Some Insights into Arabic Verb Usage (1) Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Sep 11, 2018 in Grammar, Pronunciation, Vocabulary
Certain rules of Arabic verb conjunction, formation, meaning, and pronunciation are oftentimes overlooked because they are minute and needs a meticulous learner or instructor to discover and/or pay attention to. Knowing these niceties lead to more accurate language use and speedier language learning overall. This post gives a list of rules and illustrations that concern the usage of Arabic verbs.
(1) Transitivity
Verbs are either transitive مُتَعَدَّي (i.e. needs an object) or intransitive لَازِم (i.e. does not need an object). In Arabic, many intransitive verbs can be made transitive in two ways:
(a) Adding hamzah أ to the beginning of the beginning of the tri-consonantal verb. This results in the formation of causative verbs (i.e. to cause someone to do something), as in these examples:
| لَازِم Intransitive | مُتَعَدِّي Transitive |
|
خَرَجَ الطَّالِب. The student went out |
أَخْرَجَ الأُسْتَاذُ الطَّالِب. The teacher made the student go out |
|
ضَحِكَ النَّاس. People laughed |
أَضْحَكَ المُهَرِّج النَّاس. The jester made people laugh. |
|
جَلَسَ الطِّفْل. The baby sat |
أَجْلَسَتِ الأُمُّ الطِّفْلُ. The mother made the baby sit |
|
خَافَ الرَّجُل. The man became afraid |
أَخَافَ الأَسَدُ الرَّجُلَ. The lion made the man afraid |
If the verb is already a transitive one, adding a hamzah أ to it makes it di-transitive (i.e. needing two objects), as in these examples:
| مُتَعَدِي لِمَفْعُول Transitive | مُتَعَدِّي لِمَفْعُولَيْن Di-transitive |
|
فَهْمَ عَلِيٌ الدَّرْسَ. Ali understood the lesson |
أَفْهَمَ الأُسْتَاذُ عَلٍيًّا الدَرْسَ. The teacher made Ali understand the lesson |
|
لَبِسَت الشِّيْخ كُوْفِيَّة. The old man wore a keffiyeh |
أَلْبَسَ الاِبْن الشَّيْخَ كُوْفِيَّة. The son made the old man wear a keffiyeh |
|
سَمِعَ سَمِيْر أُغْنِيَّة. Samir listened to a song. |
أَسْمَعَ سَمِيْرُ أَصْدِقَاءَهُ أُغْنِيَّة. Samir made his friends listen to a song. |
(b) Doubling the middle letter of the tri-consonantal verb. The resulting verb is also causative, as in these examples:
| لَازِم Intransitive | مُتَعَدِّي Transitive |
|
رَقَدَ الطِّفْل. The baby slept |
رَقَّدَتِ الأُمُّ الطِّفْلَ. The mother made the baby sleep. |
|
ضَحِكَ النَّاس. People laughed |
ضَحَّكَ المُهَرِّج النَّاس. The jester made people laugh. |
|
جَلَسَ الطَّفْل. The baby sat |
جَلَّسَتِ الأُمُّ الطِّفْلُ. The mother made the baby sit. |
|
نَزَلَ الرُّكَاب مِنَ السَّيَّارَة. The passengers /riders descended the car. |
نَزَّلَتِ الشُّرْطَة الرُّكَّابَ مِنْ السَّيَّارَة. The police made the passengers descend the car. |
Similar to the addition of hamzah to tri-consonantal transitive verbs, if the middle letter of the tri-consonantal transitive is doubled, it becomes ditransitive, as in these examples:
| مُتَعَدِي لِمَفْعُول Transitive | مُتَعَدِّي لِمَفْعُولَيْن Di-transitive |
|
فَهْمَ عَلِيٌ الدَّرْسَ. Ali understood the lesson |
فَهَّمَ الأُسْتَاذُ عَلٍيًّا الدَرْسَ. The teacher made Ali understand the lesson |
|
لَبِسَت الشِّيْخ كُوْفِيَّة. The old man wore a keffiyeh |
لَبَّسَ الاِبْن الشَّيْخَ كُوْفِيَّة. The son made the old man wear a keffiyeh |
|
أَكَلَ الوَلَد التُّفَّاحَة. The boy ate the apple |
أَكَّلَ الأَبُ الوَلَدَ التُّفَّاحَة. The father made the boy eat the apple |
|
سَمِعَ سَمِيْر أُغْنِيَّة. Samir listened to a song |
سَمَّعَ سَمِيْرُ أَصْدِقَاءَهُ أُغْنِيَّة. Samir made his friends listen to a song |
You may wonder what the difference between فَهَّمَ and أَفْهَم; لَبَّسَ and أَلْبَسَ; سَمَّعَ and أَسْمَع; نَزَّلَ and أَنْزَل and so forth. They are the same as far as transitivity is concerned. Meaning-wise, verb with double middle letter can mean repetition of the action, so سَمَّعَ سَمِيْر أَصْدِقَاءَهُ أُغْنِيَّة means action of ‘making his friends listen’ is done again and again (multiple times).
(2) Intransitivity
While some additions make some triconsonantal verbs transitive or ditransitive, other additions can make similar verb intransitive. Adding اِنْـ to the start of some triconsonantal verbs change them from transitive to intransitive, as in these examples:
| مُتَعَدِي Transitive | لَازِم Intransitive |
|
كَسَرَ النَّادِل الصَّحْن. The waiter broke the plate |
اِنْكَسَرَ الصَّحْنُ. The plate broke |
|
فَتَحْتُ النَّافِذِةَ. I opened the window. |
اِنْفَتَحَتِ النَّافِذَة. The window opened (by itself). |
|
صَرَفَ الأسْتَاذُ الطُّلَّاب. The teacher asked the students to leave. |
اِنْصَرَفَ الطُّلَّابُ. The students left. |
|
عَطَفَ اللِّصُّ العَمُوْد. The thief bent the pole. |
اِنْعَطَفَ العَمُوْد. The pole bent by itself. |
(3) Pronunciation:
When conjugated into the imperfective form, perfective verbs that are composed of three consonant letters get fatHah on the imperfective prefixes, as in (a). On the other hand, perfective verbs that are composed of consonant letters such as شَاهَدَ ‘to watch’, نَظَّفَ ‘to clean’, أَكْمَل ‘to complete’, and أَخْبَرَ ‘to tell’ must get DHammah on the imperfective prefix when conjugated into the imperfective form, as in (b).
(a)
| مَاضٍ Perfective | مُضَارِع Imperfective |
|
كَتَبْت رُوَايَةً. I wrote a novel |
أَكْتُبُ رُوَايَة جَدِيْدَة. I am writing a new novel. |
|
نُمْنَا سَاعَة وَاحِدَة. we slept for an hour |
نَنَامُ سَاعَة وَاحِدَة بَعْد الغَدَاء. we sleep for an hour after lunch. |
|
قَرَأَ الجَرِيْدَة. he read the newspaper |
يَقْرَأُ جَرِيْدَة الصَّبَاح. he is reading the morning newspaper. |
|
طَبَخَتْ العَشَاء. she cooked dinner |
تَطْبُخُ الغَدَاء. she is cooking lunch |
|
شَرِبْتَ عَصِيْر الأَنَانَاس. you drank pineapple juice |
تَشْرَبُ عَصِيْر التُوت. you are drinking mulberry juice |
|
رَجِعُوا مِنَ العَمَل مَسَاءً. they returned from work in the evening |
يَرْجِعُون إِلَى البَيْت السَّاعَة الوَاحِدِة ظُهْرًا. they return home at 1:00 pm |
In the above table, you see that the prefixes of the imperfective forms get fatHah, hence أَ, نَـ, يَـ, تَـ, تَـ, and يَـ, respectively.
(b)
|
شَاهَدْتُ فِيْلم تُوْم كُرُوز الجَدِيْد. I watched Tom Cruise’s new movie. |
أُشَاهِدُ فِيْلَمًا وَاحِدًا فِي الأُسْبُوع. I watch one movie per week |
|
نَظَّفْنَا الشِّقَّة قَبْلَ أَنْ نَنْقُل. we cleaned the flat before we moved in. |
نُنَظِّفُ شِقَّتُنا كُلَّ أُسْبُوع. we clean our flat every week. |
|
أكْمَلَ وَاجِبَهُ قَبْل النَّوْم. he completed his homework before sleeping |
يُكْمِلُ وَاجِبَه الآن. he is completing his homework now |
|
سَاعَدَتْ سَلْوَى أُخْتَهَا. Salwa helped her mother. |
تُسَاعِدُ سَلْوَى أُخْتَهَا. Salwa is helping her sister |
|
هَلْ شَارَكْتَ فِي مُسَابَقَة الشَّهْر المَاضِي؟ did you participate in last month competition |
هَلْ تُشَارِك فِي كُلِّ مُسَابَقَة؟ do you participate in every competition |
|
دَافَعُوا عَنْ وَطَنِهِم. they defended their country |
يُدَافِعُون عَنْ وَطَنِهِم. they are defending their country |
In (b), the imperfective form prefixes get DHammah, hence أُ, نُـ, يُـ, تُـ, تُـ, and يُـ, respectively.
In the next post, you will learn more verb rules about conjugation, formation, meaning, and pronunciation.
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About the Author: Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن
Marhaban! I am from Yemen. I am a language teacher. I teach English and Arabic. In this blog, I will be leading you through Arabic language learning in a sequential fashion. I will focus on Modern Standard Arabic. To learn more, you can also visit my website Ibnulyemen Arabic or my facebook page.