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Hamza

Cluster
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Intro
to Arabic Morphology

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Paradigms

Hamza
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Assimilated
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Assimilated Verbs

What is this Tutorial About?

This tutorial deals with verbs (as well as gerunds and
derived nouns) whose first base letter is a واو or a
ياء. Such a
verb is termed فعل المثال
and there are some morphophonemic rules that need to be considered when
conjugating it.

For a more detailed picture of where this tutorial fits into
Arabic morphology, consult the introduction to this section entitled Introduction
to Arabic Morphology, and specifically the section on morphophonemic rules
and weak verbs.

Assimilated Verbs

There are a number of roots in the language that have واو as the
first base letter. There are only a few, however, that have ياء as the
first root letter – approximately half a dozen. Both of these types of verbs
follow the same rules for conjugation.

There will be no change in the past tense tables for basic
3-lettered verb paradigms.

Past
Active

Past
Passive

وَعَدَ

وُعِدَ

In the imperfect active tense, the واو or ياء will
drop if the verb is from one of the following paradigms.

·
فعَل - يفعَل

·
فعَل - يفعِل

·
فعِل - يفعِل

Imperfect
Active

Imperfect
Passive

يَقَع

يُوْقَع

يَعِد

يُوْعَد

يَثِق

يُوْثَق

There is only one exception to this rule: The verb وَنَّ – يَوِنّ does not lose
its واو despite
being from one of the three mentioned paradigms. This is to avoid unnecessary
complications in the verb due to it having a double نون.

Now because the imperative verb is formed using the
imperfect, the changes in the imperfect verb will carry over.

Imperative
Active

قَعْ

عِدْ

ثِقْ

Up to this point, we have only discussed a single rule and it
has only applied to 3-lettered verbs with no extra letters. That is because most
advanced verb paradigms do not experience many changes by virtue of the first
root letter being weak. The following chart lists some examples. Notice that the
conjugations are quite regular and well behaved.

Perfect

Imperfect

أَوْجَدَ

يُوْجِد

وَكَّدَ

يُوَكِّد

يَاوَمَ

يُيَاوِم

تَوَجَّهَ

يَتَوَجَّه

تَوَاتَرَ

يَتَوَاتَر

اسْتَوْهَبَ

يَسْتَوْهِب

وَلْوَلَ

يُوَلْوِل

There are only two rules to remember with regards to advanced
verbs. The first is that when a ياء ساكنة is
preceded by a letter with a ضمة, the
ياء will
change to a واو. This
regulation is realized in paradigm إفعال for
the imperfect tense as well as the active and passive participles.. The chart
below gives some examples.

Original
Form

Changes
To

يُيْقِن

يُوْقِن

مُيْقِن

مُوْقِن

Also, if a واو or ياء is in
the first root position of a verb in paradigm افتعال, the
واو or ياء will be
changed to a تاء. Based
on other rules, this new تاء will
geminate with the تاء from the
paradigm. Some examples follow.

Perfect

Imperfect

Gerund

Active
Part.

اتَّحَدَ

يَتَّحِد

اتِّحَاد

مُتَّحِد

اتَّسَعَ

يَتَّسِع

اتِّسَاع

مُتَّسِع

One should be careful not to always associate this doubled
تاء with
assimilated verbs. In the examples below, there is a doubling of تاء in this
paradigm much like the doubling in the above examples. In these instances,
however, the causes are different.

Non-Assimilated
Verbs

اتَّبَعَ

اتَّخَذَ

Assimilated Nouns

The active, passive, and resembling participles, as well as
the comparative/superlative noun do not experience any changes by virtue of the
first root letter being weak. The only fact to note is that the active and
passive participles for the إفعال and
افتعال
paradigms will have some change, as already noted.

In the hyperbolic participle, the noun of usage, and certain
gerunds, however, there are instances when a واو ساكنة can be preceded by a letter with a كسرة. In
such a situation, the واو will
change to ياء. Some
examples follow.

Original
Form

Changes
To

مِوْزَان

مِيْزَان

إِوْصَال

إِيْصَال

Moreover, when a gerund is formed from an assimilated verb,
the initial واو or ياء is
sometimes dropped. The drop is then compensated with the تاء of
femininity at the end of the word.

Original
Form

Changes
To

وَعْد

عِدة

وَحْد

حِدة

Summary of Regulations for Assimilated Words

Below is a list of the rules mentioned through the course of
this tutorial. Along with each rule are the most common situations under which
it will be applied. In order to practice and apply these rules, one is
encouraged to recite conjugation tables aloud. Several ideal verbs for practice
can be found from the Practice Verbs
page.

#

Rule

Applications

1

If an
imperfect active is from one of the following
paradigms

·
ضرَب - يضرِب

·
فتَح - يفتَح

·
حسِب - يحسِب

then the weak
base letter at the front of the verb will drop

·
verbs from one of the three mentioned
paradigms in the imperfect active tense

·
or the 2nd-person active
imperative tense

2

A ياء ساكنة preceded by a
letter with a ضمة will change to
واو

·
verbs from the إفعال paradigm in the
active imperfect tense

·
or the active and passive participles
derived from such verbs

3

A واو ساكنة preceded by a
letter with a كسرة will change to
ياء

·
the hyperbolic participle, specifically
the pattern مِفْعال

·
the noun of usage

·
the gerund for the إفعال
paradigm

4

Certain
gerunds for basic 3-lettered verb paradigms may optionally drop the weak
letter from the front of the verb. The drop must then be compensated by a
تاء of
femininity

·
certain gerunds for basic 3-lettered
verb paradigms

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All tutorials on this website are authored by Shariah Program
graduate Mohtanick Jamil
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