentence. A كَاتِب can mean "a writer" (noun) or "writing" (adjective). Context determines the usage. Pay attention to how participles are used in the lessons and exercises to develop an intuitive sense of their function.