Arabic Verbs 2

Verbs

Imperfective Structures (continued)

Forms II Through QIV

Now that we have covered the imperfective of regular form I verbs, we shall continue with the rest of the verb forms.

Conjugating verb forms other than form I will require general modifications (common for all forms) and specific modifications (differ among particular groups of forms).

General Modifications

1. If existed, removal of the ‘alif and the short vowel following it from the beginning of the perfective stem. This includes both the أ & اtypes of ‘alif.

2. Removal of the perfective pronominal suffix and the addition of an imperfective pronominal prefix and an imperfective pronominal suffix (if needed) to the stem.

3. Addition of a mood-sign following the pronominal suffix (if existed).

prefix–perfective stem(-suffix)–mood-sign

Thus, we do not need here to remove any vowels from within the perfective verb stem like we did with form I.

Let us take the following three verb forms and transform them into the 3rd person masculine singular imperfective:

The first general step is to remove the initial ‘alif and the following vowel if existed:

Then we will remove the perfective pronominal suffix and add the 3rd person masculine singular prefix (the “he” prefix). As we know, there is no suffix for the “he” conjugation.

The third step is to add a mood-sign. The indicative mood-sign for the “he” conjugation is a short vowel -u .

By performing these three general modifications, we have done only what is common to all the verb forms, but we are not finished yet.

We will carry on with the specific modifications that differ between particular groups of the verb forms.

The specific modifications affect two elements of the verb structures:

1. The short vowel of the pronominal prefix (i.e. the ain ‘a-, ta–, ya– & na–).

2. The short vowel between the final two letters of the verb stem (the green short vowel).

Based on the specific modifications, the verb forms other than form I can be divided into three groups.

Let’s continue with our three verb examples. The first specific modification regards the short vowel in the prefix. The imperfective pronominal prefixes have three varieties in Classical Arabic depending on the short vowel in them.

For example, the “he” prefix:

The first version, ya–, is the one used for most of the active-voice imperfective verbs, whereas the yu– version is used for all the passive-voice imperfective verbs. Four verb forms, namely forms II, III, IV, & QI, have the yu– version in both the active and the passive voices. We are going to go through these things in detail soon.

The yi– prefix does not exist in formal Arabic. However, it existed in many of the classical dialects, and was used particularly for the imperfective of fa“il(a) verbs of form I. Today, this prefix is the prevalently used prefix in most of the spoken dialects of Arabic.

As for our three examples, they will become as follows:

Form IV takes the yu– prefix. This is also the case for forms II, III, IV, & QI (all the forms with four letters). The rest of the forms will all have the ya– prefix in the active voice.

Now to the second and final one of the specific modifications. This regards the short vowel between the final two letters of the verb stem. This is similar to what we talked about for form I; there are three possible varieties for this vowel:

However, these vowels here will change among different forms but not among verbs of the same form like with form I. Thus, aside from form I, each verb form will have a specific short green vowel that is permanent and unchanging.

The vowel u appears only in the imperfective of form I, so we are not going to hear about it anymore. The active-voice imperfective verbs can have either a or i. The passive-voice imperfective verbs have only a.

As for our examples, they will become finally:

This is the final conjugation. Each one of these three verbs represents one of the three groups of the verb forms with regard to the imperfective conjugation.

The three groups are:

• Yu–i Verbs (forms II, III, IV, & QI)

• Ya–a Verbs (forms V, VI & QII)

• Ya–i Verbs (the rest of the forms)

♪Yu–i Verbs

Represented by form IV in the three examples above, these have the prefix yu– and the green vowel i in the active voice (and the prefix yu– and the green vowel a in the passive voice, which is like all imperfective verbs).

The Yu–i verbs are easy to identify because they are simply all the forms that are composed of four letters, namely forms II, III, IV, & QI.

Apart from changing the vowel of the prefix to u, adding pronominal prefixes and suffixes to these verbs happens regularly, just like form I regular verbs previously covered.

Examples:

Form II

عَلَّمَ

“allam(a)

(He) taught

Form III

سَاْعَدَ

saa“ad(a)

(He) helped

Form IV

أَكْرَمَ

‘akram(a)

(He) dignified/was generous to

Form QI

طَمْأَنَ

tam’an(a)

(He) reassured