سوف
العربية · Thesaurus
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سوف
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Aramaic סוֹף / ܣܘܦ (sōp̄, “limit, end”), which was used in various adverbial uses such as “after”, “in the end”. Compare the same word pervading the Hebrew language as סוֹף (sōp̄, “end”) in later usage, and Hebrew טֶרֶם (térem, “before; not yet”) cognate to طَرْمَة (ṭarma, “upper lip; edge, protrusion”).
From the Arabic particle, it was natural to form a form II verb “to put off in the future”, said of someone who commits to do something (سَوْفَ أَفْعَلُ (sawfa ʔafʕalu, “I will do”), and less well-known form I سَافَ (sāfa) meaning “to endure” and “to smell” as sensory anticipation, whence ”to hunt”, and form III سَاوِفَ (sāwifa, “to smell; to say in private; to compress, to go in unto”), and notably مَسَافَة (masāfa, “distance, interval”).
particle سَوْفَ · sawfa
-
added to an imperfect (present) verb form to express future tense: will
يَقْرَأُ كِتَابًا، سَوْفَ يَقْرَأُ كِتَابًا
Similar: سَـ
Opposite: لَنْ
verb سَوَّفَ · sawwafa · يُسَوِّفُ · تَسْوِيف · مُسَوِّف
- to postpone, delay, procrastinate, to put off a person or thing
- to commission to, to charge
Thesaurus
particle
Opposite: لَنْ
In English
- procrastinate put off; to delay taking action
- temporize to deliberately act evasively or prolong a discussion
Talk about this word "سوف." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/ar/%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%81. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. سوف. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/ar/%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%81 "سوف." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/ar/%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%81.Cite this
@misc{micwyn_2026,
title = {سوف},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/ar/%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%81},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
