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17 The u-state stateful verb
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17.1 Introduction
So far, we have used the perfect verb. In this chapter we will study the u-state stateful verb. The stateful verb is called thus because it resembles the noun in that it has states. The perfect verb, as we know, does not have any state.
17.2 Pattern for form 1
Using the root paradigm فعل, we have already seen that perfect verbs for form 1 occur in the patterns فَعَلَ faɛala, فَعِلَ faɛila, and فَعُلَ faɛula. The patterns for form 1 stateful verbs are يَفْعَلُ yafɛalu, يَفْعِلُ yafɛilu, and يَفْعُلُ yafɛulu.
Note that the stateful verb forms add an extraneous يَـ ya- to the beginning of the verb. This extra letter can change, as we will see soon, to the letters تَـ ta-, نَـ na, or أَ ʾa- depending on the doer.
17.3 Vowel-mark on the middle root letter
We have seen that vowel on the middle root letter in a perfect verb can vary depending on the verb. So we can have,
- كَتَبَ kataba “he wrote”
- عَمِلَ ɛamila “he worked”
- كَبُرَ kabura “he became big”
Similarly, the vowel on the middle letter in an stateful verb can also vary depending on the verb. Generally, this will need to be looked up in a dictionary and memorized. But there are the following rules which limit the variation:
If the perfect verb has an fat·ḥah on the middle letter, the stateful verb’s middle letter can have either an fat·ḥah, kasrah, or an ḍammah, depending on the verb. For example,
- كَتَبَ يَكْتُبُ kataba yaktubu “he wrote, he writes”
- ذَهَبَ يَذْهَبُ d͡hahaba yad͡h·habu “he went, he goes”
- كَشَفَ يَكْشِفُ kas͡hafa yaks͡hifu “he uncovered, he uncovers”
If the perfect verb has an kasrah on the middle letter, the stateful verb’s middle letter will usually have an fat·ḥah. Rarely, for a few verbs, it may be an kasrah instead. For example,
- عَمِلَ يَعْمَلُ ɛamila yaɛmalu “he worked, he works”
- حَسِبَ يَحْسِبُ ḥasiba yaḥsibu “he deemed, he deems”
If the perfect verb has an ḍammah on the middle letter, the stateful verb’s middle letter shall have a ḍammah. For example,
- كَبُرَ يَكْبُرُ kabura yakburu “he grew big, he grows big”
It is possible for some stateful verbs to have more than option for the vowel mark on the middle letter. Both variants give the same meaning for the verb. For example, the perfect verb حَسِبَ ḥasiba “he deemed” has as its incomplete-verb both يَحْسِبُ yaḥsibu and يَحْسَبُ yaḥsabu.
17.4 Verb state
As you know, nouns in Arabic have a state that is determined by the function of the noun in the sentence. For example, consider the following sentence:
سَأَلَ ٱلْغُلَامُ ٱلرَّجُلَ عَنْ شَيْءٍ.
saʾala -lg͡hulāmu -rrajula ʾan s͡hayʾin.
“The boy asked the man about something.”
In the above sentence, ٱَلْغُلَامُ ʾalg͡hulāmu is the doer of the verb so it is in the u-state and this is indicated by the ḍammah on its final letter. ٱَلرَّجُلَ ʾarrujala is the direct doee of the verb so it is in the a-state and this is indicated by the fat·ḥah on its final letter. شَيْءٍ s͡hayʾin is directly preceded by a preposition so it is in the i-state and this is indicated by the tanwīned kasrah ◌ٍ on its final letter. The ending of the perfect verb سَأَلَ is not determined based on the function of the verb in the sentence, and therefore, it does not have any state. (Its ending can change depending on whether a pronoun is attached to it but this is not related to the function of the verb in the sentence and does not represent any state.)
As opposed to perfect verbs, which don’t have any state, stateful verbs do have a state which is determinined by the function of the verb in a sentence. Similar to nouns, the state of an stateful verb is indicated by the vowel mark or suffix at the end of the verb.
Stateful verbs have three states, just like nouns. These states are called:
- The u-state
- The a-state
- The 0-state
Two of the states have their names in common with nouns: the u-state and the a-state. The the 0-state is named differently.
The ḍammah on the final letter of يَفُعَلُ yafɛalu indicates that it is in the u-state. We will study only the u-state of stateful verbs in this chapter. And we will study the a-state and 0-state in later chapters if Allāh wills.
17.5 With doer nouns
As with perfect verbs, doer nouns are placed after the verb in sentence word order. However, the gender of the doer noun affects the beginning of the stateful verb. If the doer noun is masculine, then the stateful verb shall begin with used is يَـ ya-. And if the doer noun is feminine, then the stateful verb shall begin with تَـ ta-. Examples:
يَكْتُبُ ٱلْغُلَامُ فِي كِتابِهِ.
yaktubu -lg͡hulāmu fī kitābihi
“The boy writes in his book.”
يَعْمَلُ ٱلرَّجُلَانِ فِي ٱلْمَدِينَةِ.
yaɛmalu -rrajulāni fi -lmadīnati.
“The mendual. work in the city.”
تَكْتُبُ ٱلْجَارِيَةُ فِي كِتابِهَا.
taktubu -ljāriyatu fī kitābihā.
“The girl writes in her book.”
تَعْمَلُ ٱلنِّسَاءُ فِي بُيُوتِهِنَّ.
taɛmalu -nnisāʾu fī buyūtihinna.
“The women work in their houses.”
17.6 With the direct doee
The direct doee (either as a noun or a pronoun) with stateful verbs work exactly as with perfect verbs.
يَسْأَلُ ٱلْغُلَامُ ٱلرَّجُلَ سُؤَالًا.
yasʾalu -lg͡hulāmu -rrajula suʾālan.
“The boy asks the man a question.”
يَسْأَلُهَا ٱلْغُلَامُ سُؤَالًا.
yasʾaluha -lg͡hulāmu suʾālan.
“The boy asks her a question.”
17.7 With doer pronouns
When we studied perfect verbs, we saw that doer pronouns are either visible or invisible. Visible doer pronouns are added to the end of the verb, modifying the end of the verb in the process.
The doer pronouns for stateful verbs are different from the doer pronouns for perfect verbs. Stateful verbs’ doer pronouns are also added to the end of the verb, but in addition to modifying the end of the verb, they modify the beginning of the verb as well. Futhermore, additional letters may be added after the doer pronoun to indicate the state of the verb.
We’ll show what all this means in the table below of verbs with doer pronouns. Perfect verbs are included as well so that you can contrast them with their stateful counterparts.
| Person | Perfect doer pronoun | Perfect verb with doer pronoun | Stateful verb doer pronoun | Stateful verb with doer pronoun in the u-state |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| he | invisible | فَعَلَ faɛala | invisible | يَفْعَلُ yafɛalu |
| she | invisible | فَعَلَتْ faɛalat | invisible | تَفْعَلُ tafɛalu |
| you1,m | تَ -ta | فَعَلْتَ faɛalta | invisible | تَفْعَلُ tafɛalu |
| you1,f | تِ -ti | فَعَلْتِ faɛalti | ي -ī | تَفْعَلِينَ tafɛalīna |
| I | تُ tu | فَعَلْتُ faɛaltu | invisible | أَفْعَلُ ʾafɛalu |
| they2,m | ا -ā | فَعَلَا faɛalā | ا -ā | يَفْعَلَانِ yafɛalāni |
| they2,f | ا -ā | فَعَلَتَا faɛalatā | ا -ā | تَفْعَلَانِ tafɛalāni |
| you2 | تُمَا -tumā | فَعَلْتُمَا faɛaltumā | ا -ā | تَفْعَلَانِ tafɛalāni |
| they3+,m | و -ū | فَعَلُوا faɛalū | و -ū | يَفْعَلُونَ yafɛalūna |
| they3+,f | نَ -na | فَعَلْنَ faɛalna | نَ -na | يَفْعَلْنَ yafɛalna |
| you3+,m | تُمْ -tumā | فَعَلْتُمْ faɛaltum | و -ū | تَفْعَلُونَ tafɛalūna |
| you3+,f | تُنَّ -tunna | فَعَلْتُنَّ faɛaltunna | نَ na | تَفْعَلْنَ tafɛalna |
| we | نَا nā | فَعَلْنَا faɛalnā | invisible | نَفْعَلُ nafɛalu |
Note the following:
- The verb تَفْعَلُ is used both for “she” and “you2m” doers. Only context will be able to help us differentiate between the two.
- In stateful verbs which have invisible doer pronouns, the u-state of the verb is indicated by the ḍammah ◌ُ on the final letter of the verb.
- For stateful verbs that have ا, و, or ي as the doer pronoun, the u-state is indicated by an extraneous ن added to the end of the verb.
- And for the remaining stateful verbs whose doer pronoun is نَ, there is no indication of the state of the verb.
Here are some examples of the usage of the doer pronouns:
Remember that in Arabic, each verb must have it’s own doer, so when there are multiple verbs associated with the same doer, the first verb can be used with the doer noun and the rest with doer pronouns. This is the same behavior as with perfect verbs. For example:
يَجْلِسُ ٱلرِّجَالُ وَيَأْكُلُونَ وَيَشْرَبُونَ.
yajlisu -rrijālu wa yaʾkulūna wa yas͡hrabūna.
“The men sit and (they) eat and (they) drink.”
17.8 Future
The stateful verb is used to express both the present (habitual and progressive) and future tenses. Sometimes all meanings are meant in the same expression. And if only one of the meanings is intended, context can be sufficient to determine which is intended. So, for example,
يَذْهَبُ ٱلرَّجُلُ
yad͡h·habu -rrajulu.
can mean, either one, or even all, of:
“The man goes.” or
“The man is going.” or
“The man will go.”
Arabic does provide a mechanism for specifying that the use of an stateful verb is solely to intend a future action. This is by means of the particles سَـ sa- and سَوْفَ sawfa that can be placed before the verb. They provide a meaning of “will” or “will soon”. سَـ sa-, being a single letter particle, is attached to the verb.
For example,
سَيَذْهَبُ ٱلرَّجُلُ
sayad͡h·habu -rrajulu.
and
سَوْفَ يَذْهَبُ ٱلرَّجُلُ
sawfa yad͡h·habu -rrajulu.
“The man will go.” or
“Soon the man will go.”
The difference in usage of سَـ sa- and سَوْفَ sawfa can be thought of as one of emphasis. سَوْفَ sawfa is more emphatic than سَـ sa-. This emphasis can translate to more definiteness in the action or even that the action is farther in the future.
17.9 Negation
17.9.1 Negation using مَا mā
As with perfect verbs, stateful verbs too can be negated by placing the particle مَا before them. This negates the meaning of the verb usually for the present tense. For example,
مَا يَذْهَبُ ٱلرَّجُلُ
mā yad͡h·habu -rrajulu.
“The man does not go.” or,
“The man is not going.”
17.9.2 Negation using لَا lā {U-state-verb-negation-la}
In addition to مَا mā, stateful verbs can be negated using لَا lā in the same manner. In addition to negating the meaning of the verb for the present tense, it can also negate the meaning for the future tense.
لَا يَذْهَبُ ٱلرَّجُلُ
lā yad͡h·habu -rrajulu.
“The man does not go.” or,
“The man is not going.” or,
“The man will not go.”
The particles سَـ sa- and سَوْفَ sawfa may not be combined with مَا mā and لَا lā when negating verbs.
17.10 With قَدْ
TODO
When negating a stateful verb preceded by قَدْ there is some question about whether قَدْ is retained or dropped, but the stronger opinion seems to be that it may be kept, as proven by the following verse of poetry:
وَقَدْ لَا تَعْدَمُ الْحَسْنَاءُ ذَامًا
“And [it] may be [that] the beautiful female does not lack a defect.”
(ذَام means “defect”.)