Appendix:South Levantine Arabic verbs

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Root

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South Levantine Arabic verbs are usually derived from a three letter root (trilateral), however some verbs have a root of four letters (quadrilateral).

The root can either be regular or have a type of “weakness”.

Defective root

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Defective verbs end in one of the letters Alif (ا), Yā' (ي) or Alif Maqṣura (ى) in the past tense.

A final ي (-i) in the past tense usually becomes ى (-a) in the non-past and vice versa.

A final ا (-a) is derived from Hamza (أ) in MSA. It remains unchanged.

Examples
Past Subjunctive
نسي (nisi) ينسى (yinsa)
حكى (ḥaka) يحكي (yiḥki)
قرا (ʔara) يقرا (yiʔra)

Hollow root

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Hollow verbs have Alif (ا), Wāw (و) or Yā' (ي) as their middle letter.

The past tense always has the middle letter ا (ā), usually becoming or ي (ī) or و (ū) and sometimes remain ا (ā) in the non-past.

Examples
Past Subjunctive
جاب (jāb) يجاب (yjīb)
راح (rāḥ) يروح (yrūḥ)
نام (nām) ينام (ynām)

Hollow verbs become regular in the forms II, III, V and VI, as the middle letter is pronounced as consonant (e.g. راح (rāḥ)روّح (rawwaḥ)).

Doubled root

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If verbs have the same middle and final root letter, these are merged into one geminate consonant.

The past tense always has the middle vowel “a”, usually becoming “e/i” or “o/u” and sometimes remain “a” in the non-past.

Examples
Past Subjunctive
حسّ (ḥass) يحسّ (yḥess)
رشّ (rašš) يرشّ (yrošš)
ضلّ (ḍall) يضلّ (yḍall)

These verbs become regular in the forms II, III, V and VI (e.g. حسّ (ḥass)حسّس (ḥassas)).

Assimilated root

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Some verbs with the first root letter Hamza (أ) or Wāw (و) are assimilated, others completely regular.

This means that the first letter becomes a long vowel in the non-past.

Examples
Past Subjunctive
أكل (ʔakal) ياكل (yākol)
وصل (wiṣel) يوصل (yūṣal)

Forms

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There are 10 verb forms in Levantine Arabic. The basic form is form I. Other forms are derived from form I by adding prefixes and/or geminating consonants.

Verbs derived from the same root usually have related meanings in the different forms.

Quadrilateral verbs can only have two forms (Iq and IIq) corresponding to form II and V but with two middle consonants instead a geminate one.

Form Root Patterns Meaning
Past Subjunctive
I regular faʕal, fiʕil yial, yiil, yuul
defective faʕa, fiʕi yifʕa, yifʕi
hollow fāl yfāl, yfīl, yfūl
doubled fall yfall, yfill, yfull
II, Iq regular faʕʕal yfaʕʕil
defective faʕʕa yfaʕʕi
III regular fāʕal yfāʕil
defective fāʕa yfāʕi
IV regular ʾaal yiil
defective ʾafʕa yifʕi
V, IIq regular tfaʕʕal yifaʕʕal
defective tfaʕʕa yitfaʕʕa
VI regular tfāʕal yitfāʕal
defective tfāʕa yitfāʕa
VII regular infaʕal yinfaʕil
defective infaʕa yinfaʕi
VIII regular iftaʕal yiftaʕil
defective iftaʕa yiftaʕi
IX regular iall yiall
X regular istaal yistaʕfil
defective istafʕa yistafʕi

Conjugation

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Past tense

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Person Pattern Example
3rd sing. masc. stem درس (dáras)
fem. stem + at درست (dársat)
plural stem + u درسوا (dárasu)
2nd sing. masc. stem + t درست (darást)
fem. stem + ti درستي (darásti)
plural stem + tu درستوا (darástu)
1st singular stem + t درست (darást)
plural stem + na درسنا (darásna)
  • The 3rd person masculine form is the given form of verbs, i.e. the plain stem without any affixes.
  • The stress shifts to the last vowel of the stem in the 2nd and 1st person forms.
  • The 2nd person masculine and 1st person singular forms are identical.

Subjunctive

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Person Stressed prefix Unstressed prefix
Pattern Example Pattern Example
3rd sing. masc. yí + stem يدرس (drus) y + stem يعلّم (yʕállim)
fem. tí + stem تدرس (drus) t + stem تعلّم (tʕállim)
plural yí + stem + u يدرسوا (drusu) y + stem + u يعلّموا (yʕállimu)
2nd sing. masc. tí + stem تدرس (drus) t + stem تعلّم (tʕállim)
fem. tí + stem + i تدرسي (drusi) t + stem + i تعلّمي (tʕállimi)
plural tí + stem + u تدرسوا (drusu) t + stem + u تعلّموا (tʕállimu)
1st singular ʔá + stem أدرس (ʔádrus) ʔa + stem أعلّم (ʔaʕállim)
plural ní + stem ندرس (drus) n + stem نعلّم (nʕállim)
  • The prefix is stressed in regular and defective verbs in form I and IV, otherwise always unstressed.
  • The vowel i in stressed prefixes assimilates to u, if the stem also has the vowel u.
  • The forms of 3rd person feminine and 2nd person masculine are identical.

Present tense

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Person Stressed prefix Unstressed prefix
Pattern Example Pattern Example
3rd sing. masc. bí + stem بدرس (drus) bi + stem بعلّم (biʕállim)
fem. btí + stem بتدرس (btúdrus) bit + stem بتعلّم (bitʕállim)
plural yí + stem + u بدرسوا (drusu) bi + stem + u بعلّموا (biʕállimu)
2nd sing. masc. btí + stem بتدرس (btúdrus) bit + stem بتعلّم (bitʕállim)
fem. btí + stem + i بتدرسي (btúdrusi) bit + stem + i بتعلّمي (bitʕállimi)
plural btí + stem + u بتدرسوا (btúdrusu) bit + stem + u بتعلّموا (bitʕállimu)
1st singular bá + stem بدرس (drus) ba + stem بعلّم (baʕállim)
plural mní + stem مندرس (mnúdrus) min + stem منعلّم (minʕállim)
  • The present tense is formed by adding the prefix b- to the subjunctive
  • The b-prefix tends to be assimilated to m before n by many speakers.
  • The consonants ʔ and y of the subjunctive prefixes are elided.
  • An epenthetic vowel i is inserted to prevent clusters of three consonants.