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20 ø-state incomplete-action verbs

20.1 Introduction

In chapter 17 we mentioned that incomplete action verbs have three states (like nouns). These states are called:

The u-state
The a-state
The ø-state

We have already studied the u-state of incomplete-action verbs in chapter 17. And we will defer the study of a-state of incomplete-action verbs to chapter 19. In this chapter we will study the ø-state incomplete-action verb.

We will also study the verb of command which is very similar to the ø-state incomplete-action verb.

20.2 Forming the ø-state incomplete-action verb

Here is the u-state incomplete action verb for the singular masculine absentee participant doer “he”:

يَفْعَلُ
yafɛalu
“he does”

Note that, because it is in the u-state, the its final letter ends with a u-mark ◌ُ. In order to form the ø-state incomplete-action verb, we change the u-mark into a ø-mark ◌ْ, thus:

يَفْعَلْ
yafɛal

This is done for all participants whose doer pronoun is invisible and u-state verb ends with a u-mark ◌ُ.

For participants whose doer pronoun is followed by an extra ن in the u-state verb, this final ن is dropped in order to form the ø-state incomplete-action verb. So, for example, the u-state incomplete-action verb:

يَفْعَلَانِ
yafɛalāni
“they_2,m do”

becomes, for the ø-state:

يَفْعَلَا
yafɛalā

Here is the complete table of the ø-state incomplete-action verb for all doer participants.

Participant	Incomplete-action verb doer pronoun	u-state incomplete-action verb	ø-state incomplete-action verb
he	invisible	يَفْعَلُ	يَفْعَلْ
she	invisible	تَفْعَلُ	تَفْعَلْ
you_1,m	invisible	تَفْعَلُ	تَفْعَلْ
you_1,f	ي	تَفْعَلِينَ	تَفْعَلِي
I	invisible	أَفْعَلُ	أَفْعَلْ
they_2,m	ا	يَفْعَلَانِ	يَفْعَلَا
they_2,f	ا	تَفْعَلَانِ	تَفْعَلَا
you₂	ا	تَفْعَلَانِ	تَفْعَلَا
they_3+,m	و	يَفْعَلُونَ	يَفْعَلُوا
they_3+,f	نَ	يَفْعَلْنَ	يَفْعَلْنَ (same)
you_3+,m	و	تَفْعَلُونَ	تَفْعَلُوا
you_3+,f	نَ	تَفْعَلْنَ	تَفْعَلْنَ (same)
we	invisible	نَفْعَلُ	نَفْعَلْ

Take note the following:

The u-state and ø-state verbs are the same for the feminine plural absentee and addressee participants:
- يَفْعَلْنَ (they_3+,f)
- تَفْعَلْنَ (you_3+,f)
The u-state and ø-state verbs for the masculine plural absentee and addressee participants have a final silent أَلِف:
- يَفْعَلُوا (they_3+,m)
- تَفْعَلُوا (you_3+,m)
When the ø-state incomplete-action verb ends with a ø-mark ◌ْ, and the next word begins with a connecting hamzah ٱ then the ø-mark ◌ْ is converted to an i mark ◌ِ. For example:
- يَفْعَلْ + ٱلرَّجُلُ = يَفْعَلِ ٱلرَّجُلُ

20.3 With لِ for indirect commands

The particle لِ when connected to the front of a incomplete-action verb causes it to be in the ø-state and gives it the meaning of an indirect command. In English this can be translated using “should” or “let”:

لِيَذْهَبِ ٱَلرَّجُلُ
“The man should go!”
or
“Let the man go!”
(“Let” is being used here as a command for the man, not for the addressee of this speech.)

لِنَذْهَبْ!
“Let’s go!”

The indirect command is only rarely used for the addressee participant. Instead, the verb of command is used which we will study in section 20.8 later in this chapter.

The particles فَ “so” and وَ “and” are frequently used before this لِ. The لِ then loses its i-mark and gets a ø-mark. Examples:

فَلْنَأْکُلْ طَعَامَنَا وَلْنَشْرَبْ شَرَابَنَا.
“So let us eat our food and drink our drink!”

لِتَجْلِسُوا عَلَى ٱلْأَرْضِ.
“You should sit on the ground!”

20.4 With لَا for prohibitions

The word لَا when in front of a ø-state incomplete-action verb gives the meaning of a prohibition. In English this can be translated using “Don’t”.

For example,

لَا تَکْتُبُوا
“Don’t write_3,m!”

يَا زَيْدُ، لَا تَدْخُلِ ٱلْبَيْتَ!
“Don’t_1,m enter the house!”

The particles فَ “so” and وَ “and” may be used before this لَا. Example:

فَلَا تَأْکُلْ وَلَا تَشْرَبْ!
“So don’t eat_1,m and don’t drink_1,m!”

Such prohibitions are generally for the addressee participant. However, rarely, they may be issued for the absentee participant as well. Example:

لَايَمْنَعْ زَيْدًا ٱلدُّخُولَ.
“Let him not prevent Zayd from entering!”

By the way, لَا does not force a verb to be in the u-state ø-state. We have already seen in section 17.9.2 that لَا can be used to negate a u-state incomplete-action verb for the present and future tense. Example:

لَا يَذْهَبُ ٱلرَّجُلُ
lā yad͡h·habu -rrajulu.
“The man does not go.” or,
“The man is not going.” or,
“The man will not go.”

20.5 With لَمْ for “did not”

The particle لَمْ when in front of an incomplete-action verb causes it to be in the ø-state and gives it the meaning of negating the past tense In English this can be translated using “did not”. For example,

لَمْ يَذْهَبِ ٱلرَّجُلُ.
“The man did not go.”

We have already learned in section 6.10 that the completed-action verb is negated using the particle مَا. For example:

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

Both لَمْ and مَا are used commonly to negate the past tense. مَا has a more emphatic meaning than لَمْ.

Here are some more examples:

20.6 With لَمَّا for “did not yet”

The word لَمَّا when in front of a ø-state incomplete-action verb gives the meaning “did not yet”. For example,

لَمَّا يَذْهَبْ زَيْدٌ.
“Zayd did not go yet.”

20.7 Other uses of the ø-state incomplete-action verb

The ø-state incomplete-action verb is also used for consequential actions and in conditional statements. We will deal with these in chapters ?? and ?? respectively

20.8 The verb of command

In order to give a direct command to an addressee, Arabic uses the verb of command. The verb of command is very similar to the ø-state incomplete-action verb. The verb of command is only available for the addressee participant.

20.8.1 Forming the verb of command

Here is the verb of command for the addressee participants:

Participant	Verb of command
you_1,m	ٱفْعَلْ
you_1,f	ٱفْعَلِي
you₂	ٱفْعَلَا
you_3+,m	ٱفْعَلُوا
you_3+,f	ٱفْعَلْنَ

In order to form the verb of command, we remove the initial ت from the addressee particpant verb. The verb then begins with an ø-mark so we place a connecting hamzah in front of it.

When the verb of command occurs in the beginning of a sentence, then the vowel mark for the connecting hamzah is selected according to the following criteria:

When the middle root letter of the verb of command has an u-mark ◌ُ, then the connecting hamzah gets an u-mark too. Examples:

Verb	Verb of command for “he”
نَظَرَ يَنْظُرُ نَظَرًا	ٱُنْظُرْ “Look!”
قَتَلَ يَقْتُلُ قَتْلًا	ٱُقْتُلْ “Kill!”
مَکَثَ يَمْکُثُ مُکُوثًا	ٱُمْکُثْ “Stay!”

Otherwise, when the middle root letter of the verb of command has an a-mark ◌َ or an i-mark ◌ِ, then the connecting hamzah gets an i-mark ◌ِ. Examples:

Verb	Verb of command for “he”
عَمِلَ يَعْمَلُ عَمَلًا	ٱِعْمَلْ “Work!”
ذَهَبَ يَذْهَبُ ذَهَابًا	ٱِذْهَبْ “Go!”
جَلَسَ يَجْلِسُ جُلُوسًا	ٱِجْلِسْ “Sit!”

Here are some examples of using the verb of command:

The verb of command is not used to issue negative commands, like “Don’t go!”. Instead, the ø-state verb is used with لَا as described in section 20.4 above.

لَا تَذْهَبْ
“Don’t go!”

20.8.2 The verb of command for roots begin with hamzah

Appendix A details the rules for speeling words that contain hamzah generally. In addition to those rules, the verb of command for roots that begin with hamzah warrant additional discussion.

Consider the following form 1 verbs and their verbs of command for the singular masculine addressee doer “he”:

Root	Verb	Verb of command
«أمل»	أَمَلَ يَأْمُلُ أَمَلًا “to hope”	ٱؤْمُلْ
«أذن»	أَذِنَ يَأذَنُ أَذَنًا “to permit”	ٱئْذَنْ

Here are examples of these verbs of commands in the middle of a sentence:

يَا أُمِّي ٱئْذَنِي لِي ٱللَّعِبَ!
yā ʾummi -ʾd͡hanī li -llaɛib!
“O my mother, permit me to play!”

يَا زَيْدُ ٱؤْمُلِ ٱلْخَيْرَ!
yā zaydu -ʾmuli -lk͡hayr!
“O Zayd, hope for good!”

When these verbs of command occur in the beginning of the sentence, then there would be two hamzahs occuring next to each other which is not permitted. So the second hamzah is pronounced as a long vowel, though it may still be written as a hamzah. Examples:

ٱُؤمُلِ ٱلْخَيْرَ يَا زَيْدُ!
ʾūmul
not
\(\times\) ʾuʾmul

ٱِئذَنِي لِي ٱللَّعِبَ يَا أُمِّي!
ʾīd͡hanī
not
\(\times\) ʾiʾd͡hanī

As a further complication, when the verb of command is preceded by وَ “and” or فَ “so” then the connecting hamza is not written and the hamzah of the first root letter is written seated on an أَلِف. Examples:

وَأْمُلْ
waʾmul
“And hope!”

فَأْذَنْ
faʾd͡han
“So permit!”

20.8.3 Irregular verbs of command

In addition to the rules states above there are four verbs of command (all containing hamzah) that are irregular. We will discuss them below:

20.8.3.1 The verbs أَکَلَ , أَخَذَ , and أَمَرَ

The verbs of command for the following three verbs are irregular:

Root	Verb	Verb of command
«أکل»	أَکَلَ يَأْکُلُ أَکْلًا “to eat”	کُلْ
«أخذ»	أَخَذَ يَأْخُذُ أَخْذًا “to take”	خُذْ
«أمر»	أَمَرَ يَأْمُرُ أَمْرًا “to order”	مُرْ

As you can see, the initial hamzah has been completely deleted for the verbs of command. However, of these verbs, the verb of command for أَمَرَ يَأْمُرُ أَمْرًا is permitted to retain its initial hamzah when preceded by وَ “and” or فَ “so”. Then, it becomes

وَأْمُرْ waʾmur
and
فَأْمُرْ faʾmur

This retaining of the initial hamzah is not done for the other two verbs.

Here are some examples of these verbs of command:

20.8.3.2 The verb سَأَلَ

The verb سَأَلَ يَسْأَلُ سُؤَالًا “to question” forms its verb of command both regularly, and irregularly:

Regular: ٱسْأَلْ ʾisʾal
Irregular: سَلْ sal

If the verb of command is preceded by وَ “and” or فَ “so”, then the regular verb of command ٱسْأَلْ ʾisʾal is often preferred.

Otherwise, the irregular verb of command سَلْ sal is often preferred.

Examples of usage: