Arabic: An Essential Grammar

َشـ ِر َب sˇariba ‘to drink’ or َك ُب َر kabura ‘to grow up’, the vowelling of the

derived verb forms remains the same for all verbs.

18.12 Transitive and intransitive verbs

A transitive verb is called ّد
ً ُم َت َع
muta



addin, and an intransitive verb

ّدًَغ ْي ُر ُم َت َع g ̇ayru muta



addin or َلا ِز ٌم la ̄zimun. Transitive verbs can take

a direct object in the accusative case, whereas intransitive cannot do so

(some of them can, however, take an accusative predicative comple-

ment). The basic verb form may be transitive or intransitive, depending

on its meaning and construction. Some derived verb forms are typically

transitive, while others are generally intransitive, but there are no

absolute rules for determining their meaning.

In the following examples, the basic form (I) is transitive and the corres-

ponding form VII is intransitive.

18.13 In addition to the nouns mentioned in chapter 9, with the

initial hamzatu l-qat
̇



i ِإ /

i/ or ُأ /

u/, the verb forms VII–X (perfect,

imperative and verbal noun) also follow the rule of hamzatu

l-was
̇

li (was

̇

lah). However, the verb form IV follows the rule of hamzatu

l-qat
̇



i.

18.14 Formation of the ten verb forms I–X

The table presents the ten verb forms I–X in the perfect and the

imperfect (third person sing. masc.), as exemplified by the verb َف َع َل

fa



ala ‘to do, to act’.

Transitive sentence Intransitive sentence

ظا َرا ِتَّ نَّطاِل ُب لَّ َك َس َر ل ظا َرا ُتَّ نَِّإ ْن َك َس َر ِت ل

kasara (I) t

̇

-t

̇

a ̄libu n-nad

̄ ̇

d

̄ ̇

a ̄ra ̄ti.

inkasarati (VII) n-nad

̄ ̇

d

̄ ̇

a ̄ra ̄tu.

The student broke the spectacles. The spectacles were/got broken.

117

Derived

verb forms,

transitive

and

intransitive

verbs