Customer Reviews

201 Arabic Verbs (201 Verbs Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

201 Arabic Verbs offers precisely what it says: 201 Arabic verbs fully conjugated. Conjugating verbs in semitic languages is not a simple task because there are many structures and those have many exceptions, so right there, a book that lists fully conjugated verbs is a useful thing. This book, however, is a failure because it doesn't live up to what it could have been and because it was initially poorly thought out. Let me explain:

First off, as a project, the book was poorly done:

- There is no index of the verbs conjugated in the book, so the only way to see whether a verb is there is to look it up.

- The verbs were chosen from a list of words compiled in 1940. The verbs do not represent the most useful verbs the author could have chosen from each of the verb structures in Arabic.

- The organisation of the book is alphabetical rather than by the type of structure (fa'ala, naf'al, etc). Of course, the lack of an index makes this organisation nessary but this is a poor design choice.

- Examples of usage would have been nice.

But beyond these technical points, the basic idea of a list of 201 conjugated Arabic verbs is of limited use. If the point was JUST to give the student an example of conjugating different kinds of verbs, then fine, but this is a very humble task. This book could have been INFINITELY more useful had it given exactly ONE example of a fully conjugated verb from EACH verb category, and then contained a HUGE list of thousands of verbs and a reference to their respective category and page number... that way, rather than compiling a mindless and mind-numbing repetition of similar conjugations, the book could have covered all verb structures AND several thousand verbs all within the same space! The title would then have to be changed to something like 50001 Arabic Verbs Fully Conjugated in all the Forms and it would still be about the same size. Such a book would be of immense value to beginners and experienced students alike.

One common thread unites those who did not like the book...they did not figure out that the paradigms shown (the 201 actual verbs conjugated) are to be used by referencing the index in the back to find the type of verb you want to conjugate and then looking at the paradigm it references. The meaning that the book gives is not important since many verbs have many meanings (often) anyway. Context and your dictionary is always the source of meanings. You can find the correct way to conjugate almost any verb by identifying its type in the back and referencing it's model paradigm. If you know how to do this, this book CAN be helful for beginners. Intermediate and advanced students often have a sense of how conjugations go and after a while don't need a tool to tell them. Those who understand how to use the book, give it good reviews.

There isn't another commonly available resource of this type that I know of and I have found it very useful. You don't get very far into Arabic before you learn the joys that are the hollow verb (those with a long vowel in the middle) and the defective verb (those that end with ya or alif maqsura) not to mention the shuffling short vowels between present and past tense. My textbook (Ahlan wa Sahlan) conjugates only a small representative few in the index so I really needed a reference such as this.

As you can guess from the title, this book takes 201 verbs and conjugates them in Active and Passive voice (where relevant) giving these forms:

1.) Past
2.) Present
3.) Subjunctive
4.) Jussive

As well as providing the imperative, active and passive participles, and the root-very handy for beginners dealing with quadriliteral verbs. Each verb is provided along with a brief definition. No, it's not as thorough as a dictionary but that's what Al-Mawrid is for, right?

I liked the selection of verbs (I was very happy to see that the verb for "to see" was included), the index that listed the type of verbs (e.g. verbs with initial hamza, verbs with final waw, etc.) and the printface is legible and of decent size. Compare with the Hans Wehr budget print dictionary and you'll appreciate how nice this is. They also clearly provide all short vowel markers which aren't always in dictionaries.

The biggest complaint is, as other users have stated, there is no index of the specific verbs provided as examples. As I've looked them up, I've started just writing them in the index but this is messy. I'd also think some brief explication on how to create passive, subjunctive, etc. would be a good addition but perhaps that is beyond the intended scope.

If you have a particular verb type that really confuses you-defective verbs give me fits-then this reference will definitely be helpful.

Many students of Arabic are intimidated by this book because it was geared towards the intermediate and advanced Arabic student. However there are more pros to this book than cons. If you really are serious about learning Sarf (The science of how Arabic verbs are conjugated) then step up and study away with this book. The book was arranged in perfect order begining with all verbs begining with the Alif all the way to the verbs that begin with Yaa, the book is also arranged with a description of what verb type you are using and how it is conjugated in all its forms. I was very impressed with this book and whenever I teach or need to look up a word and how to conjugate it correctly I still come back to this book time and time again! For the beginners I say do not be intimidated, purchase the book and study! study! study! You will be suprised at how strong you will become in learning how to conjugate the Arabic verbs...I took a notebook and went a step further and created a Wazan type form of the book that conjugated the verbs based on the type for example I have all the Form 1's listed in one section, the Form 2's listed in another like this until I copied the whole book out! I also found it helpful to use with learning the way the Arabic verbs are conjugated in my study and memorization of the Quraan. May Allah make it easy for the students of knowledge in thier studies.

This world is one of action; and to feasibly communicate through the medium of language, one must be able to express the dynamism of action via the use of verbs.

This book has a list of 201 extremely useful verbs that the student of Arabic will want to remember, as they can be used on a daily basis. Additionally, these verbs are common in Arabic literature, so learning them will decrease the need for dictionary reference.

For anyone familiar with the 501 series of books this 201 book is done very differently. It is NOT comprehensive, rather it tries to be comprehensive in demonstrating the many types of verbs, hollow verbs, weak verbs, and verbs from the several `buildings'. Arabic is a complicated language and it is helpful to have these things demonstrated for the reader and student. However this book does not work as a reference for verbs or words, because it isn't alphabetical, rather it is based on category of verb. It is of limited use therefore in translation, it is rather a verb structure manual. It does have all the active and passive and the participles and the Masdar nicely drawn out and this is helpful for understanding the pattern of Arabic. However beyond this the book does not come in handy the way it should, in general it doesn't have enough verbs. Most linguists assume that one needs 500 verbs in order to know a language. This book includes obscure verbs no one will ever use while simple verbs are missing because they repeat a pattern already demonstrated. For those in Arabic studies this is an essential book, but it needs updating or expanding.

Seth J. Frantzman

This book gives you the conjugation tables for 201 verbs as it says, but be forewarned, you will already need to be fully conversant with the grammar and Arabic verbs in general to use it. The verbs aren't even given phonetic equivalents in the tables. So this is basically only for the advanced or perhaps intermediate student. For the price, I don't see why some basic information on Arabic verb conjugations, verb patterns and grammar couldn't have been provided, as in the other 501 and 201 verb books from Barron's. The 501 books, for example, often have 20 or 30 pages of material on this, serving at least as a good review for the experienced and a pretty good introduction for the neophyte.

On the pro side, however, the index is organized according to verb categories and conjugational patterns. So if, for example, you need to look up the pattern for verbs with initial, medial, or final hamza, doubly weak verbs, geminate, or quadriliteral verbs, or any of the other verb categories, along with the 10 conjugational patterns themselves, you can find them in the index and then go right to that pattern in the text. The complete verb table and pattern is displayed, so if you need to find out what the imperfect subjunctive or jussive is, it's all there.

If you're going to use this book and aren't at least an intermediate student yet, I can recommend the Arabic Verbs and Essentials of Grammar book by Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar, which will help you fill in all the gaps. There are other grammars out there, but if you have some grammatical and linguistic background, the E. H. Parker book, Simplified Grammar of Hindustani, Persian, and Arabic, although now 120 years old and resissued by Dover Press, is still surprisingly good and a great bargain (at eight dollars) for the price.

I'll add my voice to the comments listed above and below. This book gives you just what it says: 201 Arabic verbs, in their passive and active forms, with Masdar. And that's it. The lack of an index makes finding them surprisingly difficult, and some very basic verbs are left out. On the positive side, you get every single form of the jussive. On the negative side, they filled up the pages with every single form of the jussive! A rather mechanical task.

My chief problem is not what this book is, but what it isn't. If you look at the book "201 Hebrew Verbs" you find a completely different pattern. Indices abound, and verbs are listed by roots, with (reasonably) complete workings through the binyan to get the various forms. An immense help to the student, it is practically an education in itself. Granted Hebrew and Arabic are different languages, but the grammatical structures are close enough that something along those lines could have been attempted.
I gave the book three stars because it did what it said it would do, but looking at what some of the other 201 books did, I feel a sense of disappointment, of opportunities lost.

I agree with many of the other reviewers that this book is missing something. I found that some of the most commonly used verbs seemed to be missing. Unfortunately, I haven't found another book of it's kind that is more complete, so this one will have to do unless something better comes along.

I have recently bought 501 Arabic Verbs and come to the conclusion that 201 Arabic Verbs is MUCH better because it has a INDEX over verb patterns, forms and this with concern to weak, hollow, etc verbs.

If you are studying Arabic, I strongly recommend you to buy this one, first. 201 Arabic Verbs is a reference book for students of the arabic language. It's one of those which all students of arabic has together with Hans Wehr and Al-Mawrid.

Example of use: You want to know how a verb is spelled in form VII when the final radical is WAW or YA. Just turn to the index, look up "Verbs with final Waw or Ya" and hit the page and your done!

Above example is completely impossible with the 501 Arabic Verbs because it lacks this great index. Even though the author is the same, and I don't know for my life why, they excluded this type of index in the 501.

A must buy for all students of arabic!

Warm regards,

E.M.