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	ﭻ	ـچـ	ﭻ	ﭺ	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)