Appendix:South Levantine Arabic verbs
Root edit
South Levantine Arabic verbs are usually derived from a three letter root (trilateral), however some verbs have a root of four letters (quadrilateral).
The root can either be regular or have a type of “weakness”.
Defective root edit
Defective verbs end in one of the letters Alif (ا), Yā' (ي) or Alif Maqṣura (ى) in the past tense.
A final ي (-i) in the past tense usually becomes ى (-a) in the non-past and vice versa.
A final ا (-a) is derived from Hamza (أ) in MSA. It remains unchanged.
| Past | Subjunctive |
|---|---|
| نسي (nisi) | ينسى (yinsa) |
| حكى (ḥaka) | يحكي (yiḥki) |
| قرا (ʔara) | يقرا (yiʔra) |
Hollow root edit
Hollow verbs have Alif (ا), Wāw (و) or Yā' (ي) as their middle letter.
The past tense always has the middle letter ا (ā), usually becoming or ي (ī) or و (ū) and sometimes remain ا (ā) in the non-past.
| Past | Subjunctive |
|---|---|
| جاب (jāb) | يجاب (yjīb) |
| راح (rāḥ) | يروح (yrūḥ) |
| نام (nām) | ينام (ynām) |
Hollow verbs become regular in the forms II, III, V and VI, as the middle letter is pronounced as consonant (e.g. راح (rāḥ) → روّح (rawwaḥ)).
Doubled root edit
If verbs have the same middle and final root letter, these are merged into one geminate consonant.
The past tense always has the middle vowel “a”, usually becoming “e/i” or “o/u” and sometimes remain “a” in the non-past.
| Past | Subjunctive |
|---|---|
| حسّ (ḥass) | يحسّ (yḥess) |
| رشّ (rašš) | يرشّ (yrošš) |
| ضلّ (ḍall) | يضلّ (yḍall) |
These verbs become regular in the forms II, III, V and VI (e.g. حسّ (ḥass) → حسّس (ḥassas)).
Assimilated root edit
Some verbs with the first root letter Hamza (أ) or Wāw (و) are assimilated, others completely regular.
This means that the first letter becomes a long vowel in the non-past.
| Past | Subjunctive |
|---|---|
| أكل (ʔakal) | ياكل (yākol) |
| وصل (wiṣel) | يوصل (yūṣal) |
Forms edit
There are 10 verb forms in Levantine Arabic. The basic form is form I. Other forms are derived from form I by adding prefixes and/or geminating consonants.
Verbs derived from the same root usually have related meanings in the different forms.
Quadrilateral verbs can only have two forms (Iq and IIq) corresponding to form II and V but with two middle consonants instead a geminate one.
| Form | Root | Patterns | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Past | Subjunctive | |||
| I | regular | faʕal, fiʕil | yifʕal, yifʕil, yufʕul | |
| defective | faʕa, fiʕi | yifʕa, yifʕi | ||
| hollow | fāl | yfāl, yfīl, yfūl | ||
| doubled | fall | yfall, yfill, yfull | ||
| II, Iq | regular | faʕʕal | yfaʕʕil | |
| defective | faʕʕa | yfaʕʕi | ||
| III | regular | fāʕal | yfāʕil | |
| defective | fāʕa | yfāʕi | ||
| IV | regular | ʾafʕal | yifʕil | |
| defective | ʾafʕa | yifʕi | ||
| V, IIq | regular | tfaʕʕal | yifaʕʕal | |
| defective | tfaʕʕa | yitfaʕʕa | ||
| VI | regular | tfāʕal | yitfāʕal | |
| defective | tfāʕa | yitfāʕa | ||
| VII | regular | infaʕal | yinfaʕil | |
| defective | infaʕa | yinfaʕi | ||
| VIII | regular | iftaʕal | yiftaʕil | |
| defective | iftaʕa | yiftaʕi | ||
| IX | regular | ifʕall | yifʕall | |
| X | regular | istafʕal | yistaʕfil | |
| defective | istafʕa | yistafʕi | ||
Conjugation edit
Past tense edit
| Person | Pattern | Example | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd | sing. | masc. | stem | درس (dáras) |
| fem. | stem + at | درست (dársat) | ||
| plural | stem + u | درسوا (dárasu) | ||
| 2nd | sing. | masc. | stem + t | درست (darást) |
| fem. | stem + ti | درستي (darásti) | ||
| plural | stem + tu | درستوا (darástu) | ||
| 1st | singular | stem + t | درست (darást) | |
| plural | stem + na | درسنا (darásna) | ||
- The 3rd person masculine form is the given form of verbs, i.e. the plain stem without any affixes.
- The stress shifts to the last vowel of the stem in the 2nd and 1st person forms.
- The 2nd person masculine and 1st person singular forms are identical.
Subjunctive edit
| Person | Stressed prefix | Unstressed prefix | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pattern | Example | Pattern | Example | |||
| 3rd | sing. | masc. | yí + stem | يدرس (yúdrus) | y + stem | يعلّم (yʕállim) |
| fem. | tí + stem | تدرس (túdrus) | t + stem | تعلّم (tʕállim) | ||
| plural | yí + stem + u | يدرسوا (yúdrusu) | y + stem + u | يعلّموا (yʕállimu) | ||
| 2nd | sing. | masc. | tí + stem | تدرس (túdrus) | t + stem | تعلّم (tʕállim) |
| fem. | tí + stem + i | تدرسي (túdrusi) | t + stem + i | تعلّمي (tʕállimi) | ||
| plural | tí + stem + u | تدرسوا (túdrusu) | t + stem + u | تعلّموا (tʕállimu) | ||
| 1st | singular | ʔá + stem | أدرس (ʔádrus) | ʔa + stem | أعلّم (ʔaʕállim) | |
| plural | ní + stem | ندرس (núdrus) | n + stem | نعلّم (nʕállim) | ||
- The prefix is stressed in regular and defective verbs in form I and IV, otherwise always unstressed.
- The vowel i in stressed prefixes assimilates to u, if the stem also has the vowel u.
- The forms of 3rd person feminine and 2nd person masculine are identical.
Present tense edit
| Person | Stressed prefix | Unstressed prefix | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pattern | Example | Pattern | Example | |||
| 3rd | sing. | masc. | bí + stem | بدرس (búdrus) | bi + stem | بعلّم (biʕállim) |
| fem. | btí + stem | بتدرس (btúdrus) | bit + stem | بتعلّم (bitʕállim) | ||
| plural | yí + stem + u | بدرسوا (búdrusu) | bi + stem + u | بعلّموا (biʕállimu) | ||
| 2nd | sing. | masc. | btí + stem | بتدرس (btúdrus) | bit + stem | بتعلّم (bitʕállim) |
| fem. | btí + stem + i | بتدرسي (btúdrusi) | bit + stem + i | بتعلّمي (bitʕállimi) | ||
| plural | btí + stem + u | بتدرسوا (btúdrusu) | bit + stem + u | بتعلّموا (bitʕállimu) | ||
| 1st | singular | bá + stem | بدرس (bádrus) | ba + stem | بعلّم (baʕállim) | |
| plural | mní + stem | مندرس (mnúdrus) | min + stem | منعلّم (minʕállim) | ||
- The present tense is formed by adding the prefix b- to the subjunctive
- The b-prefix tends to be assimilated to m before n by many speakers.
- The consonants ʔ and y of the subjunctive prefixes are elided.
- An epenthetic vowel i is inserted to prevent clusters of three consonants.