katabtu

Katabtu is the first-person singular perfect form of the Arabic verb kataba, meaning “to write.” In standard Arabic, katabtu translates to “I wrote” and is used to indicate a completed action in the past. The form is written in Arabic as كتبتُ, with the diacritical marks showing the first-person suffix -tu and the past tense pattern of Form I verbs.

Morphology and usage

Kataba is the root pattern K-T-B, from which related verbs such as yaktubu (he writes) and aktubu (I write) are derived. Katabtu functions as a finite verb and carries the subject implicitly; the pronoun I is expressed by the suffix -tu rather than an explicit word. In modern standard Arabic and classical Arabic, katabtu appears in narratives, letters, essays, and other texts to convey past actions by the speaker. Dialectal varieties may exhibit phonetic or morphological variations, but the basic meaning remains “I wrote.”

Examples

- katabtu risālatī: I wrote my letter.

- katabtu al-kalām: I wrote the speech.

See also

Arabic grammar, past tense in Arabic, root K-T-B, kataba.