Verbs
Perfective Structures (continued)
Quadriliteral Roots-Basic Structure
Verbs of quadriliteral roots are relatively few. Quadriliteral roots usually denote periodic sounds (e.g. jangle), periodic movements (e.g. quake), are extracted from foreign loanwords, or are altered from previous triliteral roots by adding a letter to them.
There is only one structure for verbs of quadriliteral roots with no additional letters:
| Basic Structure of Quadriliteral-Rooted Verbs (Active Voice) | |
| fa“lal(a) tr./intr. | فَعْلَلَ |
*Note: this structure is written this way in Arabic grammar, but the third and fourth letters of the root do not have to be the same.
Examples:
| Quadriliteral-Rooted Verbs | ||
| (He) muttered | tamtam(a) | تَمْتَمَ |
| hamham(a) | هَمْهَمَ | |
| waswas(a) | وَسْوَسَ | |
| (He) stammered | ta‘<ta‘(a) | تَأْتَأَ |
| fa‘<fa‘(a) | فَأْفَأَ | |
| (He) jangled | salsal(a) | صَلْصَلَ |
| (He) howled | walwal(a) | وَلْوَلَ |
| (He) quaked (He) thundered | jaljal(a) | جَلَجَلَ |
| (He) made quake | zalzal(a) | زَلْزَلَ |
| (He) dressed (somebody) from Aramaic etymology | sarbal(a) | سَرْبَلَ |
| (He) embroidered from Persian etymology | zakhraf(a) | زَخْرَفَ |
| (He) put a cap on (somebody) from Latin “calantica” | qalnas(a) | قَلْنَسَ |
| (He) rolled (something) original root: د ر ج ? | dahraj(a) | دَحْرَجَ |
| (He) scattered (something) original root: ب ث ر ? | ba“thar(a) | بَعْثَرَ |
| (He) choked original root: ح رج ? | hashraj(a) | حَشْرَجَ |
| (He) reassured original root: أ م ن? | tam’an(a) | طَمْأَنَ |
Arabs used, and use, the structure fa“lal(a) to carve verbs from nouns that have more than three consonants in them. We explained in this page, at length, how the verb form II is used to derive verbs from nouns with triliteral roots. There are other verb forms that can also be derived from three-letter-rooted nouns. However, to derive verbs from nouns with more than three letters to their roots, quadriliteral-rooted structure such as fa“lal(a) are used.
In modern times, fa“lal(a) has been used as well to derive verbs from three-letter-rooted nouns with more than three letters. This is why we said that this structure is used to derive verbs from nouns with more than three consonants, regardless of the root.
Examples:
| Form QI Verb | Noun | ||
| ‘amrak(a) | أَمْرَكَ | ‘amerikaa | أَميرِكَاْ |
| (he) made American → Americanized (tr.) | America (fem.) | ||
| sa“wad(a) | سَعْوَدَ | ‘as–su“oodiyya(tu) | السُّعُوْدِيَّةُ |
| (he) made Saudi → Saudized (tr.) | Saudi Arabia (fem.) | ||
| bar”am(a) | بَرْعَمَ | bur”um(un) | بُرْعُمٌ |
| (he) budded | a bud (masc.) | ||
| talfan(a) | تَلْفَنَ | telifōn(un) | تلِيْفونٌ |
| (he) telephoned | a telephone (masc.) | ||
There were many quadriliteral roots that Arab grammarians recognized as altered from triliteral roots by the addition of one letter to them. They worked out 8 standard patterns for the addition of the fourth letter and called the patterns or the structures the “annexed” quadriliteral-rooted structures without additional letters.
Here are the 8 structures:
| Example | Structure | ||
| jalbab(a) | جَلْبَبَ | fa“lal(a) | فَعْلَلَ |
| (He) put a djellaba on (somebody) | |||
| hawqal(a) | حَوْقَلَ | faw“al(a) | فَوْعَلَ |
| (He) became impotent | |||
| rahwal(a) | رَهْوَلَ | fa“wal(a) | فَعْوَلَ |
| (He) hurried up | |||
| baytar(a) | بَيْطَرَ | fay“al(a) | فَيْعَلَ |
| (He) treated (an animal) | |||
| sharyaf(a) | شَرْيَفَ | fa“yal(a) | فَعْيَلَ |
| (He) cut | |||
| sanbal(a) | سَنْبَلَ | fan“al(a) | فَنْعَلَ |
| (He, a plant) eared | |||
| qalnas(a) | قَلْنَسَ | fa“nal(a) | فَعْنَلَ |
| (He) put a cap on (somebody) | |||
| salqaa | سَلْقَىْ | fa“laa | فَعْلَىْ |
| (He) laid down | |||
Notes
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Those are structures of four-letter-rooted verbs without additional letters.
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The purple letters are identified as additional to the roots not to the structures.
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In the first structure, the third and fourth letter have to be identical. This is different from the general structure mentioned above, albeit they are written the same way.
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I don’t think all the examples are correct (the last one isn’t), but those are the ones I have.
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The verb قَلْنَسَ was mentioned because classical Arab grammarians didn’t know it was from Latin etymology and thought it was altered from the root ق ل س , although the truth is the other way around. I had to put it here because I don’t have other examples.
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Those structures are rare and knowing them is of very little importance, if any.
An example on the conjugation of a simple quadriliteral-rooted verb:
طَمْأَنَ
tam’an(a)
(he) reassured
| الْمَاْضِيْ Perfective // ط م أ ن Root (Form QI, Active Voice) | |||
| S I N G U L A R | (I) reassured | tam’ant(u) | طَمْأَنْتُ |
| (You masc.) reassured | tam’ant(a) | طَمْأَنْتَ | |
| (You fem.) reassured | tam’anti | طَمْأَنْتِ | |
| (He) reassured | tam’an(a) | طَمْأَنَ | |
| (She) reassured | tam’anat | طَمْأَنَتَ | |
| D U A L | (You) reassured | tam’antumaa | طَمْأَنْتُمَاْ |
| (They masc.) reassured | tam’anaa | طَمْأَنَاْ | |
| (They fem.) reassured | tam’anataa | طَمْأَنَتَاْ | |
| P L U R A L | (We dual/plu.) reassured | tam’annaa | طَمْأَنَّاْ |
| (You masc.) reassured | tam’antum | طَمْأَنْتُمْ | |
| (You fem.) reassured | tam’antunn(a) | طَمْأَنْتُنَّ | |
| (They masc.) reassured | tam’anoo | طَمْأَنُوْا | |
| (They fem.) reassured | tam’ann(a) | طَمْأَنَّ | |
Quadriliteral Roots with Additional Letters
With the additional letters, three more structures of quadriliteral roots are obtained.
| Structures of Perfective Verbs with Quadriliteral Roots (Active Voice) | |||
| No additional letters | Form QI | fa“lal(a) | فَعْلَلَ |
| 1 additional letter | Form QII | tafa“lal(a) | تَفَعْلَلَ |
| 2 additional letters | Form QIII | ‘if”anlal(a) | اِفْعَنْلَلَ |
| Form QIV | ‘if”alall(a) | اِفْعَلَلَّ | |
Forms QIV is an irregular doubled verb. The green short vowel in certain conjugations of this verbs is displaced backward (original form ‘if”allal(a)).
Examples on the conjugation of the quadriliteral-rooted forms:
| Re-conjugated | Example ([he] did) | Form | |
| (You, fem. sing.) scattered | بَعْثَرْتِ | بَعْثَرَ | فَعْلَلَ |
| ba”tharti | ba”thar(a) | ||
| (They, masc. dual) rolled | تَدَحْرَجَاْ | تَدَحْرَجَ | تَفَعْلَلَ |
| tadahrajaa | tadahraj(a) | ||
| (She, fem. sing.) congregated used form camels | اِحْرَنْجَمَتْ | اِحْرَنْجَمَ | اِفْعَنْلَلَ |
| ‘ihranjamat | ‘ihranjam(a) | ||
| (I) became reassured | اِطْمَأْنَنْتُ* | اِطْمَأَنَّ | اِفْعَلَلَّ |
| ‘itma’<nant(u) | ‘itma’ann(a) |
*A doubled verb.
A review of the meanings of these structures with examples is available here.
A simplified list of the meanings:
| Meanings of Verb Forms | ||
| Form QI | فَعْلَلَ fa“lal(a)
tr./intr. | Basic (he) did |
| Form QII | تَفَعْلَلَ tafa“lal(a)
tr./intr. | Reflexive (He) did himself |
| Reflexive Causative (He) made himself do | ||
| Form QIII | اِفْعَنْلَلَ ‘if”anlal(a)
intr. | Reflexive (He) did himself |
| Form QIV | اِفْعَلَلَّ ‘if”alall(a)
intr. | Stative (he) was/became something |
Exercise 1
Can you fill in the missing English pronouns inside the brackets?
| (?) spoke | تَكَلَّمْنَاْ |
| (?) translated | تَرْجَمْنَاْ |
| (?) popped, cracked | فَرْقَعْتُنَّ |
| (?) scared | أَرْعَبْتُنَّ |
| (?) fidgeted | تَمَلْمَلا |
| (?) treated (one another) | تَعَاْمَلا |
| (?) had gooseflesh, shuddered | اِقْشَعَرَّتْ |
| (?) continued (intr.) | اِسْتَمَرَّتْ |
| (?) were/became popped, cracked | اِفْرَنْقَعْتُمْ |
| (?) enjoyed (intr.) | اِسْتَمْتَعْتُمْ |
Answers
| (We) spoke | تَكَلَّمْنَاْ |
| (We) translated | تَرْجَمْنَاْ |
| (You plu. fem.) popped, cracked | فَرْقَعْتُنَّ |
| (You plu. fem.) scared | أَرْعَبْتُنَّ |
| (They dual masc.) fidgeted | تَمَلْمَلا |
| (They dual. masc.) treated (one another) | تَعَاْمَلا |
| (She) had gooseflesh, shuddered | اِقْشَعَرَّتْ |
| (She) continued (intr.) | اِسْتَمَرَّتْ |
| (You plu. masc.) were/became popped, cracked | اِفْرَنْقَعْتُمْ |
| (You plu. masc.) enjoyed (intr.) | اِسْتَمْتَعْتُمْ |
Exercise 2
Can you tell the forms of the verbs in the previous exercise?
Answers
| Form V | تَكَلَّمْنَاْ |
| Form QI | تَرْجَمْنَاْ |
| Form QI | فَرْقَعْتُنَّ |
| Form IV | أَرْعَبْتُنَّ |
| Form QII | تَمَلْمَلا |
| Form VI | تَعَاْمَلا |
| Form QIV | اِقْشَعَرَّتْ |
| Form X | اِسْتَمَرَّتْ |
| Form QIII | اِفْرَنْقَعْتُمْ |
| Form X | اِسْتَمْتَعْتُمْ |
Structures of the Perfective Verb
| Structures of the Perfective Verb
|
| فَعَلَ |
| فَعِلَ |
| فَعُلَ |
| فَعَّلَ |
| فَاْعَلَ |
| أَفْعَلَ |
| تَفَعَّلَ |
| تَفَاْعَلَ |
| اِنْفَعَلَ |
| اِفْتَعَلَ |
| اِفْعَلََّ |
| اِسْتَفْعَلَ |
| اِفْعَاْلَّ |
| اِفْعَوْعَلَ |
| اِفْعَوَّلَ |
| اِفْعَنْلَلَ |
| اِفْعَنْلَىْ |
| فَعْلَلَ |
| تَفَعْلَلَ |
| اِفْعَنْلَلَ |