Form VI: Gradualness, Exchange, and Pretence

التَّدَرُّج

root: د-ر-ج / form V verbal noun / definition: gradual advance or progression

I’ve gone straight from floating to hitting the ground running. And between that landing and my approaching take-off, things have progressed unexpectedly quickly in the space of a week.

I could get used to this pace.

But Arabic’s form VI verbs remind me of the power contained in gradual progress and—I think—now is a good time to start explaining.

Let’s rewind to the part we’re familiar with: verb forms.

There are nineteen Arabic verb forms in total—fifteen triliteral ones and four quadriliteral ones. (I’ve created a whole chart for you with the forms and their derivatives. You’re welcome).

But six-tenths of the way down our table of the ten most common triliteral verb forms, we find form VI.

Form VI verbs follow the pattern تَفاعَلَ / يَتَفاعَلُ, whilst verbal nouns of this form appear in the pattern تَفاعُل.

We might have heard that the general meaning of form VI verbs is that of exchange. But there’s a few more core categories of meaning that verbs of this form can fall into.

Let’s explore them!

Exchange and reciprocation

Many form VI verbs carry a meaning reciprocal to their form III counterparts.

For example, the form III عانَقَ / يُعانِقُ means “to embrace someone” whilst the form VI تَعانَقَ / يَتَعانَقُ means “to embrace each other”.

I even wrote a whole post about different form VI verbs that all mean “to compete with one another“.

Other verbs in this category include تَبادَلَ / يَتَبادَلُ (“to exchange”), تَراسَلَ / يَتَراسَلُ (“to correspond”), and تَلاقى / يَتَلاقى (“to meet one another”).

Gradualness, repetition, and increase

Other form VI verbs carry the idea of gradually progressing or increasing. Or, they indicate an action that is performed or happens repeatedly.

Examples include the verb تَضاءَلَ / يَتَضاءَلُ (“to dwindle”), تَعالى / يَتَعالى (“for sounds to become loud”), and تَفاقَمَ / يَتَفاقَمُ (“to increase dangerously”).

The form VI تَقاسَمَ / يَتَقاسَمُ carries both a reciprocal meaning (“to divide among one another”) and a meaning denoting repetition (“for thoughts to harass or torment someone”).

Taking on an attribute or pretence

Another category of form VI verbs relates to taking on a certain characteristic, or pretending.

For instance, we have تَظاهَرَ / يَتَظاهَرُ (“to pretend”), تَجاهَلَ / يَتَجاهَلُ (“to feign ignorance, to ignore”), and تَعاظَمَ / يَتَعاظَمُ (“to be arrogant”).

One of the verbs we mentioned in the previous section, تَعالى / يَتَعالى, also carries a meaning related to pretence and adopting a certain attribute: “to deem oneself above someone else”.

What other form VI verbs do you know? And which of these categories of general meaning do they fit into?

Let us know in the comments below!

.مع السلامة