Verbs

Kuwaiti only has two tenses, past and present.

The way of forming each tense is almost always the same, no matter what verb you are using.

The following table shows the different forms of the verb 'to write.'







Past tense
Present tense

I ana
katabt
aktib
You (m) inta
katabt
tiktib
You (f) intay
katabtay
tiktibiin
You (pl) intaw
katabtaw
tiktibuun
We a7naa
katabnaa
naktib
He uhuwa
katab
yiktib
She  ihiya
katabat
tiktib
They uhuma
katabaw
yiktibuun


Once you have all the parts in bold committed to memory, all you then have to learn is the past tense root and present tense root of any verb.

What do I mean by this? Well, if you want to say 'I' do something in the present tense, the Kuwaiti word is always going to start with an 'a.' So once you know that the present tense root of the verb 'to write' is ktib, you can easily conjugate aktib ('I write').

And if for example you want to say "they" did something using the past tense, the Kuwaiti word is always going to end in 'aw'Once you know that the past tense root of the verb 'to write' is katab, you can easily conjugate katabaw ('they wrote').

Earlier I told a white lie when I said there are only two tenses in Kuwaiti. There is indeed a future tense, but you express it simply by putting the word raa7 before any verb in the present tense.

See below:







Present tense
Future tense

I ana
aktib
raa7 aktib
You (m) inta
tiktib
raa7 tiktib
You (f) intay
tiktibiin
raa7 tiktibiin
You (pl) intaw
tiktibuun
raa7 tiktibuun
We a7naa
naktib
raa7 naktib
He uhuwa
yiktib
raa7 yiktib
She  ihiya
tiktib
raa7 tiktib
They uhuma
yiktibuun
raa7 yiktibuun

Alphabet

Kuwaiti, like any other dialect of Arabic, is written and read from right to left.

This table shows the four forms of each letter, beginning with how the letter looks on its own (separate), how it looks when it's the first letter of a word (initial), its shape when it's in the middle of word (medial) and finally, how it looks when it's the last letter of a word (final).

For the letters that have no equivalent in English, you will find an audio file to hear how they are pronounced.


Name
Final Medial Initial Separate
Pronounciation

alif
ـا
ـا
ا
ا
aa
baa
ـب
ـبـ
بـ
ب
b
taa
ت
ـتـ
تـ
ت
t
thaa
ـث
ـثـ
ثـ
ث
th
jiim
ـج
ـجـ
جـ
ج
j
7aa
ـح
ـحـ
حـ
ح
7 (audio)
khaa
خ
ـخـ
خـ
خ
kh
daal
ـد
ـد
د
د
d
dhaal
ـذ
ـذ
ذ
ذ
dh
raa
ـر
ـر
ر
ر
r
zaay
ـز
ـز
ز
ز
z
siin
ـس
ـسـ
سـ
س
s
shiin
ش
ـشـ
شـ
ش
sh
9aad
ـص
ـصـ
صـ
ص
9 (audio)
‘9aad
ـض
ـضـ
ضـ
ض
‘9 (audio)
6aa
ـط
ـطـ
طـ
ط
6 (audio)
‘6aa
ـظ
ـظـ
ظـ
ظ
‘6 (audio)
3yn
ـع
ـعـ
عـ
ع
3 (audio)
ghayn
ـغ
ـغـ
غـ
غ
gh
faa
ـف
ـفـ
فـ
ف 
f
qaaf
ـق
ـقـ
قـ
ق
g
kaaf
ـك
ـكـ
كـ
ك
k
chaa
ـچـ
ch
laam
ـل
ـلـ
لـ
ل
l
miim
ـم
ـمـ
مـ
م
m
nuun
ـن
ـنـ
نـ
ن
n
haa
ـه
ـهـ
هـ
ه
h
waaw
ـو
ـو
و
و
w / uu
yaa
ـي
ـيـ
يـ
ي
y / ii
hamza
ء
ء
ء
ء
2 (audio)