How to Conjugate samiʿa (to hear) in Arabic

سَمِعَ (samiʿa) means to hear. It is a sound Form I verb from the root س م ع (s-m-ʿ): سَمِعَ (samiʿa) in the past, يَسْمَعُ (yasmaʿu) in the present and اِسْمَعْ (ismaʿ) as a command. The tables below give its full conjugation in all 13 persons, active and passive, vowelled, with its participles and verbal noun.

Every form of samiʿa on this page comes from the engine behind our Arabic verb conjugator and was checked against Wiktionary's conjugation table for سَمِعَ, which is also the source of its verbal nouns and active participles.

Samiʿa at a glance

Past tense of samiʿa

The past tense (al-māḍī) of samiʿa is one stem, samiʿ-, plus a suffix that carries the person: سَمِعْتُ (samiʿtu) for I, سَمِعَتْ (samiʿat) for she, سَمِعُوا (samiʿū) for they.

Present tense of samiʿa

The present tense (al-muḍāriʿ) of samiʿa has a in the stem, -smaʿ-, which no rule predicts: أَسْمَعُ (asmaʿu) for I, يَسْمَعُ (yasmaʿu) for he, يَسْمَعُونَ (yasmaʿūna) for they.

Subjunctive and jussive of samiʿa

The subjunctive and the jussive of samiʿa change only the ending of the present: يَسْمَعُ (yasmaʿu) becomes يَسْمَعَ (yasmaʿa) after لن (lan, will not) and يَسْمَعْ (yasmaʿ) after لم (lam, did not).

Imperative of samiʿa

The command (al-amr) is the jussive تَسْمَعْ (tasmaʿ) without its prefix, with a connecting alif (hamzat al-waṣl) in front that is pronounced only when the command starts a sentence: اِسْمَعْ (ismaʿ) to one man, اِسْمَعِي (ismaʿī) to one woman, اِسْمَعُوا (ismaʿū) to a group.

Passive of samiʿa

The passive of samiʿa keeps the consonants and changes the vowels: u and i in the past (سُمِعَ (sumiʿa)), the prefix yu- and a before the last root letter in the present (يُسْمَعُ (yusmaʿu)).

Participles and verbal noun of samiʿa

For the active participle Wiktionary gives سَامِع (sāmiʿ) or سَمِيع (samīʿ) or سَمَّاع (sammāʿ). The passive participle follows mafʿūl: مَسْمُوع (masmūʿ). Form I verbal nouns follow no single pattern, and Wiktionary lists three for samiʿa: سَمْع (samʿ), سَمَاع (samāʿ), مَسْمَع (masmaʿ). Learn them with the verb, or look them up under s-m-ʿ in one of the dictionaries in our guide.

Why samiʿa conjugates this way

The root letters of سَمِعَ (samiʿa), س م ع (s-m-ʿ), are all strong consonants, with no w, y or hamza and no letter repeated, so nothing in its conjugation changes shape. What has to be learned is the pair of stem vowels: i in the past and a in the present, which no rule predicts. Fahima (to understand) and ʿalima (to know, to be aware) share its vowels, i in the past and a in the present.

Samiʿa in sentences

سمع صرخة.
He heard a shout.
The verb: سَمِعَ (samiʿa), past, he. Source: Tatoeba sentence 422625 by saeb (CC BY 2.0 FR), unvowelled as published.

سمعوا سعالا.
They heard coughing.
The verb: سَمِعُوا (samiʿū), past, they (m.pl.). Source: Tatoeba sentence 11679751 by dididodo (CC BY 2.0 FR), unvowelled as published.

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