115Chapter 18
Derived verb forms (stems),
roots and radicals, transitive
and intransitive verbs
18.1 Until now we have dealt with the basic verb form of triliteralverbs (ّثـ َلا ِثيَُأْل ِفـ ْعـ ُل ْلـ
al-fi
lu t
̄-t
̄ula ̄t
̄ı ̄). The basic verb form has thepattern CVCVCV, as for example َك َت َب kataba ‘to write’ (lit. ‘he wrote’,
perfect tense). The basic verb form is called in Arabic ر ُدََّأْلـ ُم َج
al-mug ̆arradu, meaning ‘peeled’ or ‘stripped’, because it lacks prefixes and
infixes.
18.2 At this point it is important to explain more about the terms(verbal) root and radical, which are very special features in Arabic
grammar. The root is the absolute basis for forming all verb forms
as well as most nouns, adjectives, adverbs and even prepositions (see
chapter 14). The root usually consists of three consonants. These con-
sonants are called radicals, because together they make up the root, e.g.
كتب /ktb/ ‘to write’, ِك َتا ٌب kita ̄bun ‘book’, قـول /qwl/ ‘to speak’ (basic
verb form َقا َل qa ̄la ‘he spoke’, imperfect َيـ ُقـو ُل yaqu ̄lu ‘he speaks’),
verbal noun َقـ ْو ٌل qawlun ‘speech’.
18.3 Some grammarians call the radicals simply letters, but the termradical is more appropriate, because letters refer to units of writing,
whereas radicals refer to more theoretical units, which may sometimes
be dropped or transformed in the actual verb forms and derivations (see
chapters 31–33 on weak radicals). Roots with three radicals are called
triliteral. There are no roots with fewer than three radicals. Some roots
have four radicals. They are called quadriliteral. This type of verb will
be dealt with in chapter 29.