Arabic vocabulary
How to say “I heard” in Arabic, with pronunciation and real example sentences from OpenArabic texts.
سَمِعْتُ الشَّافِعِيَّ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ يَقُولُ
I heard al-Shafi'i, may Allah be pleased with him, say.
سَمِعْتُ — I heard. A past-tense verb of perceiving with a 'I' ending fused on, so the single word means 'I heard'. The pronoun is part of the verb, which is why no separate 'I' appears in the Arabic.
From: Silence and Supplication →فَقَالَ حَمَّادُ سَمِعْتُ ثَابِتًا يَعْنِي الْبَنَّانِي
Hammad said, "I heard Thabit, meaning al-Bannani."
سَمِعْتُ — I heard. A past-tense verb with a first-person 'I' suffix, 'I heard', the verb that opens a chain of transmission. The suffix builds the speaker into the word.
From: Wealth and Knowledge on Trial →يَقُولُ سَمِعْتُ أَنَسًا بْنَ مَالِكِ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ عَنْهُ
He says, "I heard Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him."
سَمِعْتُ — I heard. A past-tense verb with a first-person 'I' suffix, 'I heard', opening a chain of transmission. The suffix builds the speaker into the word.
From: Wealth and Knowledge on Trial →يَقُولُ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ يَقُولُ
He says, "I heard the Messenger of Allah say."
سَمِعْتُ — I heard. A past-tense verb with a first-person 'I' suffix, 'I heard'. The suffix folds the speaker into the word, opening the transmission.
From: Wealth and Knowledge on Trial →فَقَالَ لَا وَيَرْحَمُكَ اللَّهُ فَإِنِّي سَمِعْتُ ثَابِتَ الْبُنَّانِيَّ
He said, "No. May God have mercy on you, for I heard Thabit al-Bunnani."
سَمِعْتُ — I heard. A past-tense verb with a first-person 'I' suffix, 'I heard', opening a chain of transmission. The suffix builds the speaker into the word.
From: Wealth and Knowledge on Trial →يَقُولُ أُنْسُ بْنُ مَالِكٍ يَقُولُ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ يَقُولُ
Anas ibn Malik says, "I heard the Messenger of God say."
سَمِعْتُ — I heard. A past-tense verb with a first-person 'I' suffix, 'I heard', opening the transmission. The suffix folds the speaker into the word.
From: Wealth and Knowledge on Trial →عَنْ الْمَعْلِيِّ بْنِ أَوْبِ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ الْمَأْمُونَ يَقُولُ
From al-Mu'allī ibn Uwb, he said: I heard al-Ma'mun say
سَمِعْتُ — I heard. This is a completed-action verb with the 'I' subject built into its -tu ending, reporting a firsthand act of hearing. It sets up a double structure: it takes a person as its object and then a verb describing what that person was doing. So it frames the whole next stretch as 'I heard so-and-so saying...'.
From: A Son Protecting His Father →وَقَالَ سَالِمٌ سَمِعْتُ اِبْنَ عُمَرَ ـ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا ـ يَقُولُ
And Salim said, "I heard Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with them, say."
سَمِعْتُ — I heard. A past-tense verb whose tacked-on ending marks the speaker as the hearer; the 'I' lives in that suffix, so no separate pronoun is used. The form alone tells you who did the hearing, and it sets up the next noun as what was heard.
From: A Night with the Companions →سَمِعْتُ الْبَرَاءَ بْنَ عَازِبٍ ـ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمَا ـ يُحَدِّثُ
I heard al-Bara' ibn Azib, may Allah be pleased with them, narrating.
سَمِعْتُ — I heard. A past-tense verb with a '-tu' tail that pins the doer as 'I'; the speaker-subject is built into the verb itself. One word therefore covers both 'I' and the completed act of hearing.
From: A Companion at Battle →سَمِعْتُ الْبَرَاءَ بْنَ عَازِبٍ، يَقُولُ
I heard al-Bara' ibn 'Azib say.
سَمِعْتُ — I heard. Past-tense verb of perceiving with the suffix '-tu' (I) fused on, so the doer is the narrator himself. This 'I heard' frames the whole report as something the speaker personally witnessed. The '-tu' ending is exactly how Arabic marks a first-person singular doer inside the verb.
From: A Night with the Prophet →فَوَاللَّهِ لَقَدْ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَقُولُ إِنَّهُمْ قَاتَلُوكَ
By Allah, I heard the Messenger of Allah say, "Indeed, they will kill you."
سَمِعْتُ — I heard. A past verb with its 'I' subject in the -tu ending; the suffix itself names the speaker. So 'I heard' rides on one word, no separate pronoun needed.
From: Warning Before the Battle of Badr →قَالَ سَمِعْتُ الْعَبَّاسَ يَقُولُ لِلزُّبَيْرِ بْنِ الْعَوَّامِ يَا أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ،
He said, "I heard al‑Abbas say to al‑Zubayr ibn al‑Awwam, O Abu Abd Allah,"
سَمِعْتُ — I heard. A past-tense verb 'I heard' whose '-tu' ending carries the 'I' subject, a hallmark of first-person transmission in reports. It sets up a 'I heard X say Y' structure, with the person heard named next.
From: Conquest of Mecca Account →ثُمَّ إِنِّى سَمِعْتُهُ وَهُوَ مُقْبِلٌ
Then I heard him as he was approaching.
سَمِعْتُهُ — I heard him. A past-tense verb of hearing with its 'I' subject built in and a 'him' object fused on the end. The suffix marks the Messenger as the one heard, the verb-plus-suffix covering 'I heard him'.
From: Paradise for the Sincere →وَعَنْ الأَصْمَعِيِّ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ الرَّشِيدَ يَقُولُ النَّوَادِرُ تَشْحَذُ الأَذْهَانَ وَتَفْتُقُ الآذَانَ
And from al-Asma'i: I heard al-Rashid say, "Anecdotes sharpen minds and quicken ears."
سَمِعْتُ — I heard. A past-tense verb whose ending -tu builds in an 'I' subject, so the speaker is named inside the verb. It governs the name after it as the thing heard, opening the report 'I heard so-and-so say...'.
From: Permissible Laughter and Conduct →OpenArabic teaches words like سَمِعْتُ through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
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