Tag Archives: irregular verbs
Some Insights into Arabic Verb Usage (2) Posted by Ibnulyemen اِبْنُ اليَمَن on Oct 11, 2018
In an earlier post, we looked at how intransitive verbs are made transitive and vice versa. This is done by adding or dropping a letter or letters to the basic verb. A verb like نَزَلَ ‘to get down’ is made transitive in two ways: adding hamzah or doubling the middle letter, hence أَنْزَل or نَزَّلَ…
Irregular verbs in Arabic – Exercises Posted by aziza on Jul 26, 2015
In a previous post, I explained how to conjugate weak verbs, i.e. begin with waw (و) or yaa (ي) as root letters. In this post, I present some exercises on the same topic. First of all, please find below the conjugation of the verb (وقف). Complete the sentences with the appropriate form of the…
Irregular verbs – again Posted by aziza on Mar 25, 2011
In this post, I respond to a query from a reader who noticed that the second person masculine plural form is not included in the table. The table presented below is complete. Doubled verbs (الفعل المضعف) in Arabic end in a doubled letter, i.e. one with shadda (ـّ), e.g. (شدّ) ‘pulled’, (ظنّ) ‘thought’, (استعدّ) ‘got…
Arabic Weak Verbs in the Present Tense Posted by aziza on Feb 26, 2010
This post deals with conjugation of verbs that have a final vowel. They are called weak verbs(الفعل الناقص), e.g. (رَمَى) “threw” and (نما) “grew”, etc. In the present tense, the final vowel is returned to its origin. Consider the examples below. نما رَمَى أنمو أرمي أنا تنمو ترمي أنتَ تنمين ترمين أنتِ ينمو يرمي هو…
Arabic Irregular Verbs: Hollow Verbs (Part 2) Posted by aziza on Feb 6, 2010
This post deals with conjugation of verbs that have a medial vowel (ا). They are called hollow verbs(الفعل الأجوف), e.g. (نام) ‘slept’, (باع) ‘sold’, (قام) ‘got up’, etc. In the past tense, the medial vowel disappears with some pronouns, i.e. first and second person pronouns in addition to the third person feminine plural pronoun. The…
Arabic Irregular Verbs: Hollow Verbs (Part 1) Posted by aziza on Feb 3, 2010
This post deals with conjugation of verbs that have a medial vowel (ا). They are called hollow verbs(الفعل الأجوف), e.g. (نام) ‘slept’, (باع) ‘sold’, (قام) ‘got up’, etc. In the present tense, the medial vowel can change, as it becomes like its root. The three examples below give examples of three verbs that behave differently…
Irregular Verbs in Arabic (Part 4): Conjugating Verbs that Begin with a Vowel Posted by aziza on Jan 30, 2010
This post deals with conjugation of verbs that begin with the vowel (و) – (الفعل المثال الواوي), e.g. (وصل) ‘arrived, (وعد) ‘promised, etc. In the present tense, which usually involves the use of prefixes, the first vowel of the verb is substituted by the prefix, i.e. the vowel which occurs in the beginning of the…