ġie

See also: Appendix:Variations of "gie"

Maltese

Root
ġ-j-j
6 terms

Etymology

From Arabic جَاءَ (jāʔa, “to come”). As in some Arabic dialects, a suppletive form is usually used for the imperative. Maltese ejja, ejjew seem to be from the interjection هَيَّا (hayyā, “come!, come on!, let’s go!”). Since Maltese h would have left no phonetic trace in this position, the lack of it in the spelling may be simply because the relation was not recognised or not considered certain. It is also possible, however, that some early source already spells it without h. This would weaken the proposed etymology, but not rule it out.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɪː/
• Rhymes: -ɪː

Verb

ġie (imperfect jiġi, active participle ġej, verbal noun miġi)

1. to come

   is-sena li ġejja ― next year

   Huwa ma jridx jiġi magħna. ― He doesn’t want to come with us.

   Ejja miegħi. ― Come with me.

2. to land on

   Ġiet għal wiċċha ― She landed on her face.

3. to end up
4. to remember [with f’]

   Ma ġejniex fihom. ― We didn’t remember them.

5. to recover [with f’ta’]

   Ġew f’tagħhom. ― They recovered.

6. to find oneself; to become
7. to menstruate

   Ġieha. ― She is menstruating.

8. to fit, suit

   Din il-ġobba m’għadhiex tiġini. ― This petticoat doesn't fit me anymore.

9. to be situated

   Marsaxlokk fejn jiġi? ― Where is Marsaxlokk situated?

Usage notes

• ġie is used as an auxiliary verb when using the passive voice and the main verb fails to morph into a passive participle form. Hence, one may use inkiser for was broken but ġie mehmuż for was attached due to rare use of the form nthemeż. Such auxiliary use hence probably derives from Italian via calquing. It should be noted the verb kien can also be used as an auxiliary verb typically in the same contexts, though many speakers may differentiate what happened instantaneously or eventually when applying ġie or kien respectively.

Conjugation

Conjugation of ġie

positive forms
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
perfect	m	ġejt	ġejt	ġie	ġejna	ġejtu	ġew
	f			ġiet
imperfect	m	niġi	tiġi	jiġi	niġu	tiġu	jiġu
	f			tiġi
imperative			ejja			ejjew
negative forms
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
perfect	m	ġejtx	ġejtx	ġiex	ġejniex	ġejtux	ġewx
	f			ġietx
imperfect	m	niġix	tiġix	jiġix	niġux	tiġux	jiġux
	f			tiġix
imperative			tiġix			tiġux

Related terms

• ġab