Arabic: An Essential Grammar

218

Chapter 29

Doubled verbs (mediae

geminatae) and

quadriliteral verbs

29.1 A doubled verb in Arabic, َأْل ِفـ ْع ُل ْلـ ُمـ َضا َع ُف, is a triliteral verb

whose second and third radicals are identical. In the basic form they are

thus written as one, with sˇaddah above. This phenomenon is called

ِإ ْد َغا ٌم, ‘contraction’, e.g.

29.2 The imperfect and imperative

The imperfect tense is vocalized in the same way as the imperfect of

the regular triliteral verb, which can have any of the three vowels on the

middle radical. The vowel is transferred between the first and second

radical in doubled verbs.

The last consonant of the imperative of the second person masculine

singular has fath

̇

ah, and not suku ̄n like the regular verbs. Another

difference is that the imperative does not have the initial

alif with

hamzah, which is prefixed to the imperative in regular verbs, e.g.

رََّمـ marra (for:َم َر َر marara)

to pass

رََّفـ farra (for:َف َر َر farara)

to escape, to flee

لَّ َد dalla (for: َدَل َل dalala)

to show

دََّع^



adda (for: َع َد َد



adada)

to count