Tag Archives: verb forms

Arabic Observations: “Seeking” in Arabic and Turkish

لُغَويّ root: ل-غ-و / nisba adjective / definition: linguistic I’ve been toying with the idea of writing this Arabic Observations post for a while, but I was unsure whether it’s too small of an observation to be added to this series. I’ve since concluded, however, that no linguistic observation is too small to be noted.Continue reading “Arabic Observations: “Seeking” in Arabic and Turkish”

Form I Defective Verbs: ا or و or ي or ى?

ناقِص root: ن-ق-ص / active participle of form I / definition: defective, incomplete Defective verbs are those with either ي or و as their final root letter. For defective verbs, this final root letter appears as one of four letters when conjugated: ا or و or ي or ى. So, how can we tell whatContinue reading “Form I Defective Verbs: ا or و or ي or ى?”

Verbal Nouns of Hollow Roots

مَصْدَر root: ص-د-ر / noun / plural: مَصادِر / definition: verbal noun, source Back in June, when we looked at the different types of Arabic roots, we mentioned that hollow roots are those with either و or ي as the middle letter. Like ق-و-ل and غ-ي-ر. Verbal nouns (مصادر) derived from hollow roots sometimes followContinue reading “Verbal Nouns of Hollow Roots”

Form I Active Participles of Geminate Roots

مُضَعَّف root: ض-ع-ف / passive participle of form II / definition: doubled, geminate As we saw in the post Arabic Roots: the Different Types, geminate roots are those whose final two letters are the same. Like م-س-س or ح-ر-ر. When it comes to the form I active participle of geminate roots then, we might expect itsContinue reading “Form I Active Participles of Geminate Roots”

Active Participles of Defective Roots

مُمارَسة root: م-ر-س / verbal noun of form III / definition: practice So I got the chance to practise speaking Arabic today and it’s safe to say that I’m… rusty. I shouldn’t be overly surprised seeing as it’s somehow been three and a half months since my final Arabic oral exam in Jordan, and I’veContinue reading “Active Participles of Defective Roots”

Root Exploration: م-د-ن

مُصابَة root: ص-و-ب / passive participle of form IV (feminine) / definition: afflicted, ill After more than two years of successfully dodging Covid, it finally caught me—and my parents—out. At least there’s some solidarity. That annoying cough is still plaguing me as I type this and, over the weekend, I was suffering the worst soreContinue reading “Root Exploration: م-د-ن”

The Case of امّحق: Form VII Assimilation

مُماثَلة root: م-ث-ل / verbal noun of form III / definition: assimilation (phonology) There’s less than three weeks until my study abroad module begins which means I’ll be jetting off very soon for a relaxing break an intensive period of Arabic study in Jordan. It really can’t come soon enough because I’ve forgotten almost allContinue reading “The Case of امّحق: Form VII Assimilation”

Root Exploration: د-ل-ه-م

ضَحْك root: ض-ح-ك / verbal noun of form I / definition: laughter After two hours and countless retakes, my classmate and I finally managed to record 20 minutes of Arabic conversation today for an assessment. Yes, that’s two hours of attempts for 20 minutes of usable footage. Honestly though, most of the retakes started soonContinue reading “Root Exploration: د-ل-ه-م”

Quadriliteral Active Participles in Arabic

اِسم فاعِل root: ف-ع-ل / phrase / definition: active participle If you’d asked me a week ago, I’d have told you that I lead a somewhat minimalist life—I hate having *things* cluttering up spaces around me which could very well be left empty. (This is, of course, ignoring my book-filled shelves and surfaces—books are entirelyContinue reading “Quadriliteral Active Participles in Arabic”

Root Exploration: ع-ر-ق

زَمَن root: ز-م-ن / noun / plural: أَزمان / definition: stretch of time It’s been a long time since our last post in the Root Exploration series. (In all honesty, though, it hasn’t felt long at all to me since I explore roots in the dictionary every day!) I’ve had a few roots written downContinue reading “Root Exploration: ع-ر-ق”

Arabic Verb Forms XI-XV

أَكْثَر root: ك-ث-ر / comparative, superlative / definition: more, most As you can see, I couldn’t wait too long for another post about Arabic roots following our look at quadriliteral (four-letter-root) verb forms. But this time, we’re going back to triliteral (three-letter) verb forms and exploring the ones above X—i.e. forms XI-XV (yes, they exist!).

Quadriliteral Arabic Verb Forms

وَزْن root: و-ز-ن / noun / plural: أَوْزان / definition: form, pattern We’ve come across some Arabic words from quadriliteral roots before on this blog—that is, roots comprising four letters. And I even went into a little depth about a quadriliteral verb form in Wehr Wednesdays #23. But “a little depth” doesn’t really do itContinue reading “Quadriliteral Arabic Verb Forms”

Root Exploration: م-و-ه

بَسيط root: ب-س-ط / adjective / definition: simple What can we get from the root of a word as simple as “water”? In Arabic, quite a lot! Here we are, with the second post in the Root Exploration series, and this time we’re taking a look at the root م-و-ه.

Arabic Headline Analysis #5

نِقابة root: ن-ق-ل / noun / plural: نِقابات / definition: syndicate, union It’s been a while since the last instalment in the Arabic Headline Analysis series, so we’re back today with another headline from the Project Syndicate website to analyse. (Take a look at this post to find out why this news website is greatContinue reading “Arabic Headline Analysis #5”

Root Exploration: ك-ش-ف

جَذْر root: ج-ذ-ر / noun / plural: جُذور / definition: root I feel a very nerdy rush of excitement as I begin this post, because it’s the first in the new Root Exploration series! In this series of posts, we’re going to take a single Arabic root and explore all of its different forms, derivatives,Continue reading “Root Exploration: ك-ش-ف”

Arabic Headline Analysis #4

عُنْوان root: ع-ن-و-ن / noun / plural: عَناوين / definition: title, headline This week, we’re embarking on another Arabic Headline Analysis—exploring the vocabulary and grammar of a recent news headline and concluding with the resulting translation. Our Arabic headline this week is taken from an article posted on the Project Syndicate website. I really recommendContinue reading “Arabic Headline Analysis #4”