Sarf: verb forms, derived nouns and root patterns
Sarf asks how words are built. From one three-letter root Arabic generates a whole family of forms, and the paper tests whether you can move between them accurately.
Verb forms
I فَعَلَ; II فَعَّلَ; III فاعَلَ; IV أَفعَلَ; V تَفَعَّلَ; VI تَفاعَلَ; VII اِنْفَعَلَ; VIII اِفْتَعَلَ; IX اِفْعَلَّ (colours and defects); X اِسْتَفْعَلَ. Learn each masdar: II تَفْعيل, III مُفاعَلة, IV إِفْعال, V تَفَعُّل, VI تَفاعُل, VII اِنْفِعال, VIII اِفْتِعال, X اِسْتِفْعال.
Derived nouns
Ism fa'il on فاعل; ism maf'ul on مَفعول; sifah mushabbah; ism tafdil on أَفعَل/فُعْلى; ism makan on مَفعَل; and the masdar.
Roots and plurals
Broken plurals include فُعول، أَفعَال، فِعال، فُعَلاء. Weak roots are muda'af (شدّ), mahmuz (سأل) and mu'tall (قال، باع), where a weak letter may change or drop.
Worked example
Root ك-ت-ب: كَتَبَ (I), كاتِب (ism fa'il), مَكتوب (ism maf'ul), كِتاب (masdar and plural), مَكتَب (ism makan), كاتَبَ (III), تَكاتَبَ (VI), اِسْتَكتَبَ (X). If asked for the ism maf'ul of كَتَبَ, write مَكتوب on its pattern, not a case-inflected form; sarf wants the bare mould.
Traps
Giving a conjugated verb when the pattern is asked; dropping the hamzat al-wasl in VII, VIII and X; confusing ism fa'il with sifah mushabbah; writing the masdar of form II as مَفعَل.