Arabic Moods İmperative
Imperative
The imperative mood in Arabic is used to command a second person, whether singular, dual or plural. This mode is different from the other imperfective moods in that we will have to carve a new structure for it. This structure will be similar to the jussive mood, especially in terms of irregular verbs.
There is no imperative mood in the past tense, as we mentioned already, there is only one fixed mood in the past tense. The imperative verbs, as imperfective verbs, will denote both the present and the future tenses.
In Arabic grammar, imperative verbs are considered a third category of verbs in addition to the perfective and the imperfective. The imperative verbs are “built” verbs since they do not undergo ‘i”raab or mood inflection.
Creating the imperative verb فِعْلُ الأًمْرِ structure from the perfective one is similar to creating the imperfective. The major steps in forming the imperfective were (1) adding the prefix y?- in front of the verb and the suitable suffix to its end, (2) changing the green short vowel, and (3) removing the hamza(t) in front of the verb if existed.
Forming the imperative, for the most part, will be only by implementing step 2 and adding the suitable suffix. That is, to get the imperative structure, we will change the green short vowel in the perfective structure in an identical manner to what would be done when forming the imperfective. We will also add the suitable imperfective suffix.
Excluding the three structures of فَعلَ , we can now form the imperative for all the perfective structures based on what has been mentioned.
Example:
| Imperative الأًمْر You do! | Perfective المَاْضِيْ (He) did | |||
| Sing. masc. | ‘af”il | أَفْعِلْ | ‘af”al(a) | أَفْعَلَ |
| Sing. fem. | ‘af”ilee | أَفْعِلِيْ | ||
| Dual | ‘af”ilaa | أَفْعِلا | ||
| Plu. masc. | ‘af”iloo | أَفْعِلُوْا | ||
| Plu. fem. | ‘af”ilna | أَفْعِلْنَ | ||
The three structures of فَعلَ, however, will require additional changes. For these we will start by getting the verb into the imperfective, then we will apply the following steps for e.g. the structure yaf”al(u) يَفْعَلُ .
►Have the imperfective verb in the jussive mood (remove the mood-signs).
| المُضَاْرِعُ المَجْزُوْم Imperfective (jussive)o // فَـعـلَ | |||
| S I N G U L A R | (You) do (masc.) | taf”al | تَفْعَلْ |
| (You) do (fem.) | taf“alee | تَفْعَليْ | |
| D U A L | (You) do | taf“alaa | تَفْعَلا |
| P L U R A L | (You) do (masc.) | taf“aloo | تَفْعَلُوْا |
| (You) do (fem.) | taf”aln(a) | تَفْعَلْنَ | |
►Remove the first letter from the verb (the red-colored).
| S I N G U L A R | (You) do (masc.) | f”al | فْعَلْ |
| (You) do (fem.) | f”alee | فْعَليْ | |
| D U A L | (You) do | f”alaa | فْعَلا |
| P L U R A L | (You) do (masc.) | f”aloo | فْعَلوا |
| (You) do (fem.) | f”aln(a) | فْعَلْنَ |
If we were learning Hebrew, we would’ve been done here; but we’re not, so let’s move on to the next step :-)
►Add hamza(t) + iin front of the verb.
|
| فِعْلُ الأًمْرِ The Imperative // فَـعـلَ | ||
| S I N G U L A R | (You) do (masc.) | ‘if”al | اِفْعَلْ |
| (You) do (fem.) | ‘if”alee | اِفْعَليْ | |
| D U A L | (You) do | ‘if”alaa | اِفْعَلا |
| P L U R A L | (You) do (masc.) | ‘if”aloo | اِفْعَلوا |
| (You) do (fem.) | ‘if”aln(a) | اِفْعَلْنَ | |
This was for the structure yaf”al(u) يَفْعَلُ . We will apply the same exact steps for the structure yaf”il(u) يَفْعِلُ .
The only difference will be with the structure yaf”ul(u) يَفْعُلُ . The last step will become:
►Add hamza(t) + uin front of the verb.
Example:
|
| فِعْلُ الأًمْرِ The Imperative // كَتَبَ | ||
| S I N G U L A R | (You) write (masc.) | ‘uktub | اُكْتُبْ |
| (You) write (fem.) | ‘uktubee | اُكْتُبِيْ | |
| D U A L | (You) write | ‘uktubaa | اُكْتُبَاْ |
| P L U R A L | (You) write (masc.) | ‘uktuboo | اُكْتُبُوْا |
| (You) write (fem.) | ‘uktubn(a) | اُكْتُبْنَ | |
Finally, a general scheme:
| Imperative الأًمْر | Perfective المَاْضِيْ | ||
| ‘if”al | اِفْعَلْ | fa”?l(a) | فَعلَ |
| ‘if”il | اِفْعِلْ | ||
| ‘uf”ul | اُفْعُلْ | ||
| ‘af”il | أَفْعِلْ | ‘af”al(a) | أَفْعَلَ |
| fa””il | فَعِّلْ | fa””al(a) | فَعَّلَ |
| faa”il | فَاْعِلْ | faa”al(a) | فَاْعَلَ |
| ‘infa”il | اِنْفَعِلْ | ‘infa”al(a) | اِنْفَعَلَ |
| ‘ifta”il | اِفْتَعِلْ | ‘ifta”al(a) | اِفْتَعَلَ |
| ‘if”all | اِفْعَلَّ | ‘if”all(a) | اِفْعَلََّ |
| tafa””al | تَفَعَّلْ | tafa”al(a) | تَفَعَّلَ |
| tafaa”al | تَفَاْعَلْ | tafaa”al(a) | تَفَاْعَلَ |
| ‘istaf”il | اِسْتَفْعِلْ | ‘istaf”al(a) | اِسْتَفْعَلَ |
| fa”lil | فَعْلِلْ | fa”lal(a) | فَعْلَلَ |
| tafa”lal | تَفَعْلَلْ | tafa”lal(a) | تَفَعْلَلَ |
| tafay”al | تَفَيْعَلْ | tafay”al(a) | تَفَيْعَلَ |
| tamaf”al | تَمَفعَلْ | tamaf”al(a) | تَمَفعَلَ |
| ‘if“alall | اِفْعَلِلّ | ‘if”alall(a) | اِفْعَلَلَّ |