Are you learning Maltese, but finding grammar difficult? Do you want to start building sentences on your own, but don’t have the right materials? This introduction explains the basics of using and conjugating Maltese verbs in sentences, with examples from previous words of the week.

Verbs in a sentence

Especially at the beginning, if you are building a sentence with one verb, you may find it helpful to compare Maltese with English.

• The word order is similar: the verb comes at the beginning of the sentence.
• Questions are formed through intonation. Unlike in English, Maltese doesn’t use order change or auxiliary verbs like “do” to create a question.
• Verbs change according to person and tense. It’s more than just he/she/it in present tense.

The verb “to be”

After more than six months of publishing words, the site still doesn’t have a separate word-of-the-week entry for “to be”. Maltese doesn’t have a verb corresponding to English “to be” in the present tense. If you want to say “I am Anna” or “I am Polish”, you use a pronoun instead of a verb, in this case the pronoun “I”. In Maltese, you can therefore say Jiena Anna (“I Anna”) or Jiena Pollakk (“I Polish”).

The infinitive

Have you noticed that the translation of a verb, such as ordna, includes both “he ordered” and “to order”? This is because Maltese doesn’t have an infinitive form.

Instead, it uses the mamma, the past-tense form for the third-person masculine singular (“he”). So ordna literally means “he ordered”. This is the form found in dictionaries and the basis for conjugating Maltese verbs in both the present and past tenses.

Maltese tenses

Maltese verbs have two main forms: perfett, which expresses the past, and imperfett, which expresses the present and future. Both forms are conjugated for all persons.

Verbs also have an imperative form for “you” singular and “you” plural.

Maltese verb conjugation

Maltese verbs are conjugated for the following persons: I, you singular, he, she, we, you plural, and they.

• In the singular, the third person distinguishes between masculine (he) and feminine (she). There is no neuter form corresponding to English “it”.
• In the plural, the third person has only one form, regardless of the gender of the people referred to.

Every conjugated form has an affirmative and a negative version. Negation is usually formed by adding ma …x around the verb form, for example ordna and ma ordnax.

For another resource on Maltese verb conjugation, visit verb.mt.

The present tense

If a verb is regular, its conjugation can be memorised quite easily. Verbs usually begin with a particular letter pattern. You don’t need to memorise all six forms because some are repeated depending on the person.

• I (jiena): n-, for example nordna (I order)
• You singular (inti): t-, for example tordna
• He (huwa): j-, for example jordna
• She (hija): t-, for example tordna
• We (aħna): n-…-w, for example nordnaw
• You plural (intom): t-…-w, for example tordnaw
• They (huma): j-…-w, for example jordnaw

Can you see the pattern? You only need to learn three forms and remember to add -w (or -u) to the end of the word in the plural.

To form the future, simply add se before the verb, for example Se nordna (“I will order”).

The past tense

The past tense also follows patterns, this time with letters added to the end of the word.

• I (jiena): …-t, for example ordnajt (I ordered)
• You singular (inti): …-t, for example ordnajt (you ordered)
• He (huwa): mamma
• She (hija): …-et or …-t, for example ordnat
• We (aħna): …-na, for example ordnajna
• You plural (intom): …-tu, for example ordnajtu
• They (huma): …-w, for example ordnaw

The first- and second-person singular forms in the past tense are exactly the same.

Verbs on a word card

Part of a verb’s conjugation is shown on its word card. Each card shows the basic forms that make it easier to remember other forms for different persons.

• The word in the title is the mamma, for example ordna and għam.
• The imperative form for “you” singular, for example ordna and għum.
• The past-tense form for “I”, for example ordnajt and għomt, because these are usually the forms you will use. The “I” and “you” singular forms are also the same.
• The present-tense form for “I”, for example nornda and ngħum.
• The present-tense form for “you” singular, for example tordna and tgħum.

Verb roots

The root of a word is connected to its mamma. It’s more than just a root in the English sense because it identifies a whole family of words. A root usually contains three consonants corresponding to the consonants in the word.

What do “writer” and “book” have in common in Maltese? The root. The root k-t-b is connected with writing, as you can see in these examples:

• kiteb means “he wrote” (mamma)
• ktieb means “book”
• kittieb means “writer”

You can also find information about a verb’s root on verb.mt.

---

I hope this explanation of Maltese verbs helps you with your studies. When you read the next word of the week, pay attention to how the verb is conjugated and used in the sentence.