Get Started

Join Our
Online Arabic Classes

How
to Learn Arabic

A
Bit of History

Reading & Writing

Alphabet for
Beginners

Arabic
Alphabet

Writing
Hamza

Cluster
Reduction

Verbs

Intro
to Arabic Morphology

Verb
Conjugation

Derived
Nouns

Verb
Paradigms

Hamza
Verbs

Assimilated
Verbs

Hollow
Verbs

Deficient
Verbs

Duplicated
Verbs

Highly
Deficient Verbs

Paradigm
Meanings

Summary

Greater
Etymology

Grammar

Intro
to Arabic Grammar

Arabic
Words

Arabic
Phrases

Arabic
Sentences

The Heart
of Arabic Grammar

Arabic
Inflection

Arabic
Reflection

Diptotes

Nominal
Sentences

Verbal
Sentences

Arabic
Adverbs

Circumstantial
Adverb

Exclusion

Disambiguation

Genitival
States

Summary

Sentence
Parsing

Grammar Subtopics

Definiteness

Gender

Plurality

Broken
Plurals

Arabic
Numbers

Patterns
Reference

Types of
Maa

Vocabulary

Translator

Numbers

Time

Directions

Fruits

Body
Parts

Structures

Travel
Vocabulary

Common
Verbs

Practice
Verbs

Classical Logic

Introduction
to Classical Logic

Indication

Simple
Indication

Indicated
Concept

Definitions

Compound
Indication

Modern
Logic

Indicated
Assent

Proofs

Logic
Reference

Proof
by Contradiction

Mathematical
Induction

Rhetoric

Inspiring
Videos

Eloquence

Predication

Classical
Poetry

Highly Deficient Verbs

What is this Tutorial About?

Verbs in the Arabic language are considered irregular when
one of five things happens. Either they are Hamzated, they are
assimilated,
they are hollow, they are
deficient,
or they are duplicated.
Studying each of these types of irregularities is crucial in being able to
conjugate verbs correctly. And being able to recognize which of the mentioned
irregularities applies to a particular verb is a crucial component in reading
comprehension.

This is an advanced tutorial that deals with verbs in which
two or more of the above mentioned irregularities are found simultaneously. Such
verbs are termed Highly Deficient.

Introduction

Up to three of the five mentioned irregularities may be seen
in a single verb. This, however, is typically not a problem because the rules
that govern irregular conjugation are mutually exclusive. This means that if a
verb has multiple irregularities, the rules of each will be applied to the verb
and they will not conflict.

There are two cases, though, that are worthy of separate
mention and that have a few caveats. These irregularities are known as لفيف
(Aggregated) and they are as follows.

Definitions

لفيف مفروق

Dispersed
Aggregation – when a verb is both مثال
and ناقص

لفيف مفرون

Contiguous
Aggregation – when a verb is both أجوف
and ناقص, and perhaps
مهموز

Exercise:

1.
Identify the irregularities
in each of the following verbs, then conjugate them in the perfect and imperfect
tense.

a.
ياوم

b.
أتى

c.
[ء ي ن] آن

d.
أد
/ يؤد

e.
ود
/ يوَد

f.
حي
/ يحيى

2.
Fact 1: Theoretically
speaking, a verb may fall into four of the five categories of
irregularities
Fact 2: In practice, the only verbs in which two
base-letter همزة, two
base-letter واو, or two
base-letter ياء occur
side-by-side are ح، ي، ي and
ع، ي، ي
Task: Using facts (1) and (2),
construct a syllogistic argument to show that Fact 1 can never be true in
practice

Aggregated Irregularities

Rule
1

if a verb is
reduced to a single letter, the هاء السكت will be appended
to it

Conjugate the verb وقى / يقي in
the perfect, imperfect, and imperative tense. In doing this exercise, one will
notice that the imperative conjugations start off with the verb قِ – that is
the entire verb, reduced to a single letter after having undergone the changes
of both assimilated verbs as well as the changes of deficient verbs. This is the
case for the second-person, active, masculine, singular conjugation for all
verbs of the irregularity type لفيف مفروق.

When a verb is reduced to one letter like this, it is awkward
to keep it in isolation. In order to avoid this, it becomes necessary to append
a non-vowelled هاء to the
end of the verb. This هاء is
typically reserved for poetry and is used to complete prosodic metre or maintain
rhythm and rhyme. It is employed in this particular conjugation of these
particularly irregular verbs in order to avoid single-lettered verbs. Hence the
imperative conjugations look as follows.

Second-person
active imperative active conjugations

for verbs with
Dispersed Aggregation

قِهْ

قِيا

قُوْا

قِيْ

قِيا

قِيْنَ

Thankfully, this is the only caveat with respect to the لفيف مفروق
irregularity. In all other conjugation tables, the beginning of the verb will
simply follow the rules of assimilated verbs, while the end will follow the
rules of deficient verbs.

Now conjugate the verb روى / يروي
in the perfect tense as a start. One would expect both the rules of hollow verbs
as well as the rules of deficient verbs to take effect. However, this is not the
case. Recall Rule 6 from Hollow Verbs; the
rule gave several exceptions regarding when تعليل will
not be applied. One of those restrictions expressed that تعليل will
not apply to a glide when that glide is the middle radical of a لفيف verb.
And that is exactly the case with the واو in روى.

We can summarize this in a simple statement: when dealing
with لفيف مقرون
verbs, the Deficient aspect of the verb will be treated but the Hollow aspect
will not. Below are the conjugations for the perfect tense; as an exercise,
continue conjugating the imperfect and imperatives.

Perfect tense
conjugations for verbs

with Contiguous
Aggregation

رَوى

روَيا

رَوَوْا

رَوَتْ

رَوَتا

رَوَيْنَ

...

Exercise: Conjugate the following verbs in the perfect
and imperfect tense.

1.
ولِي / يلي

2.
أوصى

3.
استولى

4.
احتوى

5.
أوى / يأوي

6.
آوى

A Special Verb

Almost all verbs are accounted for now that verbal
irregularities have been thoroughly discussed. But there remains a special verb
which we still do not know how to conjugate quite yet. The verb is رأى, which
can mean “to see” and it can also mean “to have an opinion about something”. It
is a very, very common word used in many verbal paradigms for various
purposes.

The special thing about this verb is that it loses its middle
radical – the همزة – in
the imperfect conjugations. This loss can be attributed to certain morphological
rules and regulations, but, in reality, it is merely a consequence of excessive
usage which required the simplification of the verb. The same goes for both the
perfect and imperfect conjugations in paradigm إفعال.
Partial tables are given below.

Imperfect for
أرى

Perfect for
أرى

Imperfect for
رأى

يُرِيْ

أَرَى

يَرى

يُرِيانِ

أَرَيا

يَرَيانِ

يُرُوْنَ

أَرَوْا

يَرَوْنَ

تُرِيْ

أَرَتْ

تَرى

تُرِيانِ

أَرَتا

تَرَيانِ

يُرِيْنَ

أَرَيْنَ

يَرَيْنَ

...

...

...

Exercise: Construct the active and passive emphatic
tables for رأى and
أرى.

Tweet

All tutorials on this website are authored by Shariah Program
graduate Mohtanick Jamil
© 2003-2011 Shariah Program All Rights
Reserved.

Support | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Service