Arabic verbs

Arabic verbs (فعل fiʻl; pl. أفعال afʻāl), like the verbs in other Semitic languages, and the entire vocabulary in those languages, are based on a set of two, three, four and also five consonants (but mainly three consonants) called a root (triliteral or quadriliteral according to the number of consonants). The root communicates the basic meaning of the verb, e.g. k-t-b 'write', q-r-ʼ 'read', ʼ-k-l 'eat'. Changes to the vowels in between the consonants, along with prefixes or suffixes, specify grammatical functions such as person, gender, number, tense, mood, and voice. An example from the root k-t-b 'write':

Various categories are marked on verbs:

Verbal noun

A verbal noun is a noun formed from or otherwise corresponding to a verb. Different languages have different types of verbal noun and different ways of forming and using them. An example of a verbal noun in English is the word singing in the sentence "Singing is fun" (this is a noun formed from the verb sing). Verbal nouns may be non-finite verb forms such as infinitives or gerunds in English (or Latin) usage. They may also be "pure" verbal nouns, formed from verbs, but behaving grammatically entirely like nouns rather than verbs (not taking direct objects, for example). Such cases may also be called deverbal nouns.

Types of verbal noun

Verbal nouns may be non-finite verb forms which follow verb syntax, for example by taking appropriate objects (though usually not a subject) and being modified by adverbs, to produce a verb phrase which is then used within a larger sentence as a noun phrase. In English this can be done with the to-infinitive and with the gerund. In the following examples with infinitives, the verb phrase serving as a noun phrase is underlined, and the to-infinitive itself is bolded: