Moods (continued)
The Jussive
The indicative الْمَرْفُوْعُis turned into the jussive المَجْزُوْمُ by changing the mood–signs.
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المُضَاْرِعُ المَجْزُوْمُ Imperfective (jussive)o// فَـعـلَ |
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S I N G U L A R |
(I)do | ‘af”al | أَفْعَلْ |
| (You) do (masc.) | taf”al | تَفْعَلْ | |
| (You) do (fem.) | taf”alee | تَفْعَليْ | |
| (He) do | yaf”al | يَفْعَلْ | |
| (She) do | taf”al | تَفْعَلْ | |
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D U A L |
(You) do | taf”alaa | تَفْعَلا |
| (They) do (masc.) | yaf”alaa | يَفْعَلا | |
| (They) do (fem.) | taf”alaa | تَفْعَلا | |
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P L U R A L |
(We) do (dual / plu.) | naf”al | نَفْعَلْ |
| (You) do (masc.) | taf”aloo | تَفْعَلُوْا | |
| (You) do (fem.) | taf”aln(a) | تَفْعَلْنَ | |
| (They) do (masc.) | yaf”aloo | يَفْعَلُوْا | |
| (They) do (fem.) | yaf”aln(a) |
يَفْعَلْنَ |
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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.
| Did not | lam | لَمْ |
| Have not yet | lammaa | لَمَّاْ |
| (Do) not | laa | لا |
| Imperative particle | li- | لِـ |
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:
| If | ‘in | إِنْ |
| ‘ithmaa | إِذمَاْ |
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:
| Who | man | مَنْ |
| What | maa | مَاْ |
| Whatever | mah-maa | مَهْمَاْ |
| When | mataa | مَتَىْ0 |
| Whenever | mataa maa | مَتَىْ مَاْ |
| When | ‘ayyaan(a) | أَيَّاْنَ |
| Whenever | ‘ayyaana maa | أَيَّاْنَ مَاْ |
| How / when / where | ‘annaa | أَنَّىْ |
| Where | ‘ayn(a) | أَيْنَ |
| Wherever | ‘ayna-maa | أَيْنَمَاْ |
| Wherever | haythu-maa | حَيْثُمَاْ |
| However | kayfa-maa | كَيْفَمَاْ |
| Any | ‘ayy(u) | أَيُّ |
| Whichever | ‘ayyu-maa | أَيُّمَاْ |
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