- We spoke earlier about the past and present tenses. Today, we are going to discuss the imperatives and learn how to get them from regular verbs.
- The imperative refers to a request or command, so its meaning refers mainly to the future.
- The imperative is derived from the present tense.
- It ends in a sukkoon unless it is attached to other person suffixes.
- Imperative forms are used only with the second person.
- Imperative verbs must agree with its subject, so the shape of the verbs looks as follows:
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Examples of Imperative Verbs with different roots
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يَكتُبْ
writes
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يُزَلْزِلْ
rocks
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يَتَعَلَّمْ
learns
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يَسْتَخْرِجْ
takes out
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<<<<< Present Verb |
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Second Person
(You = أنتَ )
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اُكتُبْ
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زَلْزِلْ
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تَعَلَّمْ
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اِسْتَخْرِجْ
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Verb with a sukkon
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Second Person
(You = أنتِ )
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اُكْتُبِى |
زَلْزِلِى |
تَعَلَّمِى |
اِسْتَخْرِجِى |
Verb + Yaa of the person addressed with a Kasra
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Second Person
(You = أنتما )
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اُكتُبَا |
زَلْزِلا |
تَعَلَّمَا |
اِسْتَخْرِجَا |
Verb + Dual Alif
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Second Person
(You = أنتُم )
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اُكتُبُوا |
زَلْزِلُوا |
تَعَلَّمُوا |
اِسْتَخْرِجُوا |
Verb + Waw of the
M. Plural
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| Second Person (You = أنتُنَّ ) |
اُكتُبْنْ |
زَلزِلْنْ |
تَعَلَّمْنْ |
اِسْتَخْرِجْنْ |
Verb + Noon of
F. Plural
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(Note1 : To get the Imperative from the Threefold present verb that has a Damma on its second letter, we add a Mazeed Hamza (Alif) with a Damma at the beginning of the verb; e.g. يخرج >>> اُخرج and يكتُبْ >>> اُكتُبْ …. etc.)
(Note 2 : A Mazeed Hamza (Alif) with a Kasra is added at the beginning of other Threefold verbs or other verbs starting with this Mazeed Alif; e.g. يشرب (to drink) >>> اِشرَبْ and يجلس >>> اِجلِسْ and يَنطلِق (to set off) >>> اِنْطَلِق and يستخرج >>> اِستخرِجْ )
(Note 3: The Sukkoon at the end of the verb changes to the same short vowel that agrees with the suffixes attached to the imperative verb, so اُكتُبِى has a Kasra under the Baa because the Kasra agrees with the ending Yaa and اُكتُبَا has a Fatha to go with the Dual Alif and اُكتُبُوا has a Damma to go with the Waw ….etc.)
(Note 4 : We can get imperatives for first and third persons by using the particles ” لـِ ” and ” فَلـْ ” added to the beginning of the Present Tense Verb ; e.g. أذهبُ >>> لأذهبْ / فَلأذهبْ = “Let me go. / or / I will go.” And نذهبْ >>> لِنَذْهبْ = “Let’s go. / or / We will go.” And يذهبوا >>> لِيَذهبُوا = “Let them go. / or / They will go.” But be careful that the verb is still in the present tense and the Laam is called the Laam of Command لام الأمر .)
(Note 5: Healthy and Unhealthy Imperative Verb Forms will be discussed later.)
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Next time, we will continue looking at Verb Health.
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Peace سلام / Salam/
Comments:
Abdulhakim Muhammad:
السلام عليكم و رحمة الله
مفيد جدا
بارك الله فيكم
Jody Gosch:
can you define “ASHADATU” into English for me?
Fisal:
@Jody Gosch Unfortunately, it has no English equivalent. It is a diacritic mark that is put on top of some Arabic letter in some words to mark stress or the letter is doubled. Check this post, please:
https://blogs.transparent.com/arabic/2-arabic-diacritics-al-tashkeel-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%80%D8%AA%D9%80%D8%B4%D9%80%D9%83%D9%80%D9%8A%D9%80%D9%80%D9%80%D9%84/
Sarah Garden:
I have a question about whether to use the imperitive after لا when telling someone not to do something. Does e.g. this phrase “لا تنقر اشتري” – “laa tanquri ishtaree” … mean “do not click buy” or should it be laa followed by the imperitive for click and also the imperitive for buy?
Fisal:
@Sarah Garden Hi Sarah. Actually the Arabic imperative consists of “laa + present tense”. This is called “Nahy” and is equal to “Don’t + inf.” In your example, the Nahy is “laa tanquri” and “ishtaree” is just the word on the box. You could say it directly “laa tashtaree” = Don’t buy in whivh case the verb buy tashtaree is in the present too exactly like “don’t click” = “laa tanquree” 🙂