201 Arabic Verbs: Fully Conjugated in All the Forms

Rating:
Summary: poorly done, of limited use
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Very limited
Review: I agree with most of the other reviewers - this book is of limited use and a disappointment. It gives detailed conjugation of representative verbs but no list of other verbs which follow the representative patterns. It assumes you have the Wehr Dictionary handy in order to figure it all out. It was obviously intended for specialist use - if so why promote it so widely. Oh yeah - caveat emptor: it also has errors. A much more useful and cheaper book is Arabic Verbs and Essential Grammar by John Mace who packs a wealth of information into a small volume.

Rating:
Summary: Julia Brown's review of 201 Arabic Verbs
Review: I was dissapointed with this book because I was expecting the verbs to be written in Arabic (which they are) but also that the verbs be written as they are pronounced in English. This book is not usefull to people who do not know how to read in Arabic.

Rating:
Summary: Standing alone, it's a good book
Review: In high school I studied French and found the 501 French Verbs to be one of the best books around because it conjugated all of these verbs in every form, then gave sample sentences showing various usages of the verb. It also featured a long list in the back of thousands of other verbs that conjugated just like another verb already in the book and gave the page number.

So, when I found 201 Arabic Verbs I was very excited, then a bit disappointed. This book has selected the 201 most common verb forms, though not the most common verbs, and has conjugated them. There are no sample sentences and there is no larger list at the back of the book. It is because it is not as comprehensive as the other 201/501 Verb books that I have only given this book 3 stars.

On the other hand, though, the authors selected every common verb form, including the defective and hollow verbs, and DOES have an index of conjugation forms, indicating which page that form is on. So, once you have a verb you want to conjugate, you will probably be able to find one that conjugates just like it.

A superb complement to 201 Arabic Verbs is "The Concise Arabic-English Lexicon of Verbs in Context" (available here on Amazon). This book features close to a thousand verbs in their most common forms, including a sample sentence. This is especially helpful in differentiating the different "measures". It does not, however, show conjugations. These two books, therefore, work very well together to match the power of the other 501/201 Verb books.

If you are a serious student of Arabic, 201 Arabic Verbs is a must-have!

Rating:
Summary: Aboo Imraan's review of 201 Arabic Verbs
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: If you understood how to use it, you would have liked it...
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Useful but only for the already knowledgeable student
Review: 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.