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Hamza

Cluster
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Hollow Verbs

What is this Tutorial About?

This tutorial deals with irregular verbs (as well as gerunds
and derived nouns) whose second radical is a واو or a
ياء. Such
verbs are termed الأفعال الجوفاء (sing. الفعل الأجوف) and there are some morphophonemic rules that need to be
considered when conjugating them. These rules are termed تعليل or إعلال and the rest of this tutorial is dedicated to their
analysis.

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.

Introduction

Since the categorization of verbs based on their level of
weakness is parallel to their categorization based on verbal paradigms,
hollow verbs can naturally be witnessed to occur in basically all major
paradigms. However, in this tutorial we will focus on only the basic ones, using
the examples given below. Analyzing the conjugation of these specific verbs will
sieve out all major regulations associated to hollow verbs, and these canonical
examples will be a sufficient analysis.

Specific Base
Letters

Used as an
Example

Paradigm

ق، و، ل

فعَل / يفعُل

ب، ي، ع

فعَل / يفعِل

خ، و، ف

فعِل / يفعَل

Hollow verbs can only occur in these three paradigms of the
six basic paradigms. Their occurrence in any of the other three is possible but
quite rare. Hollow verbs can occur in all of the advanced paradigms, but not all
of those paradigms require morphophonemic changes. At the end of this tutorial,
we will briefly discuss hollow verbs in paradigms other than the three mentioned
above.

The Perfect Tense

Active

Rule
1

if a vowelled
واو or ياء is preceded by a
فتحة in the same
lexical word, it will change to an الف

Memory
Aid

vowelled
واو or ياء preceded by
فتحة becomes
الف

If we attempt to use the examples given above and place them
on their respective templates in order to form past tense verbs, the following
will result.

خَوِفَ

بَيَعَ

قَوَلَ

Notice that in each of the three cases there is a weak letter
(واو or ياء) which
is vowelled and that before it is a فتحة. Based
on Rule 1, the weak letter must become an الف, and the
following conjugations result.

خافَ

باعَ

قالَ

The conjugations yielded by Rule 1 look exactly the same
irrespective of their paradigm. That is until we reach conjugation 6 onwards of
the past tense table. In these 9 conjugations, the third radical of the verb
loses its vowel, resulting in a vowel-consonant cluster.

خافْنَ

باعْنَ

قالْنَ

Applying the rules of cluster
reduction, we get the following.

خَفْنَ

بَعْنَ

قَلْنَ

This, however, is not how it’s done. The long vowel, الف, is
dropped based on the rules of cluster reduction, but the فتحة on the
letter before the الف is not necessarily maintained. In the case of قال (verbs
from the فعَل / يفعُل
paradigm), the فتحة is
changed to a ضمة in order
to indicate that the long vowel that dropped was a واو.
Similarly, the فتحة in the
case of باع (verbs
from the فعَل / يفعِل
paradigm) is changed to a كسرة to show
that the letter that dropped was a ياء.

Now, using a ضمة to
indicate that a واو has
dropped in paradigm فعَل / يفعُل
is fine because only those hollow verbs whose middle radical is a واو may be
realized in this paradigm. Similarly, using a كسرة to
indicate that a ياء has
dropped in paradigm فعَل / يفعِل
is fine because only those hollow verbs whose middle radical is a ياء may be
realized in this paradigm. But as for paradigm فعِل / يفعَل, it sees both types of hollow verbs – those with واو as well
as those with ياء. The
logical thing to do in this case would be to leave the فتحة in
these 9 conjugations as is in order to differentiate it from the other two
paradigms. However, what is actually done is that the فتحة is
changed to a كسرة, and
the following conjugations result.

خِفْنَ

بِعْنَ

قُلْنَ

Exercise: Conjugate these three verbs in the past
tense.

Passive

Rule
2

in the passive
prefect conjugations, the كسرة from the middle
radical will transfer to the first
radical

If we attempt to construct the past passive verbs using our
examples, the following conjugations will result.

خُوِفَ

بُيِعَ

قُوِلَ

Rule 2 sees that these are passive perfect conjugations and
it therefore dictates that the كسرة from
the middle letters should be transferred to the right. Hence the conjugations
end up as follows.

خِوْفَ

بِيْعَ

قِوْلَ

However, there is another very important and very widely
applicable rule that comes into play at this point and further changes the above
conjugations.

Rule
3

a)

if a
non-vowelled ياء is preceded by a
ضمة, the ضمة will become a
كسرة

(occasionally,
however, the ياء will become a
واو
instead)

(the
ميزان
rule) b)

if a
non-vowelled واو is preceded by a
كسرة, the واو will become a
ياء

This rule is designed to take the two diphthongs that are not
allowed in the phonology of the Arabic language – namely ـِوْ and
ـُيْ – and
transform them into one of the two that are allowed – namely ـَوْ and
ـَيْ.

Notice that Rule 3b applies to the case of قال and
خاف, and not
the case of باع.
Applying the rule yields the following conjugations.

خِيْفَ

بِيْعَ

قِيْلَ

Notice again that all three paradigms look the same, just as
they do with regular verbs.
That is until we reach conjugation 6 and onwards. These 9 conjugations again
experience the same changes that were applied to them in the active tables.
Recall what occurred in the active tables; the following conjugations will
result.

خِفْنَ

بِعْنَ

قُلْنَ

This is interesting because both the active and passive
tables now look exactly the same from conjugation 6 onwards.

Exercise: Conjugate the three examples in the perfect
passive. Juxtapose the active and passive tables to compare where conjugations
are similar and where they are not.

The Imperfect Tense

Rule
4

If a vowelled
واو or ياء is preceded by a
non-vowelled letter in the same lexical word, its vowel will transfer to
that preceding letter. In the case where the transferred vowel is a
فتحة, the واو or ياء will become an
الف in
addition.

Conjugating the three examples in the imperfect tense, we
would expect the verbs to look as follows based on regular verb
conjugation.

يَخْوَفُ

يَبْيِعُ

يَفْوُلُ

But in each of the three above cases, a vowelled weak letter
is preceded by a non-vowelled letter. Rule 4 then comes into play and dictates
that the vowel from the weak letter should shift right. We then see the
following results.

يَخَوْفُ

يَبِيْعُ

يَفُوْلُ

But Rule 4 also dictates that, in the case where the
transferred vowel is a فتحة, the
weak letter should become an الف. This is
the case with يخوف, ergo
the final results below.

يَخافُ

يَبِيْعُ

يَفُوْلُ

This also occurs in the passive forms of each of these verbs.
The expected passive forms are as follows.

يُخْوَفُ

يُبْيَعُ

يُقْوَلُ

Again we can plainly see that a vowelled weak letter is
preceded by a non-vowelled letter in each of the three cases. Moreover, the weak
letter is vowelled with a فتحة. Hence
the passive conjugations are as follows.

يُخافُ

يُباعُ

يُقالُ

Exercise:

1.
Conjugate the three examples
in both the active and passive voice. In how many of the conjugations do the rules of cluster
reduction apply?

2.
Repeat (1) with the
imperfect verb in the subjunctive case. Are there any major differences between
the subjunctive and the indicative?

3.
Repeat (1) with the
imperfect verb in the jussive case. In how many conjugations do the rules of
cluster reduction apply now?

4.
Form the imperatives of the
three examples. Where does cluster reduction apply?

Derived Nouns

Rule
5

in the active
participle of basic paradigms, if the middle radical is a واو or ياء, it will become a
Hamza

Forming the active participles is quite simple; the following
nouns are what we
would expect.

خاوِف

بايِع

قاوِل

And Rule 5 dictates simply that the weak letter in these
three nouns be changed to a Hamza, giving the following.

خائِف

بائِع

قائِل

What is more interesting, however, is the passive participle.
Take close note of the examples below which are what we would expect the
conjugations to be.

مَخْوُوْف

مَبْيُوْع

مَقْوُوْل

Notice, however, that in each of these cases is a vowelled
weak letter  preceded by a
non-vowelled letter. Therefore, the following changes take place (exercise:
which rule dictates these changes?)

مَخُوْوْف

مَبُيْوْع

مَقُوْوْل

One would expect the rules of cluster reduction to take
effect now. However, notice that the clusters in each of the three above cases
are vowel-vowel clusters; the phonology of the language is not equipped to
handle these types of situations. Instead, we rely on the morphology for these
types of clusters. And the morphology tells us that, in this case, the (second)
واو will
drop, This is because it is a part of the template, and letters that are part of
a template have lower priority than base letters and are consequently more
susceptible to being dropped.

مَخُوْف

مَبُيْع

مَقُوْل

Finally, Rule 3a takes effect in the case of مبيع and it
becomes what is below.

مَخُوْف

مَبِيْع

مَقُوْل

Exercise: There are five other derived nouns; find
examples to determine whether they experience change or not.

Advanced Paradigms

Of all the advanced
paradigms in existence, only the following few experience تعليل.

1.
إفعال

2.
افتعال

3.
استفعال

4.
انفعال

Exercise:

1.
Conjugate the verb خ، و، ف in
paradigms تفعيل and
مفاعلة.

2.
Conjugate some hollow practice verbs in
the paradigms mentioned above. All the rules learnt so far are sufficient for
this task.

3.
Form the active and passive
participles for the verb خ، ي، ر in
paradigm افتعال. What
do you notice? In which other paradigms does this occur (if any)?

More Complicated Rules for Enquiring Minds

#

Rule

Example

6

تعليل will not apply
under the following cases:

1.
the vowel on the weak letter is not
original

2.
the weak letter is followed by a
مدة زائدة

3.
the weak letter is the middle radical
of a لفيف

4.
the meaning of the word is that of
colour or defect

5.
the weak letter is followed by the
الف of
dual

6.
the weak letter is the middle radical
of a word in paradigm افتعال , but the
connotation is that of تفعل or تفاعل

7.
certain other restrictions
...

رَوَى

عَوِرَ

اعْتَوَرَ

7

if an
الف is preceded by a
ضمة or كسرة, it will change
to واو or ياء,
respectively

فُاعِلَ becomes فُوْعِلَ

8

In the gerunds
of paradigms إفعال and استفعال, certain rules
will cause a letter to drop. That drop is then mitigated by adding a
تاء مربوطة to the word.
Sometimes this تاء is
omitted.

إِهْوَان becomes إِهَان which becomes إِهَانَة

...

other rules
not worthy of mention

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All tutorials on this website are authored by Shariah Program
graduate Mohtanick Jamil
© 2003-2017 Shariah Program All Rights
Reserved.

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