Clauses with an: want, must, can
A2 «أَنْ» والمُضارِعُ المَنْصوب 34 / 70
In short
English says “I want to go”, “I have to go”, “I can go” - one verb, then a bare infinitive. Arabic has no infinitive. Every Arabic verb is conjugated for a person, always, with no neutral dictionary form to drop into a sentence. So where English hangs an infinitive off the first verb, Arabic hangs a small clause: the particle أَنْ plus a fully conjugated verb in the subjunctive. أُريدُ أَنْ أَذْهَبَ is literally “I want that I go”.
Lesson 33 built the subjunctive forms; this lesson is about the words that trigger them. There are two groups. Personal verbs - أَرادَ، اِسْتَطاعَ، أَحَبَّ، قَرَّرَ، حاوَلَ، نَسِيَ - conjugate normally and take أَنْ after them. Impersonal modals - يَجِبُ، يُمْكِنُ، عَلَيْهِ، لا بُدَّ - do not conjugate at all: they sit frozen in the 3rd person masculine singular, and the person you are talking about shows up on the second verb. Get that split straight and this whole area, which covers most of what you say every day, becomes mechanical.
The rule
1. The frame: verb + أَنْ + المُضارِعُ المَنْصوب. أَنْ never changes shape and never takes a person. The verb after it carries everything: the person, the number, and the fatḥa (or the dropped ن) that marks the subjunctive.
- أُريدُ أَنْ أَسْأَلَ سُؤالًا. - I want to ask a question.
- تُريدُ أَنْ تَسْأَلَ سُؤالًا. - She wants to ask a question.
- يُريدونَ أَنْ يَسْأَلوا سُؤالًا. - They want to ask a question.
Three things move together and none of them is optional: the first verb agrees with the speaker, أَنْ is present, and the second verb is منصوب. Learners drop the middle one (*أُريدُ أَذْهَبَ) or forget the ending (*أُريدُ أَنْ أَذْهَبُ). Both are ungrammatical.
2. Same subject or different subject - أَنْ handles both. English has to switch construction (“I want to travel” vs “I want you to travel”). Arabic does not. The second verb simply conjugates for whoever is doing it:
- أُريدُ أَنْ أُسافِرَ. - I want to travel.
- أُريدُ أَنْ تُسافِرَ مَعي. - I want you to travel with me.
- طَلَبَ المُديرُ أَنْ نَحْضُرَ مُبَكِّرينَ. - The manager asked that we come early.
3. The personal governing verbs. These are the ones you will use hourly. Each is a normal verb - learn its root and its measure, because several of them are irregular in a way that has nothing to do with أَنْ.
- أَرادَ / يُريدُ (ر و د, Form IV, hollow) - to want. أُريدُ أَنْ أَعْمَلَ.
- اِسْتَطاعَ / يَسْتَطيعُ (ط و ع, Form X, hollow) - to be able to. أَسْتَطيعُ أَنْ أَعْمَلَ.
- أَحَبَّ / يُحِبُّ (ح ب ب, Form IV, doubled) - to like to. أُحِبُّ أَنْ أَعْمَلَ.
- قَرَّرَ / يُقَرِّرُ (ق ر ر, Form II) - to decide to. قَرَّرْتُ أَنْ أَعْمَلَ.
- حاوَلَ / يُحاوِلُ (ح و ل, Form III) - to try to. أُحاوِلُ أَنْ أَعْمَلَ.
- نَسِيَ / يَنْسى (ن س ي, Form I, weak-final) - to forget to. نَسيتُ أَنْ أَعْمَلَ.
The same frame works with a long tail of others once you meet them: رَفَضَ أَنْ (refused to), قَبِلَ أَنْ (agreed to), تَعَلَّمَ أَنْ (learned to), خافَ أَنْ (was afraid to), تَمَنّى أَنْ (wished to).
4. The impersonal modals stay in the 3rd person masculine singular - always. This is the single most important point in the lesson. يَجِبُ and يُمْكِنُ are not conjugated for the person who must or can do something. They never become *أَجِبُ or *نُمْكِنُ. Their subject is the whole أَنْ clause that follows, and that clause is grammatically an “it”.
- يَجِبُ أَنْ أَذْهَبَ. - I have to go. (literally: “that I go” is obligatory)
- يَجِبُ أَنْ تَذْهَبي. - You (f.) have to go.
- يَجِبُ أَنْ يَذْهَبوا. - They have to go.
- يُمْكِنُ أَنْ نَبْدَأَ. - We can start.
Note the root of يَجِبُ: و ج ب, Form I, a مِثال واوِيّ (a verb whose first radical is و). The past is وَجَبَ, with the و in plain sight, but the و drops out of the present: وَجَبَ → يَجِبُ, not *يَوْجِبُ. The same drop happens in وَصَلَ → يَصِلُ and وَقَفَ → يَقِفُ; lesson 49 is where the class is treated properly. يُمْكِنُ is Form IV of م ك ن (أَمْكَنَ / يُمْكِنُ).
5. Naming the person with يَجِبُ and يُمْكِنُ. If the second verb alone is not enough - typically when you want to make the obligation explicit or polite - attach the person to a preposition or a pronoun, and still leave يَجِبُ / يُمْكِنُ untouched.
- يَجِبُ عَلَيْكِ أَنْ تَدْرُسي. - You (f.) have to study.
- يَجِبُ عَلى الطُّلّابِ أَنْ يَحْضُروا. - The students have to attend.
- يُمْكِنُني أَنْ أُساعِدَكَ. - I can help you.
- هَلْ يُمْكِنُكَ أَنْ تَنْتَظِرَ قَليلًا؟ - Can you wait a little?
يُمْكِنُ takes a direct object pronoun (يُمْكِنُني، يُمْكِنُكَ، يُمْكِنُهُ); يَجِبُ takes عَلى (يَجِبُ عَلَيَّ، يَجِبُ عَلَيْكَ). Do not swap them.
6. عَلَيْهِ أَنْ - obligation with no verb at all. عَلى plus a pronoun, on its own, already means “has to”. It is shorter than يَجِبُ عَلَيْهِ and extremely common in writing:
- عَلَيَّ أَنْ أَتَّصِلَ بِالشَّرِكَةِ. - I have to call the company.
- عَلَيْنا أَنْ نَحْجِزَ الغُرْفَةَ اليَوْمَ. - We have to book the room today.
Here the person is visible - it is the attached pronoun on عَلى - and the second verb agrees with it.
7. لا بُدَّ أَنْ / لا بُدَّ مِنْ أَنْ - “there is no way around it”. بُدٌّ is a noun meaning “escape”, negated absolutely by لا. The phrase is fixed and both variants are correct:
- لا بُدَّ أَنْ تَعْرِفَ الحَقيقَةَ. - You must know the truth.
- لا بُدَّ مِنْ أَنْ نُغَيِّرَ الخُطَّةَ. - We really have to change the plan.
8. Putting the modals in the past: كانَ + يَجِبُ. The everyday past of يَجِبُ is not its own ماضٍ وَجَبَ - which does exist, but stays in formal and legal prose - but كانَ in front of it, which carries the tense. The result translates as “had to” or “should have”.
- كانَ يَجِبُ أَنْ نَنْتَظِرَ. - We should have waited. / We had to wait.
- كانَ يُمْكِنُكَ أَنْ تَسْأَلَني. - You could have asked me.
كانَ stays 3ms too, for the same reason يَجِبُ does. (كانَ and its behaviour: lessons 32 and 43.)
9. Negating: أَنْ + لا = أَلّا. When the second verb is the negated one, أَنْ and لا fuse into one written word, أَلّا, and the verb after it stays منصوب:
- يَجِبُ أَلّا تَتَأَخَّرَ. - You must not be late.
- قَرَّرْتُ أَلّا أَقولَ شَيْئًا. - I decided not to say anything.
- عَلَيْنا أَلّا نَنْسى المَوْعِدَ. - We must not forget the appointment.
Negating the first verb is a different meaning and needs no fusion: لا أُريدُ أَنْ أَذْهَبَ (“I don’t want to go”), لا يُمْكِنُني أَنْ أَحْضُرَ (“I can’t come”). And notice the pair يَجِبُ أَلّا تَتَأَخَّرَ (“you must not be late” - the prohibition is real) versus لا يَجِبُ أَنْ تَتَأَخَّرَ (“it isn’t required that you be late” - much weaker). For a genuine “don’t”, prefer أَلّا.
10. The مصدر: the one place Arabic has something infinitive-shaped. Almost every Arabic verb has a verbal noun, a مَصْدَر, and after verbs like أَرادَ you may use it instead of the whole أَنْ clause. It is a noun, so it takes a case - accusative here, as the direct object:
- أُريدُ أَنْ أَذْهَبَ إِلى السّوقِ. = أُريدُ الذَّهابَ إِلى السّوقِ.
- قَرَّرَ أَنْ يُسافِرَ. = قَرَّرَ السَّفَرَ.
The two come to the same thing here; the أَنْ version is the lighter one and, crucially, marks the new subject on the verb itself (أُريدُ أَنْ تَذْهَبَ - with the مصدر you would have to hang the person off it, أُريدُ ذَهابَكَ). Because أَنْ + verb does the job of a noun, grammarians call it المَصْدَرُ المُؤَوَّل, “the interpreted مصدر”. Build the مصدر properly in lesson 54; for now just recognise the swap.
11. What does not take أَنْ. A small set of very common verbs is followed by the bare مضارع, still مرفوع, with no particle in between. The verbs of beginning are the ones you will trip over first:
- بَدَأَ يَكْتُبُ رِسالَةً. - He began to write a letter. (not *بَدَأَ أَنْ يَكْتُبَ)
- أَخَذَ يَضْحَكُ. - He started laughing.
- ما زالَ يَعْمَلُ هُنا. - He still works here.
كادَ (“almost”) usually behaves the same way, though كادَ أَنْ يَفْعَلَ is current too, and لا يَزالُ / ما زالَ belong to كانَ وأَخَواتُها. These are lessons 43 and 59. For now: memorise بَدَأَ as the exception that proves the rule.
12. Three particles that look alike - keep them apart. أَنْ takes a verb in the subjunctive (أُريدُ أَنْ تَذْهَبَ). أَنَّ takes a noun or pronoun in the accusative and means “that” after verbs of knowing and reporting (أَعْرِفُ أَنَّكَ مَشْغولٌ) - lesson 44. إِنَّ opens a sentence for emphasis, and it is also what قالَ takes: “he said that …” is قالَ إِنَّ, not قالَ أَنَّ - lesson 44 as well. And قَبْلَ أَنْ / بَعْدَ أَنْ (“before/after”) use the same أَنْ - قَبْلَ أَنْ always with the subjunctive, بَعْدَ أَنْ with a subjunctive or a ماضٍ - but they are time conjunctions: lesson 38.
Forms & patterns
أَنْ + المُضارِعُ المَنْصوب - كَتَبَ / يَكْتُبُ
| الضَّمير | المُضارِعُ المَرْفوع | أَنْ + المَنْصوب |
|---|---|---|
| أَنا | أَكْتُبُ | أَنْ أَكْتُبَ |
| أَنْتَ | تَكْتُبُ | أَنْ تَكْتُبَ |
| أَنْتِ | تَكْتُبينَ | أَنْ تَكْتُبي |
| هُوَ | يَكْتُبُ | أَنْ يَكْتُبَ |
| هِيَ | تَكْتُبُ | أَنْ تَكْتُبَ |
| نَحْنُ | نَكْتُبُ | أَنْ نَكْتُبَ |
| أَنْتُمْ | تَكْتُبونَ | أَنْ تَكْتُبوا |
| هُمْ | يَكْتُبونَ | أَنْ يَكْتُبوا |
| أَنْتُنَّ / هُنَّ | تَكْتُبْنَ / يَكْتُبْنَ | أَنْ تَكْتُبْنَ / يَكْتُبْنَ |
The two feminine plurals are the only cells that do not change at all. The duals (أَنْ تَكْتُبا، أَنْ يَكْتُبا) drop their ن exactly like the plurals and are left out here.
The personal governing verbs
| الفِعْل | الجَذْر | الوَزْن | المُضارِع (أَنا) | الماضي (أَنا) | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| أَرادَ أَنْ | ر و د | IV, أَجْوَف | أُريدُ | أَرَدْتُ | to want to |
| اِسْتَطاعَ أَنْ | ط و ع | X, أَجْوَف | أَسْتَطيعُ | اِسْتَطَعْتُ | to be able to |
| أَحَبَّ أَنْ | ح ب ب | IV, مُضَعَّف | أُحِبُّ | أَحْبَبْتُ | to like to |
| قَرَّرَ أَنْ | ق ر ر | II | أُقَرِّرُ | قَرَّرْتُ | to decide to |
| حاوَلَ أَنْ | ح و ل | III | أُحاوِلُ | حاوَلْتُ | to try to |
| نَسِيَ أَنْ | ن س ي | I, ناقِص | أَنْسى | نَسيتُ | to forget to |
Watch the two hollow verbs: their long vowel is there in the present (أُريدُ، أَسْتَطيعُ) and gone in the past with a personal ending (أَرَدْتُ، اِسْتَطَعْتُ). Likewise أَحَبَّ, whose shadda unpacks into two letters in أَحْبَبْتُ. Lessons 49 and 50 explain why.
The impersonal modals - frozen in the 3rd person masculine singular
| التَّعْبير | Source | English | Person marked by |
|---|---|---|---|
| يَجِبُ أَنْ | و ج ب, I, مِثال واوِيّ (و drops) | must, have to | the second verb |
| يَجِبُ عَلى … أَنْ | + عَلى | somebody has to | عَلى + pronoun/noun |
| يُمْكِنُ أَنْ | م ك ن, IV (أَمْكَنَ) | can, may, it is possible | the second verb |
| يُمْكِنُ + ـني/ـكَ أَنْ | + object pronoun | I/you can | the attached pronoun |
| عَلَيْهِ أَنْ | عَلى + pronoun | he has to | the attached pronoun |
| لا بُدَّ أَنْ / مِنْ أَنْ | لا + بُدٌّ | there is no avoiding it | the second verb |
| كانَ يَجِبُ أَنْ | كانَ + يَجِبُ | had to, should have | the second verb |
عَلَيْـ + أَنْ across the persons
| الضَّمير | العِبارَة | English |
|---|---|---|
| أَنا | عَلَيَّ أَنْ أَذْهَبَ | I have to go |
| أَنْتَ | عَلَيْكَ أَنْ تَذْهَبَ | you (m.) have to go |
| أَنْتِ | عَلَيْكِ أَنْ تَذْهَبي | you (f.) have to go |
| هُوَ | عَلَيْهِ أَنْ يَذْهَبَ | he has to go |
| هِيَ | عَلَيْها أَنْ تَذْهَبَ | she has to go |
| نَحْنُ | عَلَيْنا أَنْ نَذْهَبَ | we have to go |
| أَنْتُمْ | عَلَيْكُمْ أَنْ تَذْهَبوا | you (pl.) have to go |
| هُمْ | عَلَيْهِمْ أَنْ يَذْهَبوا | they have to go |
Irregular stems after أَنْ - where the fatḥa shows and where it hides
| النَّوْع | المَرْفوع | أَنْ + المَنْصوب | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| أَجْوَف | يَزورُ | أَنْ يَزورَ | ordinary fatḥa |
| أَجْوَف | يَنامُ | أَنْ يَنامَ | ordinary fatḥa |
| مُضَعَّف | يُحِبُّ | أَنْ يُحِبَّ | fatḥa on the shadda’d letter |
| ناقِص في ـي | يَشْتَري | أَنْ يَشْتَرِيَ | the hidden ي reappears with a fatḥa |
| ناقِص في ـو | يَدْعو | أَنْ يَدْعُوَ | the hidden و reappears with a fatḥa |
| ناقِص في ـى | يَنْسى | أَنْ يَنْسى | no visible change at all |
| مَهْموزُ اللّام | يَقْرَأُ | أَنْ يَقْرَأَ | the hamza keeps its seat |
Examples
| العربية | English |
|---|---|
| أُريدُ أَنْ أَتَعَلَّمَ اللُّغَةَ العَرَبِيَّةَ. | I want to learn Arabic. |
| هَلْ تَسْتَطيعُ أَنْ تُساعِدَني؟ | Can you help me? |
| يَجِبُ أَنْ أَذْهَبَ إِلى الطَّبيبِ اليَوْمَ. | I have to go to the doctor today. |
| يَجِبُ عَلَيْكِ أَنْ تَدْرُسي كُلَّ يَوْمٍ. | You have to study every day. |
| كانَ يَجِبُ أَنْ نَنْتَظِرَ قَليلًا. | We should have waited a little. |
| قَرَّرَتْ أَنْ تَسْكُنَ في مَدينَةٍ أُخْرى. | She decided to live in another city. |
| أُحِبُّ أَنْ أَقْرَأَ قَبْلَ النَّوْمِ. | I like to read before going to sleep. |
| حاوَلْتُ أَنْ أَفْتَحَ النّافِذَةَ. | I tried to open the window. |
| نَسيتُ أَنْ أَشْتَرِيَ الخُبْزَ. | I forgot to buy bread. |
| يُمْكِنُنا أَنْ نَبْدَأَ الآنَ. | We can start now. |
| لا بُدَّ أَنْ تَعْرِفَ الحَقيقَةَ. | You have to know the truth. |
| يَجِبُ أَلّا تَتَأَخَّرَ عَنِ العَمَلِ. | You must not be late for work. |
| عَلَيْنا أَنْ نَحْجِزَ الغُرْفَةَ اليَوْمَ. | We have to book the room today. |
| أُريدُ الذَّهابَ إِلى السّوقِ. | I want to go to the market. |
Common mistakes
- أُريدُ أَذْهَبَ. -> أُريدُ أَنْ أَذْهَبَ. - Arabic has no infinitive, so two verbs cannot sit side by side here. أَنْ is what glues them, and it is never optional after أَرادَ.
- أُريدُ أَنْ أَذْهَبُ. -> أُريدُ أَنْ أَذْهَبَ. - أَنْ makes the verb منصوب: the final ḍamma becomes a fatḥa. This is the single commonest error in the lesson.
- أَجِبُ أَنْ أَذْهَبَ. -> يَجِبُ أَنْ أَذْهَبَ. - يَجِبُ does not conjugate for the person who must act. It stays 3ms; “I” lives on أَذْهَبَ.
- يَجِبونَ أَنْ يَدْرُسوا. -> يَجِبُ أَنْ يَدْرُسوا. - the same rule for plurals. يَجِبُ has no plural in this construction, ever.
- بَدَأَ أَنْ يَكْتُبَ. -> بَدَأَ يَكْتُبُ. - verbs of beginning take the bare مضارع, still مرفوع. No أَنْ, no fatḥa.
- تَسْتَطيعُ أَنْ تَذْهَبينَ؟ -> هَلْ تَسْتَطيعينَ أَنْ تَذْهَبي؟ - two errors at once: the first verb must agree with أَنْتِ, and the second drops its ن in the subjunctive.
- يَجِبُ أَنْ لا تَتَأَخَّرُ. -> يَجِبُ أَلّا تَتَأَخَّرَ. - أَنْ + لا is written as one word, أَلّا, and the verb after it is still منصوب.
- يُمْكِنُ عَلَيَّ أَنْ أُساعِدَكَ. -> يُمْكِنُني أَنْ أُساعِدَكَ. - يُمْكِنُ takes an attached object pronoun; عَلى belongs to يَجِبُ (يَجِبُ عَلَيَّ).
- أُريدُ الذَّهابُ إِلى السّوقِ. -> أُريدُ الذَّهابَ إِلى السّوقِ. - the مصدر is a noun in the object slot, so it is accusative.
- كانَ يَجِبُ أَنْ نَنْتَظِرُ. -> كانَ يَجِبُ أَنْ نَنْتَظِرَ. - putting the modal in the past changes nothing after أَنْ; the second verb stays منصوب.
Tips
- Learn the frame as one sound-shape, not three rules: أَنْ + أَ/تَ/يَ/نَ + …َ. Say أُريدُ أَنْ أَذْهَبَ، يَجِبُ أَنْ أَذْهَبَ، أَسْتَطيعُ أَنْ أَذْهَبَ out loud until the final fatḥa is a reflex.
- Translate يَجِبُ أَنْ to yourself as “it is necessary that …”, not as “must”. The English word “must” invites you to conjugate it; the Arabic phrase does not conjugate.
- Store the six governing verbs as pairs - أَرادَ / أُريدُ، اِسْتَطاعَ / أَسْتَطيعُ، أَحَبَّ / أُحِبُّ - because their past and present look nothing alike. The أَنْ part is the easy half.
- One sentence per person is worth a paradigm: يَجِبُ أَنْ أَذْهَبَ، يَجِبُ أَنْ تَذْهَبي، يَجِبُ أَنْ نَذْهَبَ. Rehearse the frozen first word deliberately.
- For polite requests, هَلْ يُمْكِنُني أَنْ …؟ and هَلْ يُمْكِنُكَ أَنْ …؟ will carry you through almost every everyday exchange. Bank those two openings whole.
- If you cannot recall a مصدر, you never need it: after the governing verbs of this lesson, أَنْ + verb always works. The مصدر is an economy, not an obligation - lesson 54 takes it apart.
- Ignore for now the difference between أَنْ and أَنَّ. If the next word is a مضارع it is أَنْ, with a fatḥa on the end of that verb; that is all you need until lesson 44.