How to Conjugate walada (to give birth to) in Arabic

وَلَدَ (walada) means to give birth to. It is an assimilated Form I verb from the root و ل د (w-l-d): وَلَدَ (walada) in the past, يَلِدُ (yalidu) in the present and لِدْ (lid) 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 walada on this page comes from the engine behind our Arabic verb conjugator and was checked against Wiktionary's conjugation table for وَلَدَ, which is also the source of its verbal nouns.

Walada at a glance

Past tense of walada

The past tense (al-māḍī) of walada is one stem, walad-, plus a suffix that carries the person: وَلَدْتُ (waladtu) for I, وَلَدَتْ (waladat) for she, وَلَدُوا (waladū) for they.

Present tense of walada

The present tense (al-muḍāriʿ) of walada has no و (w) at all: أَلِدُ (alidu) for I, يَلِدُ (yalidu) for he, يَلِدُونَ (yalidūna) for they.

Subjunctive and jussive of walada

Like the present, the subjunctive and the jussive of walada have no و (w): يَلِدَ (yalida) after لن (lan, will not), يَلِدْ (yalid) after لم (lam, did not).

Imperative of walada

The command loses the و (w) as the present does, so it starts straight on the second root letter: لِدْ (lid) to one man, لِدِي (lidī) to one woman, لِدُوا (lidū) to a group.

Passive of walada

In the passive the و (w) comes back: the past is وُلِدَ (wulida), and in the present it merges with the u of the prefix into a long ū: يُولَدُ (yūladu).

Participles and verbal noun of walada

The active participle follows the pattern fāʿil: وَالِد (wālid). The passive participle follows mafʿūl: مَوْلُود (mawlūd). Form I verbal nouns follow no single pattern, and Wiktionary lists three for walada: وِلَادَة (wilāda), لِدَة (lida), مَوْلِد (mawlid). Learn them with the verb, or look them up under w-l-d in one of the dictionaries in our guide.

Why walada conjugates this way

وَلَدَ (walada) begins with the weak letter و (w), which makes it an assimilated verb. In the Form I present the و (w) drops out (يَلِدُ (yalidu)), and so does the command (لِدْ (lid)). In the past it stays (وَلَدْتُ (waladtu)). Waqafa (to stop, to stand still) and wajada (to find) are assimilated too, and change in the same places.

Walada in sentences

أين ولدت؟
Where were you born?
The verb: وُلِدْتَ (wulidta), passive past, you (m.sg.). Source: Tatoeba sentence 11788003 by dididodo (CC BY 2.0 FR), unvowelled as published.

متى ولدت؟
When was she born?
The verb: وُلِدَتْ (wulidat), passive past, she. Source: Tatoeba sentence 371099 by saeb (CC BY 2.0 FR), unvowelled as published.

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