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Hamza

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Hamza
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Hamza Verbs

What is this Tutorial About?

This tutorial deals with verbs with a Hamza in any of the
three radicals. Such verbs are termed الفعل المهموز (pl. الأفعال المهموزة) and they experience some morphophonemic changes that are
important to know.

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.

Hamza Verbs Made Easy

Let’s consider the three cases where the Hamza is the first
root letter of a verb, the second, and the third. For each of these three cases,
consider an example as indicated below.

مهموز لامي

مهموز عيني

مهموز فائي

قرَأ يقرَأ

سأَل يسأَل

أكَل يأكُل

Perfect & Imperfect Conjugations

With respect to the past tense verb, there will be absolutely
no change in any of the three cases. With respect to the imperfect verb,
however, the following rule will take effect.

Rule
1

if two Hamza
occur side-by-side in the same lexical word and the first has a vowel
while the second does not, the second Hamza must change to the long vowel
appropriate to the short vowel on the
first

The situation described in Rule 1 can be seen when the Hamza
is the first radical and the verb is in conjugation 13 (first person singular).
Consider the original form of the verb below.

أَءْكُل

Here is a case where there are two Hamza side-by-side in the
same lexical word. The first Hamza has a vowel and the second does not. This
situation fits the case described in the rule. The rule says that the second
Hamza must change into a long vowel (either و, ا, or ي). In other
words, application of the rule must yield one of the three following words.

أوكُل، آكُل، إيكُل

Which of the three vowels will be chosen is dependent on the
short vowel on the first Hamza. In this case, the first Hamza has a فتحة, so the
appropriate choice would be to use an الف. This
yields the following.

آكُل

This rule also takes effect in conjugation 13 of the passive
table. The original form of the verb was as follows.

أُءْكَل

Here, too, is a case of two Hamza in the same lexical word,
the first with a vowel and the second without. The rule tells us that the second
Hamza will change to a long vowel appropriate to the ضمة on the
first Hamza. The long vowel appropriate to a ضمة is, of
course, واو. Thus
the final form of the verb is as shown below.

أُوْكَل

Imperfect
Passive

Imperfect
Active

يؤكَل

يأكُل

...

...

أُوْكَل

آكُل

نؤكَل

نأكُل

Exercise:

1.
Where else does this rule
take effect?

a.
give one derived noun

b.
give one advanced verb
paradigm (consider perfect, imperfect, and imperative conjugations)

c.
give one gerund

d.
give one broken plural
pattern

2.
Practice the imperative
conjugations (and variations of them, such as those with لن and لم) using
some of the Hamza verbs provided in the Practice Verbs
vocabulary list.

3.
Provide a real-world example
of a case where two Hamza occur side by side, the first with a vowel and the
second without, but where the two Hamza are not in the same lexical word. What
do you think happens in this situation?

Imperative Conjugations

There are two rules relating to imperative conjugations. The
first is the following.

Rule
2

if in a basic
3-lettered verb the first radical is a Hamza, this Hamza will drop in the
second-person active imperative conjugations

Condition

this will
typically only happen if the eliding Hamza is needed (sometimes it will
happen even if it isn’t)

Given a verb with a Hamza as the first radical, the second
person active imperative conjugations would look as follows.

2nd
Person Imperative Active

اُءْكُلْ

اُءْكُلا

اُءْكُلوا

اُءْكُلي

اُءْكُلا

اُءْكُلْنَ

The six conjugations listed above match perfectly the
situation described in Rule 1. Hence one would expect Rule 1 to take effect; the
Hamza would become a واو. This,
however, is not the case. What is done instead is the base letter Hamza is
dropped based on Rule 2. For example:

اُكُلْ

Once the Hamza is gone, the first letter of the word has a
vowel. Therefore, there is no longer any need for the eliding Hamza at the
beginning and so it too is dropped. Getting rid of the eliding Hamza was in fact
the purpose of this rule. The resulting conjugations look as follows.

2nd
Person Imperative Active

كُلْ

كُلا

كُلوا

كُلي

كُلا

كُلْنَ

If the eliding Hamza is not needed in the first place – when,
for example, the word occurs in the middle of a sentence – this rule does not
take effect. Consider the conjugations above, only this time with a واو
preceding them.

2nd
Person Imperative Active

وَاءْكُلْ

وَاءْكُلا

وَاءْكُلوا

وَاءْكُلي

وَاءْكُلا

وَاءْكُلْنَ

As indicated in the rule, even when such verbs occur in the
middle of a sentence, the Hamza can be dropped. This is done when a particular
word is extremely common. So one may see the following, for example.

وَكُلْ

Exercise:

1.
Practice the imperative
conjugations (the entire table for both active and passive) using the following
verbs. Be cautious with the middle letter vowel when applying Rule 2. In how
many of the 28 conjugations do rules 1 or 2 take effect?

a.
أخَذ يأخُذ

b.
أسِف يأسَف

c.
أبَد يأبِد

2.
Practice the same verbs
again, this time with each conjugation preceded by the conjunction فَـ.

The second rule applying to the imperative conjugations is as
follows.

Rule
3

if a vowelled
Hamza is preceded by a non-vowelled letter in the same lexical word, the
Hamza may optionally transfer its vowel to the preceding letter and then
drop

Condition

for the
2nd-person active imperative conjugations of basic 3-lettered
verbs, this rule is mandatory if the eliding Hamza is needed and
prohibited otherwise

Consider an imperfect verb whose second radical is a Hamza,
as in يسأل. Notice
that the Hamza is vowelled while the سين before
it is not. Hence, according to Rule 3, we may transfer the فتحة from
the Hamza to the سين and then
drop the Hamza. The result is as follows.

يَسَل

This rule is a concession which is almost never used because
the above verb can be confused with a hollow verb under certain circumstances.
Where this rule does take effect is in the imperative conjugations. The original
forms are given below.

2nd
Person Imperative Active

اِسْألْ

اِسْألا

اِسْألوا

اِسْألي

اِسْألا

اِسْألْنَ

Notice that in these six conjugations the Hamza is vowelled
and the letter before it is not. We thus transfer the vowel and drop the Hamza,
yielding the following for example.

اِسَلْ

Since the first
letter is now vowelled, the eliding Hamza is no longer required and so it is
dropped. The resulting table is as follows.

2nd
Person Imperative Active

سَلْ

سَلا

سَلوا

سَلي

سَلا

سَلْنَ

Just as in Rule 2, if the eliding Hamza is not necessary in
the first place, this rule will not take effect and the original conjugations
will be used. Consider the above conjugations, only this time with a واو
conjunction before them.

2nd
Person Imperative Active

وَاسْألْ

وَاسْألا

وَاسْألوا

وَاسْألي

وَاسْألا

وَاسْألْنَ

Exercise:

1.
Practice the imperative
conjugations (the entire table for both active and passive) using the following
verbs. Be cautious with the middle letter vowel when applying Rule 3. In how
many of the 28 conjugations do rules 1, 2, or 3 take effect?

a.
سئِم يسأَم

b.
بؤُس

c.
نأَم ينئِم

2.
Practice the same verbs
again, this time with each conjugation preceded by the conjunction فَـ.

More Complicated Rules for Enquiring Minds

#

Rule

Example

4

if a vowelled
Hamza is preceded by another (non-Hamza) vowelled letter in the same
lexical word, the Hamza may optionally change to the long vowel
appropriate to the vowel on the letter before

سَأَل becomes
سَال

5

same as 4,
except that the Hamza is non-vowelled

بِئْر becomes
بِيْر

6

Rule 1 will
cause a Hamza in the first base letter of a verb in paradigm افتعال to become a
ياء. This
ياء will not change
to a تاء based on the
rules for assimilated verbs. Exceptions include اتخذ

اِءْتَكَلَ becomes
اِيْتَكَلَ which does not
become اِتَّكَلَ

7

if two Hamza
occur together in a word, any one of them being مكسور, the second Hamza
will become a ياء; this is optional
in the word أئمة and when the
first Hamza is علامة المضارع المفتوحة

أَئِنّ becomes
أَيِنّ

8

if two Hamza
occur together in the same lexical word, the first vowelled (even
كسرة) and the second
مضموم, the second
becomes a واو; this is optional
when the first Hamza is علامة المضارع المفتوحة; if the second
Hamza is the last letter of the word, it will become a ياء
instead

أَؤُمّ becomes
أَوُمّ

9

if two Hamza
occur together in the same lexical word, the first being مضموم or مفتوح and the second
being vowelled (not كسرة), the second
becomes a واو

أٌؤَمِّل becomes
أُوَمِّل

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