User:M. I. Wright/Lebanese Arabic verbs

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See also: Appendix:Arabic verbs

In progress.

This is a rundown on verbs and their function in Lebanese Arabic. A large portion of the page also applies to North Levantine and even Levantine Arabic in general, but it only explicitly concerns Lebanese for now.

Introductory notes[edit]

This page doesn't discuss phonology unless it has a direct effect on verb morphology or derivation. So, in the pursuit of 'not having to care about phonology specifics', terms are Romanized using a sort of Hans Wehr system that's been modified with the concerns outlined in WT:CON AR:

  • ⟨ʕ⟩ ⟨ʔ⟩ are used rather than Hans Wehr ⟨ʿ⟩ ⟨ʾ⟩.
  • Stress is marked explicitly, albeit with bolding rather than with an accent.
  • The letter ⟨c⟩ is used to represent the tā marbūṭc, a feminine suffix with a couple of realizations and whose particulars aren't a focus of this document. (It can be either /-a/ or /-e/ depending on its environment, as well as /-t/ if syntactically the possessee in a genitive construction.)
  • A ligature, ⟨Ꝡ ꝡ⟩, is used to indicate "any semivowel": either w or y. (It's actually a ligature of v and y, but the resemblance to wy is too convenient to pass up.)
  • The dotless ⟨ı⟩ is used for /i~u/, an "indeterminate" high/mid vowel that can either be rounded or not. (In other words, alteration between damma and kasra.) While the choice of vowel is consistent per speaker, it can vary wildly between different speakers and regions — and, despite being a phonemic distinction, it carries zero semantic load. All of that makes it best to cover both variants with one stone without worrying about specifics.
  • In keeping with that, and with the Hans Wehr convention of representing emphatic consonants with an underdot, ⟨ᴉ⟩ is used to represent a high vowel that some speakers round because of its proximity to an emphatic. The difference between the previous case and this one is that the former alteration is completely arbitrary and not phonologically conditioned at all, whereas this rounding only occurs as a sort of emphasis-assimilation.
  • ⟨i⟩ is used for all other historic high vowels, and the schwa ⟨ə⟩ is used for epenthetics if needed. (Cowell's A Reference Grammar of Syrian Arabic differs here: for example, he transcribes the basic triliteral past verb in -i- as fiʕel. At least in Lebanese, however, it's impossible for i to be stressed without becoming e, and since both come from the same vowel historically anyway, it seems like a safer bet to make it fiʕil and avoid possible inaccuracies.)
    • Note that the ⟨ə⟩ is not intended to represent a sound anything like [ə]. The actual vowel it represents is something like /e~o/ depending on its phonemic context, but (as with ⟨ı⟩) the rules for this variation can themselves vary enough to make it not worth representing its actual value in transcription. More importantly, these epenthetic vowels share the characteristic that they're only inserted to break up a coda consonant cluster and can be deleted under certain constraints, so it feels apt to represent them with a character often connoting "no well-defined vowel in particular".
  • The historic diphthongs /aj/ and /aw/ are transcribed as ⟨ay⟩ and ⟨aw⟩. This document avoids the "either aw or ō" dance.

Verbs are demonstrated using the dummy root ف ع ل (f-ʕ-l). The esoteric verb-form numbers are supplemented as much as possible with actual template examples, although they're used as is when referring to fuṣḥa. Speaking of which, English doesn't have a 100%-accurate way to refer to the pre-Modern stage of Arabic that gave way to the contemporary varieties: "Classical Arabic" is apparently a sister evolution, "Qur'ānic Arabic" is a specific dialect of antiquity, "Old Arabic" is too old, and "Modern Standard Arabic" is today’s artificial-amalgam reconstruction that has no business being an ancestor of anything. To sidestep all of that, this page uses the generic Arabic term fuṣḥa.

Overview[edit]

Lebanese Arabic is still very much in touch with the "root system" of derivation that characterizes Arabic and Semitic languages: verbs are created by slotting three or four discontinuous consonants into a template that realizes them as an actual verb, and every such template is distinct in terms of conjugation and meaning. An individual template is called a "verb form", and its traits are gone over below.

As in Modern Standard Arabic, the properties of the root itself also have some bearing on its realization as a verb. Some roots consist of only two consonants rather than three, with the second being doubled to mimic a three-consonant root; this causes some interesting things to happen, because those two identical consonants like to stick together when the root is realized. Roots can also have a "weak consonant", w or y, which for historical reasons gets elided in certain contexts (with unexpected results), or they can contain a glottal stop to which the same happens. Each distinct 'kind' of root is given separate consideration below.

Generalities of conjugation[edit]

Verbs are conjugated for five things:

  1. Tense (past, nonpast)
  2. Mood (subjunctive, indicative) — only on nonpast verbs
  3. Person (first, second, third)
  4. Number (singular, plural)
  5. Gender (masculine, feminine) — not in the first person or in the plural

Conjugation can be summarized by looking at how the final three items are conjugated for in each tense, and additionally comparing the nonpast subjunctive to the nonpast indicative conjugation. (The "tenses" may actually be perfective/imperfective aspects, but it's confusing, and nothing really changes when they're referred to as tenses instead.)

Conjugations are formed using suffixes in past-tense verbs.

Past-tense suffixes
Singular Plural
1st person m ـت

-(ə)t

ـنَا

-na

f
2nd person m ـت

-(ə)t

ـتُوا

-tu

f ـتي

-ti

3rd person m ∅ ـُوا

-u

f ـِت

-it
-at*

* (regional, rarer)

Some speakers lower the u and i vowels to o and e, which sometimes renders stress the only thing telling apart a 3sg.f conjugation from a 1sg/2sg.m conjugation. However, the elision of the latter two's epenthetic (in contrast to the reluctant deletion of the first's i) can still serve as a distinguishing mark.

All first- and second-person suffixes morphologically begin with a consonant, but the rest are vowel-initial (besides the 3sg.m suffix, as there isn't one). This has noticeable effects on stress and on the form of certain verbs, both of which will be discussed in detail later.

In the Arabic script, the plural suffixes -u are counterintuitively spelled ـوا rather than ـو for historical (but not etymological) reasons. Many speakers, or even most speakers, do in fact use the latter spelling. On the other hand, the 2sg.f form is spelled ـتِي rather than ـتِ in defiance of historical convention — this is because the contemporary Arabic dialects don't preserve the old word-final short vowels (which were represented using diacritics), in their place shortening the original long vowels. Any ostensible word-final "short vowel" in a contemporary dialect is therefore really a "dialectal long vowel" underlyingly, so it should be written as such.

The subjunctive conjugations, which are the least-marked nonpast conjugations, are formed using both prefixes and suffixes:

Nonpast subjunctive prefixes/suffixes
Singular Plural
initial: single consonant vowel consonant cluster single consonant vowel consonant cluster
1st person m ∅ إ

ʔ-

إ

ʔᴉ-

نـ

n-

نـ

nᴉ-

f
2nd person m تـ

t-

تِـ

tᴉ-

تـ...ـُوا

t- ... -u

تِـ...ـُوا

tᴉ- ... -u

f تـ...ـِي

t- ... -i

تِـ...ـِي

tᴉ- ... -i

3rd person m يـ

y-

يِـ

yᴉ-

يـ...ـُوا

y- ... -u

يِـ...ـُوا

yᴉ- ... -u

f تـ

t-

تِـ

tᴉ-

Notice that, besides the anomalous disappearance of the 1sg glottal stop, all prefixes are vowelless when on a verb that starts with a single consonant (like تشوف (tšūf, “see”, 2sg.m subjunctive)) or a vowel (like ناكل (nākıl, “eat”, 1pl subjunctive)). But if the verb starts with a consonant cluster, all prefixes surface with a vowel ᴉ-. About this vowel:

  • If the verb's first consonant is ع (ʕ), the ᴉ- is allowed to become a-, presumably due to some quality of the pharyngeal that likes to induce openness in the vowel. (An interesting phenomenon related to this is looked at below, when discussing voweling patterns on verbs.)
    • Examples: أعرف (ʔaʕrif, “(subjunctive) I know”, vs. إعرف (ʔiʕrif))
  • Additionally, if the verb's first consonant is w, the result of *iwC is actually an initial vowel ū, and the result of *iwV is an initial sequence uwV.
    • Examples: بيُوجَع (byūjaʕ, “it hurts”, not *بيِوْجَع (*byiwjaʕ)), قِوِي (ʔuwi, “he got stronger”, not *ʔiwi)
    • Diachronically, however, this might instead be compensated for by assimilating the semivowel, which here results in بيِيجَع (byījaʕ). This process is much more common in Syria than in Lebanon.
  • The rounded variant of the ᴉ- occurs when there's any emphatic consonant in the verb, not just one immediately following.
    • Examples: تِضرُب (tᴉḍrıb, “[that] she hit”), أُفضَى (ʔᴉfḍa, “[that] I become free”), يُخلَص (yᴉḵlaṣ, “[that] he finish”). (See the conjugation tables below for where this rounding occurs in other verb forms.)
  • Some verbs with a historic initial ق (q) (or a hamza analyzed as one) may also induce the rounded variant.
  • Finally, some speakers exhibit rounding without any surrounding emphasis to condition it at all, resulting in conjugations like أُكتُب (ʔuktıb, “[that] I write”, vs. ʔiktıb). This is rare, however.

Lastly, the indicative mood is indicated with a prefixed بـ (b-) accompanying the subjunctive conjugation:

Nonpast indicative prefixes/suffixes
Singular Plural
initial: single consonant vowel consonant cluster single consonant vowel consonant cluster
1st person m بـ

b-

بِـ

bᴉ-

مِنـ

min-

منـ

mn-

منِـ

mnᴉ-

f
2nd person m بِتـ

bit-

بتـ

bt-

بتِـ

btᴉ-

بِتـ...ـُوا

bit- ... -u

بتـ...ـُوا

bt- ... -u

بتِـ...ـُوا

btᴉ- ... -u

f بِتـ...ـِي

bit- ... -i

بتـ...ـِي

bt- ... -i

بتِـ...ـِي

btᴉ- ... -i

3rd person m بِـ

bi-

بيـ

by-

بيِـ

byᴉ-

بِـ...ـُوا

bi- ... -u

بيـ...ـُوا

by- ... -u

بيِـ...ـُوا

byᴉ- ... -u

f بِتـ

bit-

بتـ

bt-

بتِـ

btᴉ-

The same notes as above about the ᴉ- vowel apply. Notice the nasal assimilation of the بـ (b-) prefix in the plural forms. Also, note that marking the indicative mood is only one of this prefix's purposes; see its section below for a more-thorough description.

Verb forms[edit]

Epenthetics are not represented below (that is, clusters are written as clusters), but they can be inferred regularly.

Biliteral & triliteral[edit]

As mentioned earlier, biliteral roots end up acting triliteral anyway, because the second radical gets doubled to mimic a third one. However, this results in noticeably different conjugation paradigms between biliteral and triliteral verbs: the doubled consonant likes to stay geminate when realized in an actual verb. This is even-more prononounced in dialects of contemporary Arabic than in fuṣḥa, as this geminate consonant is no longer allowed to break up into a vowel-separated pair when the base verb is required not to end in a final vowel: compare Arabic اِسْتَفْزَزْتُ (istafzaztu, “I provoked”) to North Levantine Arabic استَفَزَّيْت (stafazzayt), not *استَفْزَزْت (*stafzazt). This innovation does result in ambiguity, however: هَدَّيْت (haddayt) is the 1sg/2sg.m conjugation of both هَدّ (hadd, “to demolish”) and هَدَّى (hadda, “to hold (something) steady”), whereas the former would be *هَدَدت (*hadadt) in a more-fuṣḥa-ish conjugation paradigm.

Form I[edit]

Triliteral: فَعَل، فِعِل (faʕal, fᴉʕᴉl)[edit]

(Section anchor: I_Triliteral)

Derivation info
  • Nonpast: يِفْعُِل، يِفْعَل (yᴉfʕıl, yᴉfʕal)
  • Passive:
    • انفَعَل ينفعل (nfaʕal–yᴉnfaʕal), افتَعَل يفتعل (ftaʕal–yᴉftaʕal)
    • انفَعَل ينفعل (nfaʕal–yᴉnfᴉʕᴉl), افتَعَل يفتعل (ftaʕal–yᴉftᴉʕᴉl)
    • انفَعَل ينفعل (nfaʕal–yᴉnfʕᴉl), افتَعَل يفتعل (ftaʕal–yᴉftʕᴉl)
  • Active participle:
    • فَاعِل (fāʕil)
    • فَعْلَان (faʕlān)
    • مِفْعِل (mᴉfʕil), rarer (etymologically distinct)
  • Passive participle:
    • مَفْعُول (mafʕūl)
    • مِنفَعَل (mᴉnfaʕal), مِنفِعِل (mᴉnfᴉʕᴉl), مِنفعِل (mᴉnfʕᴉl)
    • مَفْعُول (mafʕūl)
  • Verbal noun:
    • فَعْل (faʕl)
    • فَعَل (faʕal)
    • فعُول (fʕūl)
    • إِفعَال (ʔifʕāl)
    • فعَالة (fʕālc)
    • ...

This is the only verb form with semantically significant variation in voweling, where in each tense there are two possible patterns that a verb can take. These are...

  • Past:
    • فَعَل (faʕal), henceforth a
    • فِعِل (fᴉʕᴉl), henceforth ᴉ
  • Nonpast:
    • يِفعُِل (yᴉfʕıl), henceforth ı
      • There's also specific kind of verb that can only look like يِفعُِل (yᴉfʕil) (notice the singly dotted i). This is henceforth i.
    • يِفْعَل (yᴉfʕal), henceforth a

Usually, the correspondence between past–nonpast voweling is a–ı and ᴉ–a, but:

  • a–i in particular (notice the i rather than an ı, indicating no regional variation whatsoever between /i~u/) can occur when the verb is from a diachronic Form IV verb, half-preserving its original voweling in this way. See Form IV below.
  • a–a mostly exists in three cases...
    1. Rarer verbs or MSA loans, like فَخَت يِفخَت (faḵat–yifḵat, “to puncture”), سَأَل يِسْأَل (saʔal–yisʔal, “to ask”), and قَرَا يُِقرَا (ʔara-yıʔra, “to read”).
      • However, the last case (originally hamza-final verbs) is being or has been regularized to ᴉ–a: a common variant of that particular verb is قِرِي يِقرَا (ʔiri-yıʔra).
    2. Verbs with a final pharyngeal. This is the same reason why the ᴉ- vowel of conjugational prefixes is allowed to become a- when a verb's first consonant is ع (ʕ); some quality of the pharyngeal seems to induce openness in a preceding vowel, which causes both tenses to tend toward the variant in -a- here. There still are i-a cases here like وِجِع يُوجَع (wijiʕ–yūjaʕ, “to hurt”) and رِبِح يِربَح (ribiḥ–yirbaḥ, “to win”), but the only case where a pharyngeal-final verb can follow the nonpast i pattern is when it's from a historic Form IV verb; again, see below.
  • ᴉ-ı isn't as easy to predict. It exists sporadically, appearing in random verbs like حِمِل يِحمُل (ḥimil–yiḥmıl), and it varies by speaker at that. It may be becoming more common with final-weak verbs [TODO: explain]

The shining star of all this variation is the verb عمل (ʕml, “to do”), which can take both voweling patterns in each tense, as well as optionally conjugating with nonpast prefixes a- rather than ᴉ- due to the initial pharyngeal!

Sound conjugations (no weak radicals)[edit]

(Section anchor: CCC)

a–ı sound conjugation (no weak radicals)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m فعَلت
faʕalt, fʕalt 		فعَلنَا
faʕalna, fʕalna 		فَعَلت
faʕalt, fʕalt 		فعَلتُوا
faʕaltu, fʕaltu 		فَعَلْ
faʕal 		فَعلُوا
faʕalu, faʕlu
f فعَلتِي
faʕalti, fʕalti 		فَعلِت
faʕalit, faʕlit

فعَلَت
faʕalat*, faʕlat*

Nonpast subjunctive m إِفْعُِل
ʔᴉfʕıl 		نِفْعُِل
nᴉfʕıl 		تِفْعُِل
tᴉfʕıl 		تِفْعلُوا
tᴉfʕlu 		يِفْعُِل
yᴉfʕıl 		يِفْعلُوا
yᴉfʕlu
f تِفْعلِي
tᴉfʕli 		تِفْعُِل
tᴉfʕıl
Nonpast indicative m بِفْعُِل
bᴉfʕıl 		منِفْعُِل
mnᴉfʕıl 		بتِفْعُِل
btᴉfʕıl 		بتِفْعلُوا
btᴉfʕlu 		بيِفْعُِل
byᴉfʕıl 		بيِفْعلُوا
byᴉfʕlu
f بتِفْعلِي
btᴉfʕli 		بتِفْعُِل
btᴉfʕıl
Nonpast imperative m — — فعول
fʕōl, fʕᴉl-

إِفْعُِل
ʔᴉfʕıl

افعلوا
fʕᴉlu

إِفعلوا
ʔᴉfʕlu

— —
f افعِلي
fʕᴉli

إِفعلي
ʔᴉfʕli

* (regional, rarer)
ᴉ–a sound conjugation (no weak radicals)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m فعِلت
fʕᴉlt 		فعِلنَا
fʕᴉlna 		فعِلت
fʕᴉlt 		فعِلتُوا
fʕᴉltu 		فَعَلْ
faʕal 		فِعلُوا
fᴉʕlu
f فعِلتِي
fʕᴉlti 		فِعلِت
fᴉʕlᴉt
Nonpast subjunctive m إِفْعَل
ʔᴉfʕal 		نِفْعَل
nᴉfʕal 		تِفْعَل
tᴉfʕal 		تِفْعَلُوا
tᴉfʕalu 		يِفْعَل
yᴉfʕal 		يِفْعَلُوا
yᴉfʕalu
f تِفْعَلِي
tᴉfʕali 		تِفْعَل
tᴉfʕal
Nonpast indicative m بِفْعَل
bᴉfʕal 		منِفْعَل
mnᴉfʕal 		بتِفْعَل
btᴉfʕal 		بتِفْعَلُوا
btᴉfʕalu 		بيِفْعَل
byᴉfʕal 		بيِفْعَلُوا
byᴉfʕalu
f بتِفْعَلِي
btᴉfʕali 		بتِفْعَل
btᴉfʕal
Nonpast imperative m — — فعال
fʕāl, fʕal-

إِفْعَل
ʔᴉfʕal

افعلوا
fʕᴉlu

إِفعَلوا
ʔᴉfʕalu

— —
f افعَلي
fʕali

إِفعَلي
ʔᴉfʕali

ᴉ–ı sound conjugation (no weak radicals)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m فعِلت
fʕᴉlt 		فعِلنَا
fʕᴉlna 		فعِلت
fʕᴉlt 		فعِلتُوا
fʕᴉltu 		فَعَلْ
faʕal 		فِعلُوا
fᴉʕlu
f فعِلتِي
fʕᴉlti 		فِعلِت
fᴉʕlᴉt
Nonpast subjunctive m إِفْعُِل
ʔᴉfʕıl 		نِفْعُِل
nᴉfʕıl 		تِفْعُِل
tᴉfʕıl 		تِفْعلُوا
tᴉfʕlu 		يِفْعُِل
yᴉfʕıl 		يِفْعلُوا
yᴉfʕlu
f تِفْعلِي
tᴉfʕli 		تِفْعُِل
tᴉfʕıl
Nonpast indicative m بِفْعُِل
bᴉfʕıl 		منِفْعُِل
mnᴉfʕıl 		بتِفْعُِل
btᴉfʕıl 		بتِفْعلُوا
btᴉfʕlu 		بيِفْعُِل
byᴉfʕıl 		بيِفْعلُوا
byᴉfʕlu
f بتِفْعلِي
btᴉfʕli 		بتِفْعُِل
btᴉfʕıl
Nonpast imperative m — — فعول
fʕōl, fʕᴉl-

إِفْعُِل
ʔᴉfʕıl

افعلوا
fʕᴉlu

إِفعلوا
ʔᴉfʕlu

— —
f افعِلي
fʕᴉli

إِفعلي
ʔᴉfʕli

a–a sound conjugation (no weak radicals)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m فعَلت
faʕalt, fʕalt 		فعَلنَا
faʕalna, fʕalna 		فَعَلت
faʕalt, fʕalt 		فعَلتُوا
faʕaltu, fʕaltu 		فَعَلْ
faʕal 		فَعلُوا
faʕalu, faʕlu
f فعَلتِي
faʕalti, fʕalti 		فَعلِت
faʕalit, faʕlit

فعَلَت
faʕalat*, faʕlat*

Nonpast subjunctive m إِفْعَل
ʔᴉfʕal 		نِفْعَل
nᴉfʕal 		تِفْعَل
tᴉfʕal 		تِفْعَلُوا
tᴉfʕalu 		يِفْعَل
yᴉfʕal 		يِفْعَلُوا
yᴉfʕalu
f تِفْعَلِي
tᴉfʕali 		تِفْعَل
tᴉfʕal
Nonpast indicative m بِفْعَل
bᴉfʕal 		منِفْعَل
mnᴉfʕal 		بتِفْعَل
btᴉfʕal 		بتِفْعَلُوا
btᴉfʕalu 		بيِفْعَل
byᴉfʕal 		بيِفْعَلُوا
byᴉfʕalu
f بتِفْعَلِي
btᴉfʕali 		بتِفْعَل
btᴉfʕal
Nonpast imperative m — — فعال
fʕāl, fʕal-

إِفْعَل
ʔᴉfʕal

افعلوا
fʕᴉlu

إِفعَلوا
ʔᴉfʕalu

— —
f افعَلي
fʕali

إِفعَلي
ʔᴉfʕali

* (regional, rarer)

Notice that the unstressed nonpast -ı- always collapses to -i- when there's a following syllable, after which it's subject to the "forbidden sequence" rule and may be deleted. On the other hand, the nonpast -a- remains no matter its environment.

Hamzated conjugation (initial radical ʔ)[edit]

(Section anchor: 2CC)

Extra derivation info (hamza is deleted intervocally)
  • Nonpast: يَاعُِل (yāʕıl), ᴉ–a unattested
  • Passive:
    • اتَّاعَل يِتَّاعَل (ttāʕal yittāʕal)
    • (see above)
  • Active participle:
    • آعِل (ʔāʕil)
    • ماعِل (māʕil)

This only applies to two verbs in the language: أَخَد (ʔaḵad, “to take”) and أَكَل (ʔakal, “to eat”), as these are the only two natively preserved hamza-initial verbs. Compare North Levantine Arabic أَمَر يؤمُِر (ʔamar-yıʔmır, “to command”), which retains the initial glottal stop in all conjugations due to being a later MSA reborrowing.

i–ı hamzated conjugation (initial radical ʔ)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m عِلت
ʕilt 		عِلنَا
ʕilna 		عِلت
ʕilt 		عِلتُوا
ʕiltu 		أَعَلْ
ʔaʕal 		أَعلُوا
ʔaʕalu, ʔaʕlu
f عِلتِي
ʕilti 		أَعلِت
ʔaʕalit, ʔaʕlit

أَعلَت
ʔaʕalat*, ʔaʕlat*

Nonpast subjunctive m آعُِل
ʔāʕıl 		نَاعُِل
nāʕıl 		نَاعُِل
tāʕıl 		تَاعلُوا
tāʕlu 		يَاعُِل
yāʕıl 		يَاعلُوا
yāʕlu
f تَاعلِي
tāʕli 		تَاعُِل
tāʕıl
Nonpast indicative m بَاعُِل
bāʕıl 		منَاعُِل
mnāʕıl 		بتَافْعُِل
btāʕıl 		بتَاعلُوا
btāʕlu 		بيَاعُِل
byāʕıl 		بيَاعلُوا
byāʕlu
f بتَاعلِي
btāʕli 		بتَاعُِل
btāʕıl
Nonpast imperative m — — عول
ʕōl, ʕᴉl- 		عِلوا
ʕᴉlu 		— —
f عِلي
ʕᴉli
* (regional, rarer)
a–ı hamzated conjugation (initial radical ʔ)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m أعَلت
ʔaʕalt, ʔʕalt 		أعَلنَا
ʔaʕalna, ʔʕalna 		أعَلت
ʔaʕalt, ʔʕalt 		أعَلتُوا
ʔaʕaltu, ʔʕaltu 		أَعَلْ
ʔaʕal 		أَعلُوا
ʔaʕalu, ʔaʕlu
f أعَلتِي
ʔaʕalti, ʔʕalti 		أَعلِت
ʔaʕalit, ʔaʕlit

أَعلَت
ʔaʕalat*, ʔaʕlat*

Nonpast subjunctive m آعُِل
ʔāʕıl 		نَاعُِل
nāʕıl 		نَاعُِل
tāʕıl 		تَاعلُوا
tāʕlu 		يَاعُِل
yāʕıl 		يَاعلُوا
yāʕlu
f تَاعلِي
tāʕli 		تَاعُِل
tāʕıl
Nonpast indicative m بَاعُِل
bāʕıl 		منَاعُِل
mnāʕıl 		بتَافْعُِل
btāʕıl 		بتَاعلُوا
btāʕlu 		بيَاعُِل
byāʕıl 		بيَاعلُوا
byāʕlu
f بتَاعلِي
btāʕli 		بتَاعُِل
btāʕıl
Nonpast imperative m — — عول
ʕōl, ʕᴉl- 		عِلوا
ʕᴉlu 		— —
f عِلي
ʕᴉli
* (regional, rarer)
Hollow conjugations (middle radical ꝡ)[edit]

(Section anchor: CWC)

Extra derivation info (weak radical tends to become ā or otherwise the corresponding vowel)
  • Nonpast: يفَال يفِيل يفُول (yfVl)
  • Passive:
    • انفَال يِنفَال (nfāl-yinfāl)
  • Active participle:
    • فَايِل (fāyil)
    • فَيْلَان (fylān)
  • Passive participle:
    • مَفيُول (mafyūl)
    • مَفيُول مَفْوُول (mafꝡūl), rarer
    • مُِنفَال (mınfāl)
  • Verbal noun:
    • فَول فَيل (faꝡl)
    • فَيلُولة (fylūlc)

These verbs are characterized by an ـا (-ā-) in the past tense, and any of the three long vowels ـا (-ā-) ـِيـ (-ī-) ـُو (-ū-) in nonpast conjugations. The nonpast verb in ـا (-ā-) is much rarer than the other two, but it can arise from either root semivowel. Otherwise, a medial y in the root will yield a verb with nonpast ـِيـ (-ī-), and a root-medial w will yield a verb with nonpast ـُو (-ū-).

As shown in the tables, however, the past-tense ـا (-ā-) of a hollow verb is untenable in would-be-superheavy syllables that are induced by any consonant-initial conjugational suffix. It's therefore replaced by a short vowel ᴉ.

  • Regionally and historically, this is actually split into two cases based on the verb's nonpast form: a verb with nonpast ـُو (-ū-) would have a short vowel u in the past tenses, and the short vowel ᴉ would only surface for a verb in nonpast ـا (-ā-) or ـِيـ (-ī-). One of the shifts that distinguishes North Levantine from its neighbor is a near-ubiquitous merger of both of these two short vowels to ᴉ, regardless of the corresponding root semivowel.
  • Examples: قَال (ʔāl, “he said”, 3sg.m) but قِلت (ʔilt, “I said”, (archaic) ʔult); صَام (ṣām, “he fasted”) but صُمتي (ṣᴉmti, “you fasted”)
  • The shortening of the ā, by the way, has no basis in synchronics — it's a relic of fuṣḥa's phonotactics, which explains why the 3sg.m form is allowed to retain a long ā despite still being a just-as-superheavy syllable. That is, it descends from what was diachronically only a heavy syllable: in fuṣḥa, verbs along the lines of شاف (šāf) had a mandatory final a, giving شَافَ (šāfa) with the structure CVV.CV. So, because the initial syllable wasn't a superheavy *CVVC but instead just a heavy CVV, it was fine keeping its long vowel, and this transfered into contemporary Arabic as well. But contemporary Arabic dialects often lose some marks of fuṣḥa's aversion to superheaviness, so the CVVC syllable in شاف (šāf) that results from the loss of the final short a is allowed to remain superheavy — and only originally-shortened superheavy syllables continue to surface short.

For some reason, it appears that all verbs with a root-medial semivowel are traditionally considered "hollow" and thus "weak" in Arabic. This is silly, because there are verbs that simply treat this semivowel as a proper root consonant — like طِوِل يِطوَل (ṭuwil-yᴉṭwal, “to grow taller”) — and therefore conjugate as sound verbs. As such, they have no reason not to be considered sound verbs. Such verbs follow the conjugation tables above rather than these ones.

Hollow conjugation (middle radical ꝡ)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m فِلت
fᴉlt 		فِلنَا
fᴉlna 		فِلت
fᴉlt 		فِلتُوا
fᴉltu 		فَال
fāl 		فَالُوا
fālu
f فِلتِي
fᴉlti 		فَالِت
fālᴉt

فَالَت
fālat*

Nonpast subjunctive m فَال
fāl 		نفَال
nfāl 		تفَال
tfāl 		تفَالُوا
tfālu 		يفَال
yfāl 		يفَالُوا
yfālu
f تفَالِي
tfāli 		تفَال
tfāl
Nonpast indicative m بفَال
bfāl 		مِنفَال
minfāl 		بِتفَال
bitfāl 		بِتفَالُوا
bitfālu 		بِفَال
bifāl 		بِفَالُوا
bitfālu
f بِتفَالِي
bitfāli 		بِتفَال
bitfāl
Nonpast imperative m — — فَال
fāl, fal-† 		فَالُوا
fālu 		— —
f فَالِي
fāli
* (regional, rarer)
† (except with object suffixes)
Hollow conjugation (middle radical y)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m فِلت
fᴉlt 		فِلنَا
fᴉlna 		فِلت
fᴉlt 		فِلتُوا
fᴉltu 		فَال
fāl 		فَالُوا
fālu
f فِلتِي
fᴉlti 		فَالِت
fālᴉt

فَالَت
fālat*

Nonpast subjunctive m فِيل
fīl 		نفِيل
nfīl 		تفِيل
tfīl 		تفِيل
tfīl 		يفِيل
yfīl 		يفِيلُوا
yfīlu
f تفِيلِي
tfīli 		تفِيل
tfīl
Nonpast indicative m بفِيل
bfīl 		مِنفِيل
minfīl 		بِتفِيل
bitfīl 		بِتفِيلُوا
bitfīlu 		بِفِيل
bifīl 		بِفِيلُوا
bitfīlu
f بِتفِيلِي
bitfīli 		بِتفِيل
bitfīl
Nonpast imperative m — — فِيل
fīl, fᴉl-† 		فِيلُوا
fīlu 		— —
f فِيلِي
fīli
* (regional, rarer)
† (except with object suffixes)
Hollow conjugation (middle radical w)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m فِلت
fᴉlt 		فِلنَا
fᴉlna 		فِلت
fᴉlt 		فِلتُوا
fᴉltu 		فَال
fāl 		فَالُوا
fālu
f فِلتِي
fᴉlti 		فَالِت
fālᴉt

فَالَت
fālat*

Nonpast subjunctive m فُول
fūl 		نفُول
nfūl 		تفُول
tfūl 		تفُول
tfūl 		يفُول
yfūl 		يفُولُوا
yfūlu
f تفُولِي
tfūli 		تفُول
tfūl
Nonpast indicative m بفُول
bfūl 		مِنفُول
minfūl 		بِتفُول
bitfūl 		بِتفُولُوا
bitfūlu 		بِفُول
bifūl 		بِفُولُوا
bitfūlu
f بِتفُولِي
bitfūli 		بِتفُول
bitfūl
Nonpast imperative m — — فُول
fūl, fᴉl-† 		فُولُوا
fūlu 		— —
f فُولِي
fūli
* (regional, rarer)
† (except with object suffixes)
Final-weak conjugations (final radical ꝡ)[edit]

(Section anchor: CCW)

Extra derivation info (conjugations have nothing in place of the final radical)
  • Passive participle:
    • مُِفعِي (mıfʕi)
  • Verbal noun:
    • فَعِي (faʕi)
    • فعَاية (fʕāyc)

Unlike in fuṣḥa, where roots with a final radical w yield ـُو (-ū)-final verbs like شَكَا يَشْكُو (šakā yaškū, “to complain”), contemporary Arabic dialects level all weak final radicals to y. The reflex of that particular verb in Lebanese, for example, is شَكَى يِشكِي (šaka yiški).

a–ı final-weak conjugation (final radical ꝡ)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m فعَيت
faʕyt, fʕyt 		فعَينَا
faʕyna, fʕyna 		فَعَيت
faʕyt, fʕyt 		فعَيتُوا
faʕytu, fʕytu 		فَعَى
faʕa 		فَعُوا
faʕu
f فعَيتِي
faʕyti, fʕyti 		فَعِت
faʕit

فعَت
faʕat*

Nonpast subjunctive m إِفْعِي
ʔᴉfʕi 		نِفْعِي
nᴉfʕi 		تِفْعُِل
tᴉfʕi 		تِفْعُوا
tᴉfʕu 		يِفْعِي
yᴉfʕi 		يِفْعُوا
yᴉfʕu
f تِفْعِي
tᴉfʕi
Nonpast indicative m بِفْعِي
bᴉfʕi 		منِفْعِي
mnᴉfʕi 		بتِفْعِي
btᴉfʕi 		بتِفْعُوا
btᴉfʕu 		بيِفْعِي
byᴉfʕi 		بيِفْعُوا
byᴉfʕu
f بتِفْعِي
btᴉfʕi
Nonpast imperative m — — افْعِي
ʔᴉfʕi, fʕī- 		افعُوا
ʔᴉfʕu, fʕū- 		— —
* (regional, rarer)
ᴉ–a final-weak conjugation (final radical ꝡ)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m فعِيت
fʕīt 		فعِينَا
fʕīna 		فعِلت
fʕᴉlt 		فعِيتُوا
fʕītu 		فَعَلْ
faʕal 		فِعيُوا
fᴉʕyu
f فعِيتِي
fʕīti 		فِعيِت
fᴉʕyᴉt
Nonpast subjunctive m إِفْعَى
ʔᴉfʕa 		نِفْعَى
nᴉfʕa 		تِفْعَى
tᴉfʕa 		تِفْعُوا
tᴉfʕu 		يِفْعَى
yᴉfʕa 		يِفْعُوا
yᴉfʕu
f تِفْعِي
tᴉfʕi 		تِفْعَى
tᴉfʕa
Nonpast indicative m بِفْعَى
bᴉfʕa 		منِفْعَى
mnᴉfʕa 		بتِفْعَى
btᴉfʕa 		بتِفْعُوا
btᴉfʕu 		بيِفْعَل
byᴉfʕa 		بيِفْعُوا
byᴉfʕu
f بتِفْعِي
btᴉfʕi 		بتِفْعَى
btᴉfʕa
Nonpast imperative m — — افْعَى
ʔᴉfʕa, fʕā-/fʕī- 		إِفعُوا
ʔᴉfʕu, fʕū- 		— —
f افعِي
ʔᴉfʕi, fʕī-
ᴉ–ı final-weak conjugation (final radical ꝡ)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m فعِيت
fʕīt 		فعِينَا
fʕīna 		فعِلت
fʕᴉlt 		فعِيتُوا
fʕītu 		فَعَلْ
faʕal 		فِعيُوا
fᴉʕyu
f فعِيتِي
fʕīti 		فِعيِت
fᴉʕyᴉt
Nonpast subjunctive m إِفْعِي
ʔᴉfʕi 		نِفْعِي
nᴉfʕi 		تِفْعُِل
tᴉfʕi 		تِفْعُوا
tᴉfʕu 		يِفْعِي
yᴉfʕi 		يِفْعُوا
yᴉfʕu
f تِفْعِي
tᴉfʕi
Nonpast indicative m بِفْعِي
bᴉfʕi 		منِفْعِي
mnᴉfʕi 		بتِفْعِي
btᴉfʕi 		بتِفْعُوا
btᴉfʕu 		بيِفْعِي
byᴉfʕi 		بيِفْعُوا
byᴉfʕu
f بتِفْعِي
btᴉfʕi
Nonpast imperative m — — افْعِي
ʔᴉfʕi, fʕī- 		افعُوا
ʔᴉfʕu, fʕū- 		— —
a–a final-weak conjugation (final radical ꝡ)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m فعَيت
faʕyt, fʕyt 		فعَينَا
faʕyna, fʕyna 		فَعَيت
faʕyt, fʕyt 		فعَيتُوا
faʕytu, fʕytu 		فَعَى
faʕa 		فَعُوا
faʕu
f فعَيتِي
faʕyti, fʕyti 		فَعِت
faʕit

فعَت
faʕat*

Nonpast subjunctive m إِفْعَى
ʔᴉfʕa 		نِفْعَى
nᴉfʕa 		تِفْعَى
tᴉfʕa 		تِفْعُوا
tᴉfʕu 		يِفْعَى
yᴉfʕa 		يِفْعُوا
yᴉfʕu
f تِفْعِي
tᴉfʕi 		تِفْعَى
tᴉfʕa
Nonpast indicative m بِفْعَى
bᴉfʕa 		منِفْعَى
mnᴉfʕa 		بتِفْعَى
btᴉfʕa 		بتِفْعُوا
btᴉfʕu 		بيِفْعَل
byᴉfʕa 		بيِفْعُوا
byᴉfʕu
f بتِفْعِي
btᴉfʕi 		بتِفْعَى
btᴉfʕa
Nonpast imperative m — — افْعَى
ʔᴉfʕa, fʕā-/fʕī- 		إِفعُوا
ʔᴉfʕu, fʕū- 		— —
f افعِي
ʔᴉfʕi, fʕī-
* (regional, rarer)
Biliteral: فَعّ (faʕʕ)[edit]

(Section anchor: CC)

Derivation info
  • Verbal noun:
    • فَعّ (faʕʕ), فُعّ (fıʕʕ)
    • فعُوع (fʕūʕ), rarer
    • ...
  • Nonpast: يفِعّ (yfᴉʕʕ)
  • Passive:
    • انفَعّ ينفعّ (nfaʕʕ–yᴉnfaʕʕ)
    • افتَعّ يفتَعّ (ftaʕʕ–yᴉftaʕʕ)

Recall the above note about the final geminate remaining geminate here no matter what. That means that, in all past-tense conjugations that use suffixes, this verb form looks identical to the final-weak triliteral Form I verb above. The conjugation in present-tense a is quite rare, by the way: for speakers who do use it, it can only be found in the verbs ضَلّ يضَلّ (ḍall–yḍall, “to stay”), عَضّ يعَضّ (ʕaḍḍ–yʕaḍḍ, “to bite down (on)”), and حَطّ يحَطّ (ḥaṭṭ–yḥaṭṭ, “to put, to put on, to set down”), in ascending order of rareness.

a–ᴉ conjugation
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m فَعَّيت
faʕʕyt 		فَعَّينا
faʕʕyna 		فَعَّيت
faʕʕyt 		فعَّيتُوا
faʕʕytu 		فعّ
faʕʕ 		فَعُّوا
faʕʕu
f فعَّيتِي
faʕʕyti 		فَعِّت
faʕʕit

فعَّت
faʕʕat*

Nonpast subjunctive m فِعّ
fᴉʕʕ 		نفِعّ
nfᴉʕʕ 		تفِعّ
tfᴉʕʕ 		تفِعُّوا
tfᴉʕʕu 		يفِعّ
yfᴉʕʕ 		يفِعُّوا
yfᴉʕʕu
f تفِعِّي
tfᴉʕʕi 		تفِعّ
tfᴉʕʕ
Nonpast indicative m بفِعّ
bfᴉʕʕ 		مِنفِعّ
minfᴉʕʕ 		بِتفِعّ
bitfᴉʕʕ 		بِتفِعُّوا
bitfᴉʕʕu 		بِفِعّ
bifᴉʕʕ 		بِفِعُّوا
bifᴉʕʕu
f بِتفِعِّي
bitfᴉʕʕi 		بِتفِعّ
bitfᴉʕʕ
Nonpast imperative m — — فِعّ
fᴉʕʕ 		فِعُّوا
fᴉʕʕu 		— —
f فِعِّي
fᴉʕʕi
* (regional, rarer)
a–a conjugation
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m فَعَّيت
faʕʕyt 		فَعَّينا
faʕʕyna 		فَعَّيت
faʕʕyt 		فعَّيتُوا
faʕʕytu 		فعّ
faʕʕ 		فَعُّوا
faʕʕu
f فعَّيتِي
faʕʕyti 		فَعِّت
faʕʕit

فعَّت
faʕʕat*

Nonpast subjunctive m فَعّ
faʕʕ 		نفَعّ
nfaʕʕ 		تفَعّ
tfaʕʕ 		تفَعُّوا
tfaʕʕu 		يفَعّ
yfaʕʕ 		يفَعُّوا
yfaʕʕu
f تفَعِّي
tfaʕʕi 		تفَعّ
tfaʕʕ
Nonpast indicative m بفَعّ
bfaʕʕ 		مِنفَعّ
minfaʕʕ 		بِتفَعّ
bitfaʕʕ 		بِتفَعُّوا
bitfaʕʕu 		بِفَعّ
bifaʕʕ 		بِفَعُّوا
bifaʕʕu
f بِتفَعِّي
bitfaʕʕi 		بِتفَعّ
bitfaʕʕ
Nonpast imperative m — — فَعّ
faʕʕ 		فَعُّوا
faʕʕu 		— —
f فَعِّي
faʕʕi
* (regional, rarer)
Irregular verbs[edit]
لَقَى، لِقِي (laʔa, liʔi, “to find”)[edit]

(Section anchors: لقى and لقي)

Derivation info

This verb, which descends from Arabic لَاقَى (lāqā) of Form III, has partway jumped paradigms: it remains Form III in nonpast conjugations, but in the past tense it's shortened the initial alif to become Form I. (As such, its original dialectal form is لَقَى (laʔa) in past-tense a, but many regions sport a raised variant in i.)

Not to be confused with the entirely-Form-1 verb لَقَى يِلْقِي (laʔa–yilʔi, “to lean”).

a–III final-weak conjugation
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m لَقَيْت
laʔyt, lʔyt 		لَقَيْنَا
laʔyna, lʔyna 		لَقَيْت
laʔyt, lʔyt 		لَقَيْتُوا
laʔytu, lʔytu 		لَقَى
laʔa 		لَقُوا
laʔu
f لَقَيْتِي
laʔyti, lʔyti 		لَقِت
laʔit

لَقَت
laʔat*

Nonpast subjunctive m لَاقِي
lāʔi 		نلَاقِي
nlāʔi 		تلَاقِي
tlāʔi 		تلَاقُوا
tlāʔu 		يلَاقِي
ylāʔi 		يلَاقُوا
ylāʔu
f تلَاقِي
tlāʔi
Nonpast indicative m بلَاقِي
blāʔi 		مِنلَاقِي
minlāʔi 		بِتلَاقِي
bitlāʔi 		بِتلَاقُوا
bitlāʔu 		بِلَاقِي
bilāʔi 		بِلَاقُوا
bilāʔu
f بِتلَاقِي
bitlāʔi
Nonpast imperative m — — لَاقِي
lāʔi 		لَاقُوا
lāʔu 		— —
f
* (regional, rarer)
i–III final-weak conjugation
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m لقِيت
lʔīt 		لقِينا
lʔīna 		لقِيت
lʔīt 		لقِيتُوا
lʔītu 		لِقِي
liʔi 		لِقيُوا
liʕyu
f لقِيتي
lʔīti 		لِقيِت
liʕyit
Nonpast subjunctive m لَاقِي
lāʔi 		نلَاقِي
nlāʔi 		تلَاقِي
tlāʔi 		تلَاقُوا
tlāʔu 		يلَاقِي
ylāʔi 		يلَاقُوا
ylāʔu
f تلَاقِي
tlāʔi
Nonpast indicative m بلَاقِي
blāʔi 		مِنلَاقِي
minlāʔi 		بِتلَاقِي
bitlāʔi 		بِتلَاقُوا
bitlāʔu 		بِلَاقِي
bilāʔi 		بِلَاقُوا
bilāʔu
f بِتلَاقِي
bitlāʔi
Nonpast imperative m — — لَاقِي
lāʔi 		لَاقُوا
lāʔu 		— —
f
إجا (ʔija, “to come”)[edit]

(Section anchor: إجا)

Derivation info

This verb descends from Arabic جَاءَ (jāʔa), but the regular process of hamza-loss rendered it doubly weak. Plenty of contemporary varieties are fine with the resulting جَا (ja), but it shifted in North Levantine Arabic to be bisyllabic in all third-person past conjugations. Some speakers also slightly lengthen the first vowel in nonpast conjugations, giving something like يِيجِي (yīji, /jiˑ-/).

As in most or all contemporary Arabic varieties, this verb uses a suppletive imperative. In Lebanese, the chosen suppletion is derived from the imperative of Arabic تَعَالَ (taʕāla, “come”), which see.

?–i final-weak conjugation
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m جِيت
jīt 		جِينا
jīna 		جِيت
jīt 		جِيتُوا
jītu 		إِجَا
ʔija 		إِجُوا
ʔiju
f جِيتي
jīti 		إِجِت
ʔijit
Nonpast subjunctive m إِجِي
ʔiji 		نِجِي
niji 		تِجِي
tiji 		تِجُوا
tiju 		يِجِي
yiji 		يِجُوا
yiju
f تِجِي
tiji
Nonpast indicative m بِجِي
biji 		منِجِي
mniji 		بتِجِي
btiji 		بتِجُوا
btiju 		بيِجِي
byiji 		بيِجُوا
byiju
f بتِجِي
btiji
Nonpast imperative m — — تَعَا
taʕa

تَع
taʕ

تَعُوا
taʕu 		— —
f تَعِي
taʕi

تِعِي
tiʕi

ضَلّ (ḍall, “to stay”)[edit]

(Section anchor: ضل)

Derivation info

This verb is from Arabic ظَلَّ (ẓalla). It's remarkable enough on its own for being one of the only biliteral Form I verbs in Lebanese Arabic to conjugate with a nonpast a for some speakers, but what's even weirder is that it's the only verb in the language able to conjugate using object pronouns for subject agreement; the object pronouns are just stuck onto the end of the normal conjugations. Additionally, the second-person forms of the pseudoverb خَلِّي (ḵalli, “keep, stay, let”, as if jussive in meaning) supplete the imperative here for some speakers.

The normal conjugation can be figured out without much trouble by looking at the generic biliteral tables above. However, the object-pronoun conjugations are as follows:

a–a biliteral object-pronoun conjugation
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m ضَلَّيتنِي
ḍallaytni 		ضَلَّينَا
ḍallyna 		ضَلَّيتَك
ḍallytak 		ضَلَّيتكُن
ḍallaytkun 		ضَلُّو
ḍallo 		ضَلّهُن
ḍallun, ḍallhun
f ضَلَّيتِك
ḍallytik 		ضَلِّتها
ḍallita, ḍallitha

ضَلَّتها
ḍallata*, ḍallatha*

Nonpast subjunctive m ضَلّنِي
ḍallni 		نضَلّنا
nḍallna 		تضَلَّك
tḍallak 		تضَلّكُن
tḍallkun 		يضَلُّو
yḍallo 		يضَلّهُن
yḍallun, yḍallhun
f تضَلِّك
tḍallik 		تضَلّها
tḍalla, tḍallha
Nonpast indicative m بضَلّنِي
bḍallni 		مِنضَلّنا
minḍallna 		بِتضَلَّك
bitḍallak 		بِتضَلّكُن
bitḍallkun 		بِضَلُّو
biḍallo 		بِضَلّهُن
biḍallun, biḍallhun
f بِتضَلِّك
bitḍallik 		بِتضَلّها
bitḍalla, bitḍallha
Nonpast imperative m — — خَلِّيك
ḵallīk

ضَلَّك
ḍallak

خَلِّيكُن
ḵallīkun

ضَلّكُن
ḍallkun

— —
f خَلِّيكِي
ḵallīki

ضَلِّك
ḍallik

* (regional, rarer)
a–ᴉ biliteral object-pronoun conjugation
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m ضَلَّيتنِي
ḍallaytni 		ضَلَّينَا
ḍallyna 		ضَلَّيتَك
ḍallytak 		ضَلَّيتكُن
ḍallaytkun 		ضَلُّو
ḍallo 		ضَلّهُن
ḍallun, ḍallhun
f ضَلَّيتِك
ḍallytik 		ضَلِّتها
ḍallita, ḍallitha

ضَلَّتها
ḍallata*, ḍallatha*

Nonpast subjunctive m ضِلّنِي
ḍᴉllni 		نضِلّنا
nḍᴉllna 		تضِلَّك
tḍᴉllak 		تضِلّكُن
tḍᴉllkun 		يضِلُّو
yḍᴉllo 		يضِلّهُن
yḍᴉllun, yḍᴉllhun
f تضِلِّك
tḍᴉllik 		تضِلّها
tḍᴉlla, tḍᴉllha
Nonpast indicative m بضِلّنِي
bḍᴉllni 		مِنضِلّنا
minḍᴉllna 		بِتضِلَّك
bitḍᴉllak 		بِتضِلّكُن
bitḍᴉllkun 		بِضِلُّو
biḍᴉllo 		بِضِلّهُن
biḍᴉllun, biḍᴉllhun
f بِتضِلِّك
bitḍᴉllik 		بِتضِلّها
bitḍᴉlla, bitḍᴉllha
Nonpast imperative m — — خَلِّيك
ḵallīk

ضِلَّك
ḍᴉllak

خَلِّيكُن
ḵallīkun

ضِلّكُن
ḍᴉllkun

— —
f خَلِّيكِي
ḵallīki

ضِلِّك
ḍᴉllik

* (regional, rarer)
سَطَع (saṭaʕ, “to touch”)[edit]

(Section anchor: سطع)

Derivation info

This verb is uncertain in origin and it's rarer nowadays anyway. For some speakers, it conjugates as a past-tense a verb in third-person conjugations, but as a past-tense ᴉ verb in other persons. (More specifically, this has to do with the form of the suffix used for conjugation: the third-person past conjugations use either a vowel-initial suffix or no suffix at all, which conditions the pronunciation سَطَعـ (“saṭaʕ-”), while conjugations in other persons use a consonant-initial suffix that conditions the pronunciation سطِعـ (“sṭᴉʕ-”).)

*–a conjugation
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m سطِعت
stᴉʕt 		سطِعنَا
sṭᴉʕna 		سطِعت
stᴉʕt 		سطِعتُوا
sṭᴉʕtu 		سَطَع
saṭaʕ 		سَطعُوا
saṭaʕu, saṭʕu
f سطِعتِي
stᴉʕti 		سَطَعِت
saṭaʕit, saṭʕit

سَطَعَت
saṭaʕat*, saṭʕat*

Nonpast subjunctive m إِسطَع
ʔᴉsṭaʕ 		نِسطَع
nᴉsṭaʕ 		تِسطَع
tᴉsṭaʕ 		تِسطَعُوا
tᴉsṭaʕu 		يِسطَع
yᴉsṭaʕ 		يِسطَعُوا
yᴉsṭaʕu
f تِسطَعِي
tᴉsṭaʕi 		تِسطَع
tᴉsṭaʕ
Nonpast indicative m بِسطَع
bᴉsṭaʕ 		منِسطَع
mnᴉsṭaʕ 		بتِسطَع
btᴉsṭaʕ 		بتِسطَعُوا
btᴉsṭaʕu 		بيِسطَع
byᴉsṭaʕ 		بيِسطَعُوا
byᴉsṭaʕu
f بتِسطَعِي
btᴉsṭaʕi 		بتِسطَع
btᴉsṭaʕ
Nonpast imperative m — — اسطَاع
sṭāʕ

اسطَعـ
sṭaʕ-

اسطَعُوا
sṭaʕu 		— —
f اسطَعِي
sṭaʕi
* (regional, rarer)
كَان (kān, “to be”)[edit]

(Section anchor: كان)

Derivation info

This verb is a fairly straightforward reflex of Arabic كَانَ (kāna). For some speakers, the final n assimilates into the t-initial suffixes used by some past-tense conjugations.

Hollow n-assimilated conjugation (middle radical w)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m كِتّ
kitt 		كِنَّا
kinna 		كِتّ
kitt 		كِتُّوا
kittu 		كَان
kān 		كَانُوا
kānu
f كِتِّي
kitti 		كَانِت
kānit

كَانَت
kānat*

Nonpast subjunctive m كُون
kūn 		نكُون
nkūn 		تكُون
tkūn 		تكُون
tkūn 		يكُون
ykūn 		يكُونوا
ykūlu
f تكُوني
tkūli 		تكُون
tkūn
Nonpast indicative m بكُون
bkūn 		مِنكُون
minkūn 		بِتكُون
bitkūn 		بِتكُونوا
bitkūlu 		بِكُون
bikūn 		بِكُونوا
bitkūlu
f بِتكُوني
bitkūni 		بِتكُون
bitkūn
Nonpast imperative m — — كُون
kūn, kin-† 		كُونوا
kūnu 		— —
f كُوني
kūni
* (regional, rarer)
† (except with object suffixes)
عَطَى (ʕaṭa, “to give”)[edit]

(Section anchor: عطى)

Derivation info

This verb descends from Arabic أَعْطَى (ʔaʕṭā, “to give”). For some speakers, its glottal-stop-initial conjugations (that is, the imperatives and the first-person subjunctive) conjugate with initial عَطـ (ʕaṭ-) rather than the expected إعطـ (ʔᴉʕṭ-).

a–ı final-weak conjugation (final radical y)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m عَطَيت
ʕaṭyt, ʕṭyt 		عَطَينَا
ʕaṭyna, ʕṭyna 		عَطَيت
ʕaṭyt, ʕṭyt 		عَطَيتُوا
ʕaṭytu, ʕṭytu 		عَطَى
ʕaṭa 		عَطُوا
ʕaṭu
f عَطَيتِي
ʕaṭyti, ʕṭyti 		عَطِت
ʕaṭit

عَطَت
ʕaṭat*

Nonpast subjunctive m عَطِي
ʕaṭi 		نِعطِي
nᴉʕṭi, naʕṭi 		تِعْطِي
tᴉʕṭi, taʕṭi 		تِعْطُوا
tᴉʕṭu, taʕṭu 		يِعطِي
yᴉʕṭi, yaʕṭi 		يِعْطُوا
yᴉʕṭu, yaʕṭu
f تِعطِي
tᴉʕṭi, taʕṭi
Nonpast indicative m بِعطِي
bᴉʕṭi, baʕṭi 		منِعطِي
mnᴉʕṭi, mnaʕṭi 		بتِعطِي
btᴉʕṭi, btaʕṭi 		بتِعْطُوا
btᴉʕṭu, btaʕṭu 		بيِعطِي
byᴉʕṭi, byaʕṭi 		بيِعْطُوا
byᴉʕṭu, byaʕṭu
f بتِعطِي
btᴉʕṭi, btaʕṭi
Nonpast imperative m — — عطِي
ʕaṭi, ʕaṭī-, ʕṭī- 		عطُوا
ʕaṭu, ʕaṭū-, ʕṭū- 		— —
f
* (regional, rarer)

Form II[edit]

There are no hollow verbs in this form. A weak medial radical is simply treated as a regular consonant. Similarly, biliteral Form II verbs are indistinct from triliteral verbs, as the two duplicate radicals are treated separately.

Sound conjugation (no weak radicals)[edit]
Derivation info
  • Nonpast: يفَعِّل (yfaʕʕil)
  • Passive:
    • تفَعَّل (tfaʕʕal)
  • Active participle:
    • مفَعِّل (mfaʕʕil)
  • Passive participle:
    • مفَعِّل (mfaʕʕal)
  • Verbal noun:
    • تِفعِيل (tifʕīl)

(Section anchor: CaCCaC)

Sound conjugation (no weak radicals)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m فعَّلت
faʕʕalt 		فعَّلنَا
faʕʕalna 		فَعَّلت
faʕʕalt 		فعَّلتُوا
faʕʕaltu 		فَعَّلْ
faʕʕal 		فَعَّلُوا
faʕʕalu
f فعَّلتِي
faʕʕalti 		فَعَّلِت
faʕʕalit

فعَّلَت
faʕʕalat*

Nonpast subjunctive m فَعِّل
faʕʕil 		نفَعِّل
nfaʕʕil 		تفَعِّل
tfaʕʕil 		تفَعّلُوا
tfaʕʕlu 		يفَعِّل
yfaʕʕil 		يفَعّلُوا
yfaʕʕlu
f تفَعّلِي
tfaʕʕli 		تفَعِّل
tfaʕʕʕil
Nonpast indicative m بفَعِّل
bfaʕʕil 		مِنفَعِّل
minfaʕʕil 		بِتفَعِّل
bitfaʕʕil 		بِتفَعّلُوا
bitfaʕʕlu 		بِفَعِّل
bifaʕʕil 		بِفَعّلُوا
bifaʕʕlu
f بِتفَعّلِي
bitfaʕʕli 		بِتفَعِّل
bitfaʕʕʕil
Nonpast imperative m — — فَعِّل
faʕʕil 		فَعّلُوا
faʕʕlu 		— —
f فَعّلِي
faʕʕli
* (regional, rarer)
Final-weak conjugation (final radical ꝡ)[edit]
Derivation info
  • Nonpast: يفَعِّي (yfaʕʕi)
  • Passive:
    • تفَعَّى (tfaʕʕa)
  • Active participle:
    • مفَعِّي (mfaʕʕi)
  • Passive participle:
    • مفَعَّى (mfaʕʕa)
  • Verbal noun:
    • تِفعِية (tifʕiyc)
    • تِفعَاية (tifʕāyc)

(Section anchor: CaCCa)

Final-weak conjugation (final radical ꝡ)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m فعَّيت
faʕʕyt 		فعَّينَا
faʕʕyna 		فَعَّيت
faʕʕyt 		فعَّيتُوا
faʕʕytu 		فَعَّى
faʕʕa 		فَعُّوا
faʕʕu
f فعَّيتِي
faʕʕyti 		فَعِّت
faʕʕit

فعَّت
faʕʕat*

Nonpast subjunctive m فَعِّي
faʕʕi 		نفَعِّي
nfaʕʕi 		تفَعِّي
tfaʕʕi 		تفَعُّوا
tfaʕʕu 		يفَعِّل
yfaʕʕi 		يفَعُّوا
yfaʕʕu
f تفَعِّي
tfaʕʕi 		تفَعِّي
tfaʕʕʕi
Nonpast indicative m بفَعِّي
bfaʕʕi 		مِنفَعِّي
minfaʕʕi 		بِتفَعِّي
bitfaʕʕi 		بِتفَعُّوا
bitfaʕʕu 		بِفَعِّي
bifaʕʕi 		بِفَعُّوا
bifaʕʕu
f بِتفَعِّي
bitfaʕʕi 		بِتفَعِّي
bitfaʕʕʕi
Nonpast imperative m — — فَعِّي
faʕʕi 		فَعُّوا
faʕʕu 		— —
f فَعِّي
faʕʕi
* (regional, rarer)

Form III[edit]

The same provisions regarding hollow and biliteral verbs apply here as for Form II.

Sound conjugation (no weak radicals)[edit]
Derivation info
  • Nonpast: يفَاعِل (yfāʕil)
  • Passive:
    • تفَاعَل (tfāʕal)
  • Active participle:
    • مفَاعِل (mfāʕil)
  • Passive participle:
    • مفَاعِل (mfāʕal)
  • Verbal noun:
    • مفَاعَلة (mfāʕalc)

(Section anchor: CaCCaC)

Sound conjugation (no weak radicals)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m فَاعَلت
fāʕalt 		فَاعَلنَا
fāʕalna 		فَعَّلت
fāʕalt 		فَاعَلتُوا
fāʕaltu 		فَعَّلْ
fāʕal 		فاعَلُوا
fāʕalu
f فَاعَلتِي
fāʕalti 		فَاعَلِت
fāʕalit

فعَّلَت
fāʕalat*

Nonpast subjunctive m فَاعِل
fāʕil 		نفَاعِل
nfāʕil 		تفَاعَل
tfāʕil 		تفَاعلُوا
tfāʕlu 		يفَاعِل
yfāʕil 		يفَاعلُوا
yfāʕlu
f تفَاعلِي
tfāʕli 		تفَاعل
tfāʕʕil
Nonpast indicative m بفَاعِل
bfāʕil 		مِنفَاعِل
minfāʕil 		بِتفَاعِل
bitfāʕil 		بِتفَاعلُوا
bitfāʕlu 		بِفَاعِل
bifāʕil 		بِفَاعلُوا
bifāʕlu
f بِتفَاعلِي
bitfāʕli 		بِتفَاعِل
bitfāʕʕil
Nonpast imperative m — — فَاعِل
fāʕil 		فَاعلُوا
fāʕlu 		— —
f فَاعلِي
fāʕli
* (regional, rarer)
Final-weak conjugation (final radical ꝡ)[edit]
Derivation info
  • Nonpast: يفَاعي (yfāʕi)
  • Passive:
    • تفَاعى (tfāʕa)
  • Active participle:
    • مفَاعي (mfāʕi)
  • Passive participle:
    • مفَاعى (mfāʕa)
  • Verbal noun:
    • ?

(Section anchor: CaaCa)

Final-weak conjugation (final radical ꝡ)
First-person Second-person Third-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Past m فاعيت
fāʕyt 		فاعينَا
fāʕyna 		فَاعيت
fāʕyt 		فاعيتُوا
fāʕytu 		فَاعى
fāʕa 		فَعُّوا
fāʕu
f فاعيتِي
fāʕyti 		فَاعت
fāʕit

فاعت
fāʕat*

Nonpast subjunctive m فَاعي
fāʕi 		نفَاعي
nfāʕi 		تفَاعي
tfāʕi 		تفَعُّوا
tfāʕu 		يفَاعل
yfāʕi 		يفَعُّوا
yfāʕu
f تفَاعي
tfāʕi 		تفَاعي
tfāʕʕi
Nonpast indicative m بفَاعي
bfāʕi 		مِنفَاعي
minfāʕi 		بِتفَاعي
bitfāʕi 		بِتفَعُّوا
bitfāʕu 		بِفَاعي
bifāʕi 		بِفَعُّوا
bifāʕu
f بِتفَاعي
bitfāʕi 		بِتفَاعي
bitfāʕʕi
Nonpast imperative m — — فَاعي
fāʕi 		فَعُّوا
fāʕu 		— —
f فَاعي
fāʕi
* (regional, rarer)

Form V[edit]

Form VI[edit]

Form VII[edit]

Form IV[edit]

Form X: اِسْتَفْعَل (stafʕal)[edit]

While many stafʕal verbs are in common Lebanese use, the form's once-productive meanings ("to seek X" and "to consider X") are fossilized, and new coinages are unlikely to be understood or accepted unless they're borrowed from MSA. (However, the "to consider" meaning would be slightly more familiar to speakers on this front.) The additional productive meaning that stafʕal has gained or retained in some other dialects ("to act like X") does not seem to exist in Lebanese: consider اسْتَهْبَل (“to act stupid”), which maps to Lebanese تهَبْلَن (thablan), or other examples like استَعْرَب (“to act Arab”) which have no snappy Lebanese equivalent.

Quadriliteral[edit]

Active[edit]

Reflexive[edit]

Obsolete or exceedingly rare[edit]

These forms were once commonplace and productive, but they've been left behind in Lebanese Arabic today.

[TODO: add stfa33al, stfaa3al]

Form IV: أَفْعَل (ʔafʕal)[edit]

The initial hamza, like most initial hamzas, was deleted in a lot of varieties, rendering this form vestigial and otherwise obsolete. Its meaning was generally a causative of the corresponding faʕal verb. There are five possible outcomes in for it in Lebanese Arabic, listed in descending order of conservativeness:

  1. Preserved outright.
    • أَحْيا يِحْيِي (ʔaḥya-yiḥyi, “to give life to”): rare, marked (religion)
    • أَعْلَن يِعْلِن (ʔaʕlan-yiʕlin, “to broadcast”): more common and not particularly marked (but still an MSA reloan, not native vocabulary)
  2. Regularized as being of different verb form.
    • آمَن يآمِن (ʔāman-yʔāmin, “to have faith, to believe”), reanalyzed as being of form fāʕal.
    • Most other examples, like أسْلَمْ يأسْلِم (ʔaslam-yʔaslim), are reanalyzed as being quadriliteral verbs: the original root gets an additional initial hamza ء (ʔ-) to make four consonants.
  3. Merged into or made to subsume the corresponding faʕal verb.
    • Certain historic pairs of أفْعَل/فَعَل (faʕal) have reflexes فَعَل (faʕal)/فَعَل (ftaʕal). These aren't universal, however, and some speakers use the فَعَل (faʕal) form with both meanings.
    • حَسّ يحِسّ (بـ) (ḥass-yḥiss (b-), “to feel, to sense”), presumably from a merger of حَسَّ (ḥassa) and أَحَسَّ بـ (ʔaḥassa b-)
    • طَلّ يطِلّ (ṭall-yṭᴉll, “to check”) from أَطَلَّ (ʔaṭalla), and similar examples of subsuming
    • The vowel of a hollow verb is a very easy tell for this process, because it causes verbs whose hollow consonant is w to ostensibly diverge from their root. Beyond examples like صَاب يصِيب (ṣāb-yṣīb, “to strike, to hit”) (historic root ṣ-w-b, compare صَوْب (ṣwb, “towards”)) and شَال يشِيل (šāl-yšīl, “to remove”) (historic root š-w-l), the following pairs exist where the latter is historically of Form IV:
      • عَاد يعُود (ʕād-yʕūd, “to return”) and عَاد يعِيد (ʕād-yʕīd, “to repeat”)
      • هَان يهُون (hān-yhūn, “to be easy”) and هَان يهِين (hān-yhīn, “to insult”)
      • دَار يدُور (dār-ydūr, “to turn on, to rotate”) and دَار يدِير (dār-ydīr, “to take care of”)
      • دَام يدُوم (dām-ydūm, “to last perpetually”) and (rarer, marked) دَام يدِيم (dām-ydīm, “[of God] to immortalize”)
  4. Replaced by the corresponding فَعَّل (faʕʕal) causative, causing it to lose any conflicting original meaning.
  5. Or gone altogether, replaced by an unrelated synonym.

This form also survives in active participles and verbal nouns, even if the corresponding verbs are either no longer extant or no longer identifiably Form IV.

Participles[edit]

Active[edit]

Passive[edit]

Mood[edit]

Pseudoverbs[edit]

[TODO: badd/bidd, fi; 3ind, ma3, 2il-; 7all-, Sarr-/Sall-}

Syntax[edit]

Serial verb construction[edit]

Verbs can be stacked together in a serial verb construction, with each serialized verb indicating a purpose or consequence of the first. When an ostensible SVC has an idiomatic meaning not immediately parseable as this kind of “indicating a purpose or consequence” relationship, it becomes fair game to call the first verb in the sequence an auxiliary verb. See #Auxiliaries.

The typical SVC consists of an initial fully-conjugated verb followed by any number of verbs in the subjunctive mood, all of the latter of which share the same subject. It’s in fact directly equivalent to archaic English that, and therefore ultimately analogous to an English to (“in order to”)-infinitive construction. However, unlike with the English analogues, stacking does not imply recursion:

قُلنَا منِشترِي هَالبَيت نأَجّرُو
ʾılna mništri hal-bayt nʔajjro
We figured we’d buy this house to rent it out.
(literally, “We said [to ourselves] we'll buy this house that we rent it out.”)
بَدّهُن يِضهَرُوا يشُوفُوا هَالبَيت يِمكِن يِشترُوه يأَجّرُوه يِقبَضُوا مَصَارِي مِنُّو
baddhın yᴉḍharu yšūfu hal-bayt yimkin yištrū yʔajjrū yᴉʔbaḍu maṣāri minno
They want to go out, see the house, maybe buy it, rent it out, make money off it
OR
They want to go out, see the house; they might buy it, rent it out, make money off it

Note that later terms in the SVC can only occur if the preceding verb has been given all its arguments. If a verb anywhere in the sequence (including the initial term) takes a subjunctive verb for an argument, then this will override the SVC syntax.


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