Arabic: An Essential Grammar

(Remember from chapter 20 that ي is related to kasrah /i/.)

32.3 In the imperfect indicative and subjunctive, the weak middle

radical ..ـو.. /w/ or ..ـيـ.. /y/ reappears, but it disappears in the

jussive and some of the imperative forms, e.g.

See table A1.4 for the patterns of the derived verb forms with a weak

middle radical و. See paradigms A2.9 and A2.10 for the verbs َقا َل ‘to

say’ and َبا َع ‘to sell’ in Appendix 2.

32.4 A very small number of verbs with a weak middle radical و /w/

or ي /y/ also change the و or ي to

alif (ا) in the imperfect and some

forms of the imperative, e.g.

Perfect Root 1st pers. sing.

َبا َع ba ̄



a, he sold (بيع by



) ِب ْعـ ُت bi



tu, I sold

َسا َر sa ̄ra, he walked (سير syr) ِسـ ْر ُت sirtu, I walked

Imperfect Imperative

Perfect Root Ind. Subj. Juss. Sing. Plur. Sing. Plur.

Masculine Masculine Feminine

َقا َل (قول) ُقْل َن ُقوِلي ُقوُلوا ُق ْل َي ُق ْل َي ُقو َل َي ُقو ُل

qa ̄la (qwl) yaqu ̄lu yaqu ̄la yaqul qul qu ̄lu ̄ qu ̄lı

• qulna

to say say!

َبا َع (بيع) ِب ْع َن ِبي ِعي ِبي ُعوا ِب ْع َي ِب ْع َي ِبي َع َي ِبي ُع

ba ̄



a(by



) yabı-



u yabı-



a yabi



bi



bı-



u ̄ bı-



ı- bi



na

to sell sell!

Imperfect Imperative

Perfect Root Ind. Subj. Juss. Sing. Plur. Sing. Plur.

Masculine Masculine Feminine

َنا َم (نوم) ِن ْم َن َنا ِمي َنا ُموا َن ْم َي َن ْم َي َنا َم َي َنا ُم

na ̄ma (nwm) yana ̄mu yana ̄ma yanam nam na ̄mu ̄ na ̄mı

• nimna

to sleep sleep!

َخا َف (خوف) ِخ ْف َن َخا ِفي َخا ُفوا َخ ْف َي َخ ْف َي َخا َف َي َخا ُف

h

̆

a ̄fa (h

̆

wf) yah

̆

a ̄fu yah

̆

a ̄fa yah

̆

af h

̆

af h

̆

a ̄fu ̄ h

̆

a ̄fı

• h
  ̆

ifna

to be

afraid

be

afraid!

238

Verbs with

a weak

middle

radical