إيمان: Form IV Verbal Nouns of Hamza-Initial Roots

صُداع

root: ص-د-ع / noun / definition: headache

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I keep forgetting I’m 27. In my head, I’m already 28, and I’m not sure why.

It’s slightly ironic that I can’t digest the number 27; it seems I recognise 27 in everything but myself.

(I wonder if I lost a year in the time difference between Doha and London.)

Regardless of my issues with the passage of time, I managed to submit another draft chapter of my PhD last week before the deadline.

And amidst/after a three-day headache following that, I’ve spent my time baking (Cypriot hellimli zeytinli), painting (a giant pomegranate), and trying to recuperate my social life (which died of neglect in the winter). I’ve also been working on a very important resource—keep an eye out.

Somehow, the headache has returned today and I think I’ll blame it on the weather.

Apologies for the rambling. You’re here for the grammar, right?

Here’s a form IV verbal noun (مصدر) that we may be familiar with:

إيمان

It means “to believe”. Or, as a regular noun, it can be translated as “faith, belief”.

Form IV verbal nouns usually follow the pattern إفْعال. So you might look at إيمان and think the first root letter is ي… but that would be incorrect.

إيمان is derived from the verb آمَنَ / يُؤْمِنُ. Its root is ء-م-ن.

You can see the hamza clearly in the present tense verb (يؤمن), sitting atop a و.

And in the past tense verb (آمَنَ), the alif-hamza (أ) of the form IV past tense verb pattern (أَفعَلَ) merges with the hamza of the root, and forms a madda: آ. We see the same thing in the imperative form: آمِنْ.

(See Seats of the Hamza (ء) for more about how the hamza changes seats and form!)

It’s easier to pronounce (and write) آمَنَ than أَأَمَنَ, so we use a long vowel sound instead of a double glottal stop.

Now. The verbal noun إيمان is a bit different. The form IV verbal noun pattern (إفْعال) begins with إ (i)—not أ (a).

So when we simplify the double hamza situation, we’re not going to end up with the long aa sound of the madda (آ). Instead, we elongate the kasra of إ by adding a ي after it.

Thus, we say/write إيمان rather than إِئمان.

The same thing happens in other form IV verbal nouns that have hamza-initial roots—like إيجار (“to lease”, root: ء-ج-ر).

Or like إيواء (“to shelter”), from the root ء-و-ي—a root that is hamzated, hollow, and defective! (Learn all the lingo about root types here.)

That’s all for now, I’ll hopefully see you on the other side of this headache.

!مع السلامة

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