The three structures we have talked
about so far did not have any additional letters. They were composed
solely of the root letters plus short vowels, which do not count as
letters. Those are called in Arabic the "bare" structures or measures
الأَوْزَاْنُالْمُجَرَّدَةُ .
With the employment of additional
letters, there will be as many as 14 other structures of perfective verbs
based on triliteral roots,
making a total of fifteen forms.
Structures
with additional letters are called in Arabic the "added to" or "augmented"
structures
الأَوْزَاْنُالْمَزِيْدَةُ
.
Here is a list of all the triliteral-rooted perfective verb structures:
Structures of Perfective Verbs with Triliteral Roots
(Active
Voice)
No
additional letters
Form I
fa"al(a)
فَعَلَ
fa"il(a)
فَعِلَ
fa"ul(a)
فَعُلَ
1
additional letter
Form II
fa""al(a)
فَعَّلَ
Form III
faa"al(a)
فَاْعَلَ
Form IV
'af"al(a)
أَفْعَلَ
2
additional letters
Form V
tafa''"al(a)
تَفَعَّلَ
Form VI
tafaa"al(a)
تَفَاْعَلَ
Form VII
'infa"al(a)
اِنْفَعَلَ
Form VIII
'ifta"al(a)
اِفْتَعَلَ
Form IX
'if"all(a)
اِفْعَلََّ
3
additional letters
Form X
'istaf"al(a)
اِسْتَفْعَلَ
Form XI
'if"aall(a)
اِفْعَاْلَّ
Form XII
'if"aw"al(a)
اِفْعَوْعَلَ
Form XIII
'if"awwal(a)
اِفْعَوَّلَ
Form XIV
'if"anlal(a)
اِفْعَنْلَلَ
Form XV
'if"anlaa
اِفْعَنْلَىْ
The last five
structures (highlighted in red) are rare.
Note that the short vowel between the final two letters (the green short
vowel) is fixed as
a
in all the forms other than form I. The only form that has a changeable
green vowel is form I, as we have already seen. When those perfective verb
forms are turned into imperfective, the green
vowel will be fixed as
i
in all forms except forms V & VI which will still have a fixed
a.
Form I will still have a changeable green vowel in the imperfective like
in the perfective.
We are going to cover the imperfective verbs later.
Forms IX and XI are irregular
doubled verbs. The green vowel is
omitted in the 3rd person masculine singular conjugation of these verbs as
well as in some other conjugations.
Form XV is an irregular
defective verb. This form ends with a
weak 'alif
that becomes a letter
y
in other conjugations.
All the
forms conjugate in the regular way mentioned earlier except
for the irregular ones (i.e. forms IX
and XI, the doubled verbs, and form XV,
the defective verb). The conjugation of
irregular verbs will be covered later.
Examples
on the conjugation of the different forms:
Just
like how the first three structures showed differences in meaning, each one
of the other structures also has its distinct meaning, or meanings.
However, having deep
knowledge of the different meanings of each structure is not that
important. The important thing is to know what a verb means and to be able
to conjugate it correctly.
A comprehensive review of
the meanings of each structure with large numbers of examples are
available here.
Here is a
simplified list of the meanings of verb structures:
Meanings of Verb Forms
Form I
فَعَلَ
fa"al(a)
tr./intr.
Basic
(he) did
فَعِلَ
fa"il(a)
tr./intr.
Stative
(he) was/became something
فَعُلَ
fa"ul(a)
intr.
Stative
(he) was/became something
Form II
فَعَّلَ
fa""al(a)
tr./intr.
Causative
(he) made do
Intensive
(he) did much
Form III
فَاْعَلَ
faa"al(a)
tr./intr.
Conative
(he) sought to do
Mutual
(he) initiated mutual doing with
Intensive
(he) did much
Form IV
أَفْعَلَ
'af"al(a)
tr./intr.
Causative
(He) made do
ReflexiveCausative
(He) made himself do
Form V
تَفَعَّلَ
tafa''"al(a)
tr./intr.
ReflexiveCausative
(He) made himself do
Reflexive Intensive
(he) did himself much
Form VI
تَفَاْعَلَ
tafaa"al(a)
tr./intr.
Conative
(he) sought to do
Mutual
(he) initiated mutual doing with
Pretension
(he) pretended to do
Reflexive Intensive
(he) did himself much
Form VII
اِنْفَعَلَ
'infa"al(a)
intr.
Reflexive
(he) was/became done
Agentless
Passive
(he) was/became done
Form VIII
اِفْتَعَلَ
'ifta"al(a)
tr./intr.
Reflexive
(he) did himself
Reflexive Causative
(he) made himself do
Form IX
اِفْعَلََّ
'if"all(a)
intr.
Stative
(he) was/became color/bodily
characteristic
Form X
اِسْتَفْعَلَ
'istaf"al(a)
tr./intr.
Causative
(He) made do
Reflexive Causative
(he) made himself do
Arrangement/Request
(he) had/asked to do
(He) sought to be done by
Details about these
meanings are available
here.
It should be noted that all of these
structures are considered active verbs, although the reflexive structures can
overlap in meaning with the passive (especially form VII which can be used
as a real passive). Each one of these structures has a
passive voice version which we will go through later.
It can often be not easy in real life to identify the meaning of a certain
verb with the general meaning of its structure.
Exercise 1
Can you fill in the missing
English pronouns inside the brackets?
(?) hurried
(up)
أَسْرَعْتُمْ
(?)
waited
اِنْتَظَرُوْا
(?) came close(er)
اِقْتَرَبْتُنَّ
(?)
received
اِسْتَلَمْنَاْ
(?) tried
جَرَّبْنَ
(?)
blued (became blue)
اِزْرَقَّتْ
(?)
tried
حَاْوَلا
(?)
became surprised
تَفَاْجَأْتِ
(?) won
اِنْتَصَرُوْا
(?)
learned
تَعَلَّمْتُمَاْ
(?)
roughened
اِخْشَوْشَنْتَ
Answers
(You plu. masc.) hurried (up)
أَسْرَعْتُمْ
(They plu. masc.) waited
اِنْتَظَرُوْا
(You plu. fem.) came close(er)
اِقْتَرَبْتُنَّ
(We) received
اِسْتَلَمْنَاْ
(They plu. fem.) tried
جَرَّبْنَ
(She) blued (became blue)
اِزْرَقَّتْ
(They dual masc.) tried
حَاْوَلا
(You sing. fem.) became surprised
تَفَاْجَأْتِ
(They plu. masc.) won
اِنْتَصَرُوْا
(You dual) learned
تَعَلَّمْتُمَاْ
(You sing. masc.) roughened
اِخْشَوْشَنْتَ
Exercise 2
Can you tell the forms of the
verbs in the previous exercise?
