Arabic: An Essential Grammar

237

Chapter 32

Verbs with a weak middle

radical

32.1 Verbs with a weak middle radical, َأْل ِف ْع ُل ْ َلأ ْج َو ُف, are those

which have

alif (..ا..) as the middle letter of the basic verb form. This

middle

alif (..ا..) is derived from the weak radical و /w/ or ي /y/. These

types of verb are also called ‘hollow’ because their middle radical is lost

in the basic (and many other) verb forms, e.g.

َقا َل qa ̄la, to say (for: َق َو َل qawala) from the root قول qwl

َبا َع ba ̄



a, to sell (for: َب َي َع baya



a) from the root بيع by



32.2 The first radical in the first and second persons of the basic verb

form in the perfect tense receives the related vowel of the middle radical,

which is itself lost, according to the rules below.

(About the three vowels and their three related consonants, see

chapter 20.)

(a) If the middle radical is و /w/, then the first and second persons take

d

̇

ammah /u/ on the first radical in the perfect:

(Remember from chapter 20 that و is related to d

̇

ammah /u/.)

(b) If the middle radical is ي /y/, then the first and second persons take

kasrah /i/ on the first radical in the perfect:

Perfect Root 1st pers. sing.

َقا َل qa ̄la, he said (قول qwl) ُقْلـ ُت qultu, I said

َكا َن ka ̄na, he was (كون kwn) ُكـ ْن ُت kuntu, I was