Arabic vocabulary
تَوَفَّى is how you say “die” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in real example sentences from classical texts below.
ويتوفاهم في عافية،
...and causes them to die in well-being,
وَيَتَوَفَّاهُمْ — and causes them to die. This is a present-tense verb with its subject 'He' built into the shape of the word itself, so no separate pronoun is needed. The form is causative: it does not just mean to die but to make someone die, to take their soul. The ending '-hum' is the object 'them' fused onto the verb, so one Arabic word carries subject, verb, and object together.
From: Health as a Blessing →فَرَجَعَ فَتَوَفَّى فِي السَّنَةِ الدَّاخِلَةِ
He returned and then died the following year.
فَتَوَفَّى — then he died. Again the 'then' prefix chains the action onward, on a verb that despite its passive-looking shape is read here as 'he died'. This verb is one whose form looks passive but functions as a plain happening, so no outside agent is implied.
From: Silence and Supplication →OpenArabic teaches words like تَوَفَّى through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
Get the app