Arabic Moods 2

Moods (continued)

 

The Jussive

 

The indicative الْمَرْفُوْعُis turned into the jussive المَجْزُوْمُ by changing the mood–signs.

 

 

The changes were:

For verbs other than the “five verbs” we simply deleted the final short vowels of the indicative. For the “five verbs” we deleted the noonن , which is what we also did with the subjunctive. Basically, in the jussive all the indicative mood-signs are deleted.

An irregularity of the jussive mood is that verbs which have weak letters at their ends or their middle positions will those the weak letters. (see mood inflection for defective verbs)

The jussive mood will be employed in two situations, (1) when the imperfective verb is preceded by a jussive particle, or (2) when the imperfective verb is describing the promised or expected outcome of a preceding phrase.

 

1. Simple jussive particles

Those are four particles which act on one imperfective verb changing it into the jussive mood.

 

Lam لَمْis the negative particle that is used to negate past tense events. However, it is used only with an imperfective verb and can never be used with perfective verbs.

 

لَمْ يَذْهَبْ عَلِيٌّ

lam yathhab “aliyy(un)

= did not (he) go Ali

Translation: Ali didn’t go

 

لَمْ يَأْكُلِ الْوَلَدُ

lam ya'<kul(i) ‘al-walad(u)

= did not (he) eat the boy

Translation: the boy did not eat

The verb after lam لَمْmust be in the jussive mood. In the second sentence, the -i  was added to prevent two still letters from directly following each other (the لْ of the jussive verb and the لْ of الـْ, since that the ‘alif of الـْ will not be pronounced if it was not the first sound uttered). This vowel will be always added when necessary.

 

Lammaa لَمَّا is an archaic negation particle. It is used just as lam لَم but the meaning is a bit different. lammaa means: “have not yet.”

لَمَّاْ يَصِلْ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ

lammaa yasil “abd(u) (‘a)l-laah(i)

= has not yet (he) arrive Abdullah

Translation: Abdullah hasn’t arrived yet

 

Laa لا is the word for “no” in Arabic. It is also used as a negative particle of the imperfective that can have different senses. Laa لا will be a jussive particle only when it means a command or an order, or “do not.”

لا تَحْزَنْ

laa tahzan

= not (you) get sad

Translation: don’t be sad

 

Li- لِـ is an imperative particle that turns the indicative verb into an order or a command. it can be understood to mean: “do.”

لِتَذْهَبْ مِنْ هُنَاْ

li-tathhab min hunaa

=(you) go from here

Translation: go away from here

 

 

 

2. Double-acting (conditional) jussive words

 

These include particles and nouns. They can act on two different imperfective verbs changing their moods into the jussive, but they can act on other words too.

The two conditional particles:

 

The second is archaic. An example of ‘in إِنْ :

إِنْ تَدْرُسْ تَنْجَحْ

‘in tadrus tanjah

= if(you) study (you) succeed

Translation: if you study, you will pass

 

Conditional nouns are:

All these nouns are built words except for the last two ones, which can have different case-signs depending on the grammatical case.

 

Examples:

مَنْيَزْرَعْ يَحْصُدْ

man yazra” yahsud

= who plants harvests

Translation: he who plants harvests

 

مَاْتَعْمَلُوْا يَجْزِكُمُ اللَّهُ بِهِ

maa ta”maloo yajzi-kum(u)(‘a)l-laah(u) bi-h(i)

= what (you) do (he) rewards you God by it

Translation: God will reward you by your deeds

The verb يَجْزِيْis a defective verb that loses its last weak letter as a sign for being in the jussive mood (see mood inflection for defective verbs). The-u after yajzi-kum was to prevent two still letters from directly following each other.

 

مَهمَاْ تُحَاْوِلْ تَفْشَلْ

mahmaa tuhaawil tafshal

= whatever (you) try (you) fail

Translation: whatever you try, you will fail

 

مَتَىْ تَأْتِ تَجِدْنِيْ

mataa ta'<ti tajid-nee

= when (you) come (you) find me

Translation: when you come, you will find me

The verb تَأْتِيْis a defective verb that loses its last weak letter as a sign for being in the jussive mood (see mood inflection for defective verbs).

 

أَيْنَ يَسْقُطِ الْمَطَرُ تَخْضَرِّ الأَرْضُ

‘ayn(a) yasqut(i) (‘a)l-matar(u) takhdarr(i) (‘a)l-‘ard(u)

= where (he) falls the rain (she) greens the earth

Translation: where the rain falls, the earth greens up

The -i  after the jussive verbs were to prevent two still letters from directly following each others.

 

حَيْثُمَاْ تَذْهَبِيْ تَجِدِيْ أَصْدِقَاْءَ

haythumaa tathhabee tajidee ‘asdiqaa’(a)

= wherever (you) go (you) find friends

Translation: wherever you go, you will meet new friends

 

3. Jussive without particle

This happens in conditional sentences that contain a command, an interrogation, or a whishing.

Examples:

اِعْمَلْ بِجِدٍّ تَنْجَحْ

‘i”mal bi-jidd(in) tanjah

= (you) work with diligence (you) succeed

Translation: work hard, you’ll succeed

 

لَيْتَ عُمَرَ قَرِيْبٌ أَزُرْهُ

layt(a) “umar(a) qareeb(un) ‘azur-h(u)

= it is wished if Umar (is) near (I) visit him

Translation: I wish if Umar were near so I would visit him