231Chapter 31
Verbs with a weak initial
radical
31.1 The weak verbs, لـ ُةَّاْ َلأ ْف َعا ُل ْلـ ُم ْع َتَ, which literally means ‘sick
verbs’ are verbs whose roots contain one or more weak radicals,
ل ِةَُّح ُرو ُف ْل ِع. The weak radicals are the semivowelsو /w/ and ي /y/. They
are called ‘weak’ because they are dropped or assimilated with vowels
according to certain rules in many conjugational forms. The weak verbs
are also called assimilated verbs.
Note: A verb is called strong, if none of its radicals is dropped or assimilated
with a vowel in the conjugation of the verb.
31.2 Weak verbs fall into four main categories:(a) Initial weak radical (assimilated verb) َأْل ِف ْع ُل ْلـ ِم َثا ُل see below;
(b) Middle weak radical (hollow verb) َأْل ِف ْع ُل ْ َلأ ْج َو ُف chap. 32;
(c) Final weak radical (defective verb) نا ِق ُصََّأْل ِف ْع ُل ل chap. 33;
(d) Doubly and trebly weak verbs ل ِفي ُفََّأْل ِف ْع ُل لـ chap. 33.
31.3 Verbs with the weak initial radical (^) و /w/
(a) Verbs with the weak initial radical و /w/ drop this radical in the
active imperfect and imperative. In the passive imperfect it is
assimilated to the preceding vowel, e.g.