Product Description

Barron’s 501 Arabic Verbs is printed in Arabic script with exemplary sentences in English for each verb. To reflect correct Arabic style, 501 Arabic Verbs has been printed back cover to front and back page to front. Verbs are arranged alphabetically in a table format, one verb per page with English translation, and conjugated in all tenses and forms. The book’s additional features include common idioms with example sentences to demonstrate verb usage and a grammar review.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27127 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-14
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 720 pages

From the Inside Flap
(back cover)
Learning Arabic Becomes Easier
With This Helpful Guide to Verbs and Their Roots

Customer Reviews

Helpful and well organized
The introduction is a clear explanation of Arabic verbs written for non-experts. In the paradigms, the 14 personal forms of each aspect ("tense") and voice are clearly laid out. The third masculine singular perfect form is at the top of each paradigm because it is always the simplest form of each verb.

The only complaint I have about the two indexes is that there is no distinctive first page for each index. Each just starts at the very top with the title in the upper margin. At first I thought that the alphabetization was messed up, but finally I noticed that at the top of the first six pages was one title, and on the last six pages there was another title. But this is, ultimately, a minor quibble. Once you notice the different titles, the organization becomes clear. An English index would be nice, but it is hardly indispensable, since students can and should consult dictionaries anyway.

Although no individual paradigm goes across pages, some people would like to see all the forms of each verb on a single page. To accomplish this with Arabic, though, you would have to use microscopic print, have much larger pages, or omit the examples. All things considered, I think the publishers have made reasonable choices. I speak as a linguist who has spent many years using numerous reference works for many languages, and also as a professional editor who is familiar with the kinds of trade-offs that have to be made when planning any publication. You have to compromise somewhere; the compromises in this book are, at least in my view, acceptable.

Useful but the organization could have been better.
This is the first verb book I've owned for Arabic. It appears to be a useful and worthwhile reference. Verbs in Arabic aren't quite as complex as in some other languages, but it certainly is a good idea to have a reference book like this when you are learning. I only have two small complaints and both deal with organization. First of all, verbs are not one per page, but run across pages which makes the book a little more annoying than it had to be. If they can fit all 14 conjugations for a Spanish verb on one page, I would think they could squeeze in one verb per page in Arabic too. Second, the layout of the verbs seems a little counterintuitive and at odds with many textbooks. 3rd person forms are listed at the top of the chart and 1st person forms are at the bottom. This is the opposite of usual practice in many books.

All-encompassing Conjugation of verbs
The book provides an exhaustive list of verb conjugations for the 501 Arabic verbs it contains. Its drawback is the way it is organized. In order to actually find the verb you want to conjugate, you have to know what root letters are. Once you identify these root letters (in Arabic), you can then search the back of the book until you find the verb and from this the number of the verb (out of the 501). The number corresponds closely to the page the verb conjugations are found on. From there, you need to understand linguistic terms for verb tenses to find what you want. If you are a novice in Arabic, you will need a companion dictionary to use this book.