xebbah

Maltese

Root
x-b-h
5 terms

Alternative forms

• xebbaħ (unofficial, but common)

Etymology

From Arabic شَبَّهَ (šabbaha).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃɛb.baħ/

• Audio (Gozo)

  (file)

Verb

xebbah (imperfect jxebbah, past participle mxebbah)

1. to liken, to compare (to declare a similarity between to things, be it actual or figurative)

   Xebbahhom mal-ilpup.

   He likened them to wolves.

Conjugation

• The sound /ħ/ is kept in all conjugated forms. The spelling is h instead of ħ because this fortition has not been generalised throughout the root (compare xbieha /ˈʒbɪːja/).

Conjugation of xebbah
		singular				plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person		1st person	2nd person	3rd person
perfect	m	xebbaht	xebbaht	xebbah		xebbahna	xebbahtu	xebbhu
	f			xebbhet
imperfect	m	nxebbah	xxebbah	jxebbah		nxebbhu	xxebbhu	jxebbhu
	f			xxebbah
imperative			xebbah				xebbhu

Derived terms

• ma’ min rajtek xebbahtek

 

See also

• qabbel