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6 Completed-action verbs

6.1 Introduction

Verbs are action words. Verbs can be either completed-action verbs where the action of the verb has been completed, e.g., “The boy went.” or incomplete-action verbs where the action of the verb is on-going or not yet completed, e.g., “The boy goes.” In this chapter we will study completed-action verbs.

6.2 Arabic word roots

We take this opportunity to learn about Arabic roots. Native Arabic words, both nouns and verbs, are generally derived from roots. Most roots are comprised of three letters. A smaller number are comprised of four or more letters.

Words are derived from their roots according to patterns. In traditional Arabic grammar studies, the root «فعل» is used as a paradigm for three-letter roots to showcase word and meaning patterns.

So for example, the word بَيْت bayt “a house” is derived from the root «بيت». Using the paradigm root «فعل», we can see that the pattern of the word بَيْت bayt is فَعْل faɛl. The أَمْر ʾamr “a matter” is derived from the root «ءمر». Its pattern is also فَعْل faɛl.

Similarly, the word مَکْتَب maktab “a library” is derived from the root «کتب». And مَلْعَب malɛab “a playground” is derived from the root «لعب». Using the paradigm root «فعل», we can see that the pattern of both these words is مَفْعَل mafɛal. Here, the letter م m is an extraneous letter added to form the words and is not part of their roots.

Not only nouns, but verbs, too, are derived from roots. All verbs are derived from their roots in a fixed set of patterns called forms which are numbered 1 onward. For example, the completed-action form 2 verb pattern is فَعَّلَ faɛɛala and the completed-action form 3 verb pattern is فَاعَلَ fāɛala. There are approximately 9-10 forms that are in common usage. In addition, there are a few higher order forms (11 onward) that are less common. In this chapter will study the completed-action form 1 verb only.

6.3 The form 1 completed-action verb

Here are some examples of completed-action form 1 verbs in Arabic:

Root Completed-action form 1 verb Meaning
«فعل» فَعَلَ faɛala “did”
«ذهب» ذَهَبَ d͡hahaba “went”
«کتب» کَتَبَ kataba “wrote”
«قرء» قَرَأَ qaraʾa “read”
«جلس» جَلَسَ jalasa “sat”
«سءل» سَأَلَ saʾala “questioned”
«سکت» سَکَتَ sakata “became quiet”
«جعل» جَعَلَ jaɛala “made”
«علم» عَلِمَ ɛalima “knew”
«عمل» عَمِلَ ɛamila “worked”
«کبر» کَبُرَ kabura “grew”

Note that «فعل», in addition to being used as a paradigm root, also has a verb in its own right: فَعَلَ faɛala “did”.

Note, also, that the completed-action form 1 verb consists only of the three letters of the root. The first and the final letter always have an a-mark while the middle letter’s vowel is variable. It may have an a-mark, i-mark, or an u-mark, depending on the verb. Using the paradigm root «فعل», we can say that the form 1 verb occurs in the patterns فَعَلَ, فَعِلَ, and فَعُلَ.

A good dictionary will tell us the middle vowel mark of a particular verb. However, as a trend, the a-mark is the most common for the middle vowel mark, followed by the i-mark, while the u-mark is the least common.

Interestingly, there can exist multiple verbs from the same root, each with its own distinct meaning, that differ only in the vowel mark on the middle letter. An example of two such verbs is:

  • حَسَبَ ḥasaba “calculated”
  • حَسِبَ ḥasiba “deemed”

You can see above how the verb کَتَبَ kataba “wrote” is derived from the root «کتب». We have already, by the way, learned another word derived from this root: the noun کِتَاب kitāb “a book”, which is on the pattern فِعَال fiɛāl. Note how both the verb and the noun derived from this root have a meaning that is common and has to do with writing or of something written. In a similar manner, you will often see that words derived from the same root generally share some common meaning, although this common meaning may not always be obvious or straightforward.

6.4 Verbal sentences

We have already learned of subject-information sentences. Here we will learn of a new type of sentence called a verbal sentence. A verbal sentence is one that begins with a verb.

When a verb is in a sentence, it requires a doer. The doer is a noun which represents the person who does the action of the verb. For example, in the sentence “The boy went.”, the noun “the boy” is the doer of the verb.

6.4.1 Verbs with a masculine doer noun

Consider the sentence:

“The boy went.”

In order to express this sentence in Arabic, we will say:

ذَهَبَ ٱلْغُلَامُ.
d͡hahaba -lg͡hulām.
“The boy went.”

ذَهَبَ d͡hahaba “went” is the verb and ٱلْغُلَامُ alg͡hulāmu “the boy” is the doer. Note how the doer is in the u-state. Also note that in English the doer comes before the verb whereas in Arabic the doer comes after the verb in sentence word order. We can state this as a rule of Arabic grammar:

In Arabic, every verb in a sentence shall have a doer noun. The doer noun shall be in the u-state and shall come after the verb in sentence word order.

In the above example the doer noun was definite, but a doer may be indefinite too. Example:

ذَهَبَ رَجُلٌ إِلَىَ ٱلسُّوقِ.
d͡hahaba rajulun ʾila -ssūq.
“A man went to the market.”

In the above sentence, the doer noun رَجُلٌ rajulun is indfinite.

6.4.2 Verbs with a feminine doer noun

Now consider the sentence:

“A girl went.”

In order to express this sentence in Arabic, we will say:

ذَهَبَتْ جَارِيَةٌ.
d͡hahabat jāriyah.
“A girl went.”

Note that we have modified the verb by adding on the letter تْ at the end. This تْ is used when the doer is ia feminine noun. It is called the تْ of femininity.

If the word following the noun begins with a connecting hamzah then we add a helper vowel to the تْ and it becomes تِ. Examples:

جَلَسَتِ ٱلْهِرَّةُ عَلَى ٱلْکُرْسِيِّ.
jalasati -lhirratu ɛala -lkursiyyi.
“A catf sat on the chair.”

لَعِبَتِ ٱلطِّفْلَةُ فِي ٱلْبَيْتِ.
laɛibati -ṭṭiflatu fi -lbayt.
“The childf played in the house.”

6.5 Verbs with doees

6.5.1 Direct doees

Consider the sentence:

“The man wrote a book.”

In this sentence, “wrote” is the verb, “the man” is the doer, and “a book” is what we shall call the doee. In fact, it is what we shall call a direct doee because it comes directly after the verb without an intermediate preposition. A doee is the noun to whom the action of verb is done.

In Arabic, we will express the sentence “The man wrote a book.” by saying:

کَتَبَ ٱلرَّجُلُ کِتَابًا.
kataba -rrajulu kitābā.
“The man wrote a book.”

Note how in Arabic the doee کِتَابًا kitāban “a book” is in the a-state. This is because, in Arabic, verbs shall cause a direct doee to be in the a-state. This is true whether the direct doee is definite or indefinite. Here is another example:

سَأَلَتِ ٱلْأُمُّ ٱلْجَارِيَةَ.
saʾalati -lʾummu -ljāriyah.
“The mother questioned the girl.”

Note again how ٱلْجَارِيَةَ aljāriyata “the girl” is in the a-state because it is a direct doee.

6.5.2 Multiple direct doees

Some verbs can take more than one direct doee. In this case, all direct doees shall be in the a-state. For example,

جَعَلَ ٱللَّـٰهُ ٱلرَّجُلَ مُسْلِمًا.
jaɛala -llāhu -rrajula muslimā.
“Allāh made the man a Muslim.”

In this sentence both ٱلرَّجُلَ arrajula “the man” and مُسْلِمًا musliman “a Muslim” are direct doees of the verb جَعَلَ jaɛala and therefore both are placed in the a-state.

6.5.3 Indirect doees

Instead of, or in addition to, direct doees, some verbs take an indirect doee. An indirect doee is one before which there is a preposition. For example, in English we might say:

“The man looked at the moon.”

In this sentence, “the moon” is an indirect doee because it is preceded by the preposition “at”. Similarly, in Arabic, we will say:

نَظَرَ ٱلرَّجُلُ إِلَى ٱلْقَمَرِ.
naḍ͡hara -rrajulu ʾila -lqamar.
“The man looked at the moon.”

In this sentence ٱَلْقَمَرِ alqamari “the moon” is an indirect doee of the verb نَظَرَ naḍ͡hara “looked” because it is preceded by the preposition إِلَىٰ ʾilā “to”. The preposition, as usual, causes the word after it (the indirect doee ٱَلْقَمَرِ ʾalqamari) to be in the i-state, as opposed to the a-state of the direct doee.

Note also, that the verb “looked” in English used the preposition “at” whereas the Arabic verb نَظَرَ naḍ͡hara used the preopsition إِلَىٰ ʾilā “to” for the same meaning. This is very common and you should not expect Arabic to use exact counterparts of the prepositions used in English. In fact, everytime you learn a new verb, you should also learn the prepositions that go with it.

It is also possible for the same verb to take different prepositions with possibly different meanings. So, for example, we can say:

نَظَرَ ٱلرَّجُلُ فِي ٱلْأَمْرِ.
naḍ͡hara -rrajulu fi -lʾamri.
“The man looked into the matter.”

It may also be possible for the same verb to take a direct doee. So we could also say:

نَظَرَ ٱلرَّجُلُ ٱلْمَکْتُوبَ فِي ٱلْکِتَابِ.
naḍ͡hara -rrajulu -lmaktūba fi -lkitābi.
“The man viewed what was written in the book.”

A good dictionary will tell us which prepositions are used with indirect doees with a given verb and also whether it takes a direct doee.

Some verb take a direct doee and another indirect doee, both at the same time. For example,

سَأَلَ ٱلْغُلَامُ ٱلْمُعَلِّمَةَ عَنْ أَمْرٍ.
saʾala -lg͡hulāmu -lmuɛallimata ɛan ʾamr.
“The boy asked the teacherf about a matter.”

ٱَلْمُعَلِّمَةَ ʾalmuɛallimata “the teacherf” is the direct doee, and therefore it is in the a-state. أَمْرٍ ʾamrin “a matter” is an indirect doee, and so it is in the i-state. The preposition عَنْ ɛan is translated, here, as “about”.

It is also possible that an English verb may take a direct doee, while the corresponding Arabic verb may only take an indirect doee. The reverse is also quite possible. For example,

غَفَرَ ٱللَّـٰهُ لِلْمُسْلِمِ.
g͡hafara -llāhu lilmuslimi.
“Allāh forgave the Muslim.”

The verb “forgave” in English takes a direct doee for the person who is forgiven. In Arabic, however, the corresponding verb غَفَرَ g͡hafara “forgave” takes the forgiven person as an indirect doee, using the preposition لِ li.

6.6 Verbs with doer pronouns

We have learned that a pronoun is a special kind of noun that can be used to replace a definite noun. And we have already learned two category of pronouns in Arabic:

  1. Detached pronouns, like هُوَ, هِيَ, etc.
  2. Attached pronouns, like هُ, هَا, etc.

Now we would like to replace the doer noun of a verb with a pronoun. For example, instead of saying:

“The man went.”

we would like to say:

“He went.”

For this we will have to learn a third category of pronoun pronouns called doer pronouns for completed-action verbs. Doer pronouns are of two types: visible and invisible.

Here we list the singular doer pronouns in Arabic.

Singular participant Doer pronoun
Masc. absentee (“he”) invisible
Fem. absentee (“she”) invisible
Masc. addressee (“you1,m”) تَ -ta
Fem. addressee (“you1,f”) تِ -ti
Speaker (“I”) تُ -tu

We will now give an explanation of the above doer pronouns.

6.6.1 Doer pronouns for the singular absentee-participant (“he”/“she”)

The doer pronouns of the absentee-participant are the equivalent of “he” and “she”. For example, let’s try to replace the doer-noun “the man” in the sentence: “The man went.”

ذَهَبَ ٱلرَّجُلُ.
d͡hahaba -rrajul.
“The man went.”

When we replace the doer noun ٱلرَّجُل ʾarrujul “the man” with the doer pronoun “he”, we get:

ذَهَبَ.
d͡hahab.
“[He] went.”

As you can see, all we did was omit the doer-noun ٱَلرَّجُل ʾarrujul, and we didn’t add any word to replace it as the doer pronoun. This is because the doer pronoun for “he” is invisible and automatically comes into place when we omit the doer noun.

The doer pronoun for “she” is similarly invisible. For example, if we replace the doer noun in the sentence:

قَرَأَتِ ٱلْجَارِيَةُ کِتَابًا.
qaraʾati -ljāriyatu kitābā.
“The girl read a book.”

we get:

قَرَأَتْ کِتَابًا.
qaraʾat kitābā.
“[She] read a book.”

6.6.1.1 Explanation of invisible pronouns

Why do we have to go to all the trouble of saying that the doer-pronouns of the singular masculine absentee-participant “he”/“she” are invisible? Why can’t we simply say that there are no doer-pronouns for the singular masculine absentee-participant?

The reason is that making the statement that these pronoun exist but are invisible is useful to us from the perspective of the grammar theory that we are building.

That is: we need to be able to state, as a rule of grammar, that every verb needs to have a doer, whether visible or not. And that doer shall come after the verb in sentence word order.

If we are able to make this a rule, then we will see, if Allāh wills, that it will help us later. For example, when we study verbs with plural doers.

6.6.2 Doer pronouns for the singular addressee (“you1”) and speaker (“I”) participants

It is only the doer pronouns for the singular absentee participant that are invisible for completed-action verbs. The doer pronouns for the singular addressee and speaker participants are visible. When visible, the doer pronouns are attached to the verb.

Here we show how the visible doer pronouns are attached to the verb using the root paradigm «فعل». The middle root letter (ع) has an a-vowel ◌َ here but this vowel will vary for other verbs.

Singular participant Doer pronoun Doer pronoun with verb
Addressee “you1,m” تَ -ta فَعَلْتَ faɛalta
Addressee “you1,f” تِ -ti فَعَلْتِ faɛalti
Speaker “I” تُ -tu فَعَلْتُ faɛaltu

Note also how the visible singular doer pronouns modify the verb by replacing the a-mark ◌َ on its final letter by a ø-mark ◌ْ.

Furthermore, note how the doer pronoun for the addressed person “you” is differentiated for masculine and feminine doers whereas the doer pronoun for the speaking person “I” is the same for both genders.

Here are some examples of sentences with visible doer pronouns:

کَتَبْتَ کِتَابًا.
katabta kitābā.
“Youm wrote a book.”

ذَهَبْتُ
d͡hahabt.
“I went.”

The above sentence ends with the doer pronoun, so the vowel-mark on the doer pronoun is not pronounced (d͡hahabt). So, how would be know which doer pronoun it is? That is, does the sentence say “I went.” or “Youm went.” or “Youf. went.”? The answer is that the sentence by itself is ambiguous and context would tell us which of the three options is intended.

Take care to note that the singular doer pronouns modify the final letter of the basic verb, whereas the تْ of femininity does not. So make sure you see the difference in the following two sentences:

قَرَأْتِ ٱلْکِتَابَ.
qaraʾti -lkitāb.
“Youf read the book.”

قَرَأَتِ ٱلْکتَابَ.
qaraʾati -lkitāb.
“She read the book.”

6.6.3 Assimilation of the doer pronoun

If the final letter of the root of a verb is ت, then it gets assimililated with the ت which is the doer pronoun and only one ت, representing both, is written. Consider the verb:

«سکت» سَکَتَ sakata “became quiet”

When we add a visible doer pronoun to this verb, we get:

سَکَتُّ
sakattu
“I became quiet”

سَکَتَّ
sakatta
“You1,m became quiet”

سَکَتِّ
sakatti
“You1,f became quiet”

Assimilation is treated in more detail in chapter/appendix TODO.

6.7 Verbs with doee pronouns

Just like doer nouns may be replaced with doer pronouns, so, too, may doee nouns be replaced with doee pronouns. Doee pronouns are also attached to the end of the verb but they don’t modify the vowel on the final letter of the verb. The doee pronouns are the same attached pronouns that are also used with prepositions:

Singular participant Doee pronoun
Masc. absentee هُ -hu “him”
Fem. absentee هَا -hā “her”
Masc. addressee کَ -ka “you1,m”
Fem. addressee کِ -ki “you1,f”
Speaker ي “me”

Here are some notes regarding their usage:

  • Doee pronouns shall always be attached to the verb. So if there is a doer noun then it shall be placed after the attached doee pronoun. For example:

    سَأَلَهُ ٱلْغُلَامُ.
    saʾalahu -lg͡hulām.
    “The boy asked him.”

  • If however, the doer is also a pronoun, then it shall be attached first to the verb and then the doee pronoun shall be attached to the doer pronoun. For example,

    سَأَلْتُکِ.
    saʾaltuk.
    “I asked youf.”

  • If the doer pronoun is invisible, then the doee pronoun shall be attached to the verb again directly with only a possible تْ of femininity intervening. For example:

    سَأَلَهَا.
    saʾalahā.
    “He asked her.”

    سَأَلَتْکَ.
    saʾalatk.
    “She asked youm.”

  • If the doee pronoun هُ -hu “him” is preceded by the vowels i, ī, or ay then it shall instead become هِ hi with no change in meaning. (We’ve already learned this rule.) For example,

    سَأَلْتِهِ.
    saʾaltih
    “Youf asked him.”

  • An intervening ن is always used between the verb and the speaker-participant doee pronoun variants ◌ِي -ī and ◌ِيَ -iya. Remember that these pronouns force any consonant before it to have a i-mark ◌ِ. Therefore, the combination will be written as نِي -nī and نِيَ -niya respectively. For example:

    سَأَلَنِي رَجُلٌ.
    saʾalanī rajul.
    “A man asked me.”

    سَأَلَنِيَ ٱلرَّجُلُ.
    saʾalaniya -rrajul.
    “The man asked me.”

    If there is a visible doer pronoun, the intervening ن shall come after it so that the ن is always connected to the doee pronoun. For example,

    سَأَلْتَنِي.
    saʾaltanī
    “Youm asked me.”

    By the way, we have already seen this intervening ن before when it was used with some prepositions, e.g. مِنِّي minnī, عَنِّي ɛannī, and لَدُنِّي ladunnī

    Even though, the variant ◌ِي -ī is, in general, more commonly used, when the noun following it begins with a connecting hamzah then the variant ◌ِيَ -ya is preferred. That is why we used the variant ◌ِيَ -ya when it was followed by a connecting hamzah (سَأَلَنِيَ ٱلرَّجُلُ.), and the variant ◌ِي -ī when it was not followed by a connecting hamzah (سَأَلَنِي رَجُلٌ.).

    This preference is not mandatory. So it is allowed for ◌ِي -ī to be used when followed by a connecting hamzah. When this happens, the long vowel -ī will be shortened to -i in connecting it to the next word, although the ◌ِي is retained in writing. For example,

    سَأَلَنِي ٱلرَّجُلُ.
    saʾalani -rrajul.
    “The man asked me.”

6.8 Multiple verbs for one doer

In this section we will use the verbs:

Root Completed-action form 1 verb Meaning
«دخل» دَخَلَ dak͡hala “entered”
«خرج» خَرَجَ k͡haraja “exited”
«ءکل» أَکَلَ ʾakala “ate”
«شرب» شَرِبَ s͡hariba “drank”

Consider, now, the sentence:

“I entered the room, ate, drank, and exited.”

The doer in this sentence is the pronoun “I”. This same doer is doing the action of multiple verbs: “entered”, “ate”, “drank”, and “exited”. When we try to express this sentence in Arabic we must remember that every verb shall have its own doer, and that the doer shall occur after it in sentence word order. So we will say:

دَخَلْتُ ٱلْغُرْفَةَ فَأَکَلْتُ فَشَرِبْتُ فَخَرَجْتُ.
dak͡haltu -lg͡hurfata faʾakaltu fas͡haribtu fak͡harajt.
“I entered the room and then I ate and then I drank and then I exited.”

Note also, that we need to replace the commas by connecting particles like وَ wa- “and”, or فَ fa- “so”/“and then”, etc. We chose فَ fa- which implies consequence or subsequence between the individual events.

Let’s now try this sentence with a doer noun instead of a doer pronoun:

“The girl entered the room, ate, drank, and exited.”

Here is our translation:

دَخَلَتِ ٱلْجَارِيَةُ ٱلْغُرْفَةَ فَأَکَلَتْ فَشَرِبَتْ فَخَرَجَتْ.
dak͡halati -ljāriyatu -lg͡hurfata faʾakalat fas͡haribat fak͡harajat.
“The girl entered the room and then she ate and then she drank and then she exited.”

Each verb again has its own doer, which is coming after the verb in sentence word order. The doer of the first verb دَخَلَ dak͡hala “entered” is the noun ٱَلْجَارِيَةُ ʾaljāriyatu “the girl”. The subsequent verbs all have doers too but they are the invisible doer pronouns for the singular feminine absentee participant. That is why we don’t write them. Note also that every verb has the تْ of femininity attached to it to indicate its singular feminine absentee doer.

6.9 Order of words in a sentence

6.9.1 Changing the order of words for emphasis

In Arabic, the doer always follows the verb. So the normal order of a sentence is verb-doer-doee. For example,

کَتَبَ ٱلرَّجُلُ کِتَابًا.
kataba -rrajulu kitābā.
“The man wrote a book.”

However, we will often come across sentences like:

ٱَلرَّجُلُ کَتَبَ کِتَابًا.
ʾarrajulu kataba kitābā.

It may appear as if ٱَلرَّجُلُ arrajulu is the doer and it is coming before the verb کَتَبَ kataba. But actually, this is not the case. As a matter of fact, this sentence is basically a subject-information sentence.

Here ٱَلرَّجُلُ arrajulu “the man” is the subject of the sentence, and کَتَبَ کِتَابًا kataba kitāban “he wrote a book”, itself a verbal sentence with an invisible doer pronoun, is the information about the subject. So the translation of the sentence is technically:

“The man, he wrote a book.”

However, this is an awkward translation so we will usually translate it as “The man wrote a book.”

The question arises: if both sentences above have the same translation, then would we say ٱَلرَّجُلُ کَتَبَ کِتَابًا. ʾarrajulu kataba kitāban. instead of the more normal کَتَبَ ٱلرَّجُلُ کِتَابًا. kataba -rrajulu kitāban.? The answer is that this change in the sentence’s word order is done in order to give more emphasis to the doer, as if to say:

“The man wrote a book.”

So in Arabic, the order of words is generally more flexible than in English and this is often used to give emphasis to certain words.

6.9.2 Verbs pull definite nouns towards them

When a verb has a doer noun and a doee noun, the normal order of words in a sentence is: verb, doer noun, doee noun. For example,

کَتَبَ ٱلرَّجُلُ ٱلْکِتَابَ.
kataba -rrajulu -lkitāba.
“The man wrote the book.”

There is a tendency, in Arabic, for verbs to pull definite nouns towards them. This means that if there are any indefinite nouns, they have a tendency to get pushed father away. So, for example, if a verb’s doer is an indefinite noun and the doee is a definite noun, the doee will often (but not always) precede the doer. For example,

کَتَبَ ٱلْکِتَابَ رَجُلٌ.
kataba -lkitāba rajul.
“A man wrote the book.”

The vowel-marks at the end of the nouns, and context, will tell us which is the doer and which is the doee. In this particular example, it was optional, and not mandatory to make the definite doee precede the doer in sentence word order. So we could have also said, instead:

کَتَبَ رَجُلٌ ٱلْکِتَابَ.
kataba rajuluni -lkitāb.
“A man wrote the book.”

Now let’s take a look at sentences with pronouns. Remember that pronouns are a category of nouns, and also (from section 4.4.4) that they are definite nouns. In fact they are stronger in definiteness than words that are made definite using ٱَلْ. This because if when we say “The man wrote the book.” instead of “A man wrote the book.”, we assume that everyone knows which man we are referring to. Now if we replace “the man” with the pronoun “he”: “He wrote the book.”, then this assumption becomes stronger. “He” is, in a sense, more definite than “the man.”.

So now, when the direct doee noun ٱلْکِتَابَ ʾalkitāba “the book” is replaced with the pronoun “it”, the doee pronoun must be attached to the verb, and then the doer noun follows the doee pronoun:

کَتَبَهُ ٱلرَّجُلُ.
katabahu -rrajulu.
“The man wrote it.”

This can be seen as a mandatory case of the verb pulling the definite noun toward it.

Now, consider a sentence with an indirect doee. Again, the normal order of words in a sentence is verb, doer noun, preposition, doee noun. For example,

ذَهَبَ ٱلْغُلَامُ إِلَى ٱلْمَدْرَسَةِ.
d͡hahaba -lg͡hulāmu ʾila -lmadrasah.
“The boy went to the school.”

Now, if we replace the indirect doee noun ٱلْمَدْرَسَةِ. ʾalmadrasati “the school” with the pronoun “it”, the indirect doee pronoun هَا -hā “it” is attached, not to the verb, but to the preposition إِلَىٰ ʾilā thus: إِلَيْهَا ʾilayhā “to it”. So it possible to preserve the original order of words in the sentence:

ذَهَبَ ٱلْغُلَامُ إِلَيْهَا.
d͡hahaba -lg͡hulāmu ʾilayhā.
“The boy went to it.”

While the above sentence is correct, it is in fact more common to place the preposition and doee pronoun إِلَيْهَا ʾilayhā “to it” right after the verb, and before the doer noun, thus:

ذَهَبَ إِلَيْهَا ٱلْغُلَامُ.
d͡hahaba ʾilayha -lg͡hulāmu.
“The boy went to it.”

This is because the pronoun هَا -hā “it” is stronger in definiteness than ٱلْغُلَام ʾalg͡hulām “the boy”. So the verb has a stronger pull towards it.

This ordering of words due to the attractive pull of the verb is largely learned by experience. The more you read Arabic, the better feel you will get for it, if Allāh wills.

6.10 Negating completed-action verbs

In order to negate a completed-action verb, the particle مَا mā is placed before it. This gives the meaning of the action of the verb did not get, or has not got, done. So for example:

مَا ذَهَبَ ٱلرَّجُلُ.
mā d͡hahaba -rrajulu.
“The man did not go.” or,
“The man has not gone.”

6.11 The particle قَدْ qad

The particle قَدْ qad, when placed before a completed-action verb emphasizes that the action of the verb has already or definitely occured.

قَدْ ذَهَبَ ٱلرَّجُلُ.
qad d͡hahaba -rrajulu.
“The man has already gone.” or,
“The man did go.”

6.12 Separating doee pronouns from the verb

FIXME: move to imperfect verb chapter

We have mentioned that doee pronouns are attached to the verb. Sometimes there is a need to separate the doee pronoun from the verb. When separating the doee pronoun from the verb, it is instead attached to the prefix إِيَّا ʾiyyā. So then we get the following doee pronouns:

Person Doee pronoun
Absent person (masc.) “him” إِيَّاهُ ʾiyyāhu
Absent person (fem.) “her” إِيَّاهَا ʾiyyāhā
Addressed person (masc.) “youmasc.” إِيَّاکَ ʾiyyāka
Addressed person (fem.) “youfem.” إِيَّاکِ ʾiyyāki
Speaking person (masc. and fem.) “me” إِيَّايَ ʾiyyāya

Note that for the speaking person “me”, there is no intervening ن between the prefix إِيَّا ʾiyyā and the doee pronoun. Note also that only يَ -ya is allowed to be attached to the prefix إِيَّا ʾiyyā. This is because ◌ِي -ī is not permitted to be used with words that end in a long vowel (-ā, -ī, or -ū) or a semi-vowel (-ay or -aw). And the prefix إِيَّا ʾiyyā ends with the long-vowel ā.

But we may ask why is there a need to separate the doee pronoun from the verb? This can occur for a couple of reasons:

  1. If there are multiple doee pronouns, only one of them can be attached to the verb. Example,

    ضَرَبَتْنِي وَإِيَّاهُ.
    ḍarabatnī wa ʾiyyāhu.
    “She hit me and him.”

  2. If the doee is placed before the verb for emphasis. Example,

    إِيَّايَ ضَرَبَتْ.
    ʾiyyāya ḍarabat.
    “She hit me.”

6.13 TODO

  1. Multiple verb doers: Copy over from sound plurals and rework.
  2. جواز تأنيث الفعل ووجوبه