Learn Arabic › A1 › فَعَل
فَعَل
to do /ˈfa.ʕa.la/
verbA1#34 most common
Also: to make, to act, to perform
Example sentences
ماذا فَعَلْتَ؟
What did you do?
فَعَلَ ذلكَ بنفسِه.
He did that by himself.
لماذا فَعَلْتَ هذا بي؟
Why did you do this to me?
فَعَلْنا كلَّ ما في وُسْعِنا لإنقاذِه.
We did everything in our power to save him.
مهما فَعَلْتَ، فلن تستطيعَ تغييرَ الماضي.
No matter what you do, you will not be able to change the past.
لو فَعَلَ ما كان يجبُ عليه، لَما وقعْنا في هذه الأزمةِ.
Had he done what he ought to have done, we would not have fallen into this crisis.
Conjugation
| Present Active | Simple Past Active | Simple Future Active | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | أَفْعَلُ (afʿalu) | فَعَلْتُ (faʿaltu) | سَأَفْعَلُ (sa-afʿalu) |
| 2sg | تَفْعَلُ (tafʿalu) | فَعَلْتَ (faʿalta) | سَتَفْعَلُ (sa-tafʿalu) |
| 3sg | يَفْعَلُ (yafʿalu) | فَعَلَ (faʿala) | سَيَفْعَلُ (sa-yafʿalu) |
| 1pl | نَفْعَلُ (nafʿalu) | فَعَلْنا (faʿalnā) | سَنَفْعَلُ (sa-nafʿalu) |
| 2pl | تَفْعَلونَ (tafʿalūna) | فَعَلْتُمْ (faʿaltum) | سَتَفْعَلونَ (sa-tafʿalūna) |
| 3pl | يَفْعَلونَ (yafʿalūna) | فَعَلوا (faʿalū) | سَيَفْعَلونَ (sa-yafʿalūna) |
Word family
فِعْل (fiʿl)act, deed; verb (grammar)
فاعِل (fāʿil)doer, agent; subject (grammar)
مَفْعول (mafʿūl)object (grammar); done thing
فَعّال (faʿʿāl)effective, efficacious
انْفَعَلَ (infaʿala)to be affected, to react
Etymology
فَعَلَ is the basic (Form I) verb of the triliteral Semitic root ف-ع-ل (f-ʿ-l) meaning 'to do, make.' Arab grammarians adopted this exact root as the universal template (wazn) for citing every verbal and nominal pattern, so faʿala is at once an ordinary verb and the meta-word of Arabic morphology. The root recurs across the Semitic family with the same 'do/make/work' sense.
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