12 Weak and doubled roots

12.1 Introduction

The letters alif/hamzah (أ), و, and ي are considered weak letters. When any of these letters are part of the root of a verb, then that verb is called a weak verb. When weak verbs are conjugated for different doers, then the weak letters can modify the appearance of the conjugated verb in different ways.

Of the weak letters, hamzah is the strongest (in pronunciation, though it is weak in writing). And it will usually (though not always) retain its pronunciation when a verb with hamzah in its root is conjugated. So we will treat it separately at the end.

12.2 The weak middle-letter verb

12.2.1 و as the weak middle-letter

Consider the root قول with the meaning « to say ».

When we form the sc verb from roots with و as the middle root letter, we usually assume a fat·ḥah on the middle root letter.

Therefore, we would expect the verb for the doer « he » to be قَوَلَ qawala.¹ Instead, however, the sequence قَوَ qawa is modified to قَا qā, and we will actually say:

قَالَ
qāla
« He said »

Similarly, when we conjugate for the doer « she », we would expect to say قَوَلَتْ qawalat, but we actually say:

قَالَتْ qālat
« She said »

Continuing on, when we conjugate for the doer « I », we would expect to say قَوَلْتُ qawaltu. In this case, we don’t convert قَوَ qawa to قَا qā because then we would end up with قَالْتُ qāltu. But a long vowel followed by a sukūn is disallowed phonologically in Arabic (except when pausing at the end of an utterance). So we cannot say ✗ قَالْتُ qāltu.

Instead, we eliminiate the middle letter altogether, and place a d̤͡hammah on the ق because it is the closest vowel to the original root letter و. So we say:

قُلْتُ
qultu
« I said »

Similarly we will say

قُلْتَ
qulta
« You_sing.m. said »
قُلْتِ
qulti
« You_sing.f. said »

Moving on to the duals, for strong verbs we simply add an alif to ذَهَبَ « he went » to get ذَهَبَا « they_du.m. went ». And from ذَهَبَتْ « she went » we get ذَهَبَتَا « they_du.f. went ».

We will do the same thing to قَالَ and قَالَتْ respectively. So we get:

قَالَا
qālā
« They_du.m. said »
قَالَتَا
qālatā
« They_du.f. said »

For « you_du. said », we use قُلْتُ « I said » as our starting point and replace the doer pronoun تُ « I » with تُمَا « you_du. ». So we say

قُلْتُمَا
qultumā
« You_du. said »

Now let’s move on to the plurals. For strong verbs we modify ذَهَبَ « he went » by adding the doer pronoun ـُوا « they_pl.m. » and we get ذَهَبُوا « they_pl.m. went ». We will do the same thing to قَالَ « he said » to get:

قَالُوا
qālū
« They_pl.m. said »

For they_pl.f., there is a sukūn on the final root letter (e.g. ذَهَبْنَ « they_pl.f went »). So now we use the pattern قُلْتُ I said]{.ar}, and replace the doer pronoun تُ « I » with نَ « they_pl.f. ». So we will say:

قُلْنَ
qulna
« They_pl.f. said »

Similarly, for « you_pl.m » we will say:

قُلْتُمْ
qultum
« You_pl.m. said »

and for « you_pl.f » we will say:

قُلْتُنَّ
qultunna
« You_pl.f. said »

Lastly, for « we », we will do the same thing and say:

قُلْنَا qulnā
« We said »

Here is the complete verb conjugation table:

Doer pronoun	Conjugation
« He said »	قَالَ
« She said »	قَالَتْ
« You_sing.m. said »	قُلْتَ
« You_sing.f. said »	قُلْتِ
« I said »	قُلْتُ
« They_du.m. said »	قَالَا
« They_du.f. said »	قَالَتَا
« You_du. said »	قُلْتُمَا
« They_pl.m. said »	قَالُوا
« They_pl.f. said »	قُلْنَ
« You_pl.m. said »	قُلْتُمْ
« You_pl.f. said »	قُلْتُنَّ
« We said »	قُلْنَا

And here are some examples of similar verbs in sentences:

12.2.2 Kasrah on the middle و letter

Most verbs that have و as the middle root letter behave as above, with an original fat·ḥah on the و becoming an alif:

قَوَلَ → قَالَ
qawala → qāla
« He said »

And when the و is eliminated, it is replaced with a d̤͡hammah on the first root letter:

قَوَلْتُ → قُلْتُ
qawaltu → qultu
« I said »

A few verbs, however, take a kasrah on the middle و. For example, the root خوف « to fear ». In this case, the و still becomes an alif:

خَوِفَ → خَافَ
k͡hawifa → k͡hāfa
« He feared »

But when the و is eliminated, it is replaced with a kasrah on the first root letter:

خَوِفْتُ → خِفْتُ
k͡hawiftu → k͡hiftu
« He feared »

Here is the complete conjugation table:

Doer pronoun	Conjugation
« He feared »	خَافَ
« She feared »	خَافَتْ
« You_sing.m. feared »	خِفْتَ
« You_sing.f. feared »	خِفْتِ
« I feared »	خِفْتُ
« They_du.m. feared »	خَافَا
« They_du.f. feared »	خَافَتَا
« You_du. feared »	خِفْتُمَا
« They_pl.m. feared »	خَافُوا
« They_pl.f. feared »	خِفْنَ
« You_pl.m. feared »	خِفْتُمْ
« You_pl.f. feared »	خِفْتُنَّ
« We feared »	خِفْنَا

The verb نَامَ « to sleep » from the root نوم behaves similarly.

Here are some examples of these verbs in sentences:

(TODO) See [شرح ألفية ابن مالك للعثيمين 31/7ff] for handling ambiguity in passive.

12.2.3 ي as the weak middle-letter

When ي is the weak middle-letter, as in the verb root بيع « to sell », then we follow pretty much the same procedure as for قَالَ. So:

بَيَعَ → بَاعَ
bayaɛa → bāɛa
« He sold »

But when the ي is eliminated, it is replaced with a kasrah on the first root letter, because the kasrah is the closer vowel to ي.

بَيَعْتُ → بِعْتُ
bayaɛtu → biɛtu
« I sold »

Here is the complete verb conjugation table:

Doer pronoun	Conjugation
« He sold »	بَاعَ
« She sold »	بَاعَتْ
« You_sing.m. sold »	بِعْتَ
« You_sing.f. sold »	بِعْتِ
« I sold »	بِعْتُ
« They_du.m. sold »	بَاعَا
« They_du.f. sold »	بَاعَتَا
« You_du. sold »	بِعْتُمَا
« They_pl.m. sold »	بَاعُوا
« They_pl.f. sold »	بِعْنَ
« You_pl.m. sold »	بِعْتُمْ
« You_pl.f. sold »	بِعْتُنَّ
« We sold »	بِعْنَا

12.3 The weak final-letter verb

12.3.1 و as the weak final-letter

Consider the verb root دعو « to call ».

When we form the sc verb from roots with و as the middle root letter, we usually assume a fat·ḥah on the middle root letter.

Therefore, we would expect the verb for the doer « he » to be دَعَوَ daɛawa. Instead, however, the sequence عَوَ ɛawa is modified to عَا ɛā, and we will actually say:

دَعَا
daɛā
« He called »

Similarly, when we conjugate for the doer « she », we would expect to say دَعَوَتْ daɛawat, but we actually say:

دَعَتْ daɛat
« She called »

Continuing on, there is no modification of the root و when we conjugate for the doer « I ».

دَعَوْتُ
daɛawtu
« I called »

Similarly we will say:

دَعَوْتَ
daɛawta
« You_sing.m. called »
دَعَوْتِ
daɛawti
« You_sing.f. called »

Moving on to the duals, we add back the و to the verb when we add on the alif for the « they_du.m. ». So we get:

دَعَوَا
daɛawā
« They_du.m. called »

For « they_du.m. », we simply add an alif to دَعَتْ « she called », and we get:

دَعَتَا
daɛatā
« They_du.f. called »

For « you_du. called », there is again no modification of the root و. So we say:

دَعَوْتُمَا
daɛawtumā
« You_du. called »

Now let’s move on to the plurals. For « they_pl.m. », we need to add a ـُوا, but because there is already a و in the root, we don’t add another one. Instead we put a sukūn on it to get:

دَعَوْا
daɛaw
« They_pl.m. called »

When دَعَوْا is to be connected to a following connecting-hamzah, then we will put a d̤͡hammah on the و. For example:

دَعَوُا ٱلرَّجُلَ
daɛawu ‑rrajula
« They_pl.m. called the man. »

For they_pl.f., there is again no modification of the root و. So we say:

دَعَوْنَ
daɛawna
« They_pl.f. called »

Similarly, for « you_pl.m » we will say:

دَعَوْتُمْ
daɛawtum
« You_pl.m. called »

and for « you_pl.f » we will say:

دَعَوْتُنَّ
daɛawtunna
« You_pl.f. called »

Lastly, for « we », we will do the same thing and say:

دَعَوْنَا daɛawnā
« We called »

Here is the complete verb conjugation table:

Doer pronoun	Conjugation
« He said »	دَعَا
« She said »	دَعَتْ
« You_sing.m. said »	دَعَوْتَ
« You_sing.f. said »	دَعَوْتِ
« I said »	دَعَوْتُ
« They_du.m. said »	دَعَوَا
« They_du.f. said »	دَعَتَا
« You_du. said »	دَعَوْتُمَا
« They_pl.m. said »	دَعَوْا
« They_pl.f. said »	دَعَوْنَ
« You_pl.m. said »	دَعَوْتُمْ
« You_pl.f. said »	دَعَوْتُنَّ
« We said »	دَعَوْنَا

And here are some examples of similar verbs in sentences:

12.4 The doubled verb

12.5 كَانَ

شرح ألفية ابن مالك للعثيمين 31/7 ↩︎