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SarfisthescienceofClassicalArabicwhichdealswith:
1. patternsofvowelizationwhichindicatetenseofaverb
2. designatedendingswhichreflectthegender,plurality,andpersonoftheSubject(theonedoing
theverb)
Gender:TherearetwogendersinArabic:MasculineandFeminine.UnlikeEnglish,thereisnoneutral
genderinArabic.Allnounsaremasculineunlesstheyaredefinedfeminine,eitherbygeneral
agreemente.g.Umm(Mother),shams(Sun),orbythetheending whichiscalledtamarbuta.
Plurality:InArabictherearethreewaysofdescribingthenumberofnouns:single,dual,andplural
(morethan2).
Person:SimilartoEnglish,therearethreepersonsinArabic:1st,2nd,and3rd
AccordingtotheaboveschemetheSubjectofaverbcancause18(2x3x3)changestothepatternsof
vowelizationanddesignatedendingsofthatverb.Thesearelistedbelow:
3rdpersonMasculineSingular/Dual/Plural3
3rdpersonFeminineSingular/Dual/Plural3
2ndpersonMasculineSingular/Dual/Plural3
2ndpersonFeminineSingular/Dual/Plural3
1stpersonMasculineSingular/Dual/Plural3
1stpersonFeminineSingular/Dual/Plural3
However,the1stpersonMasculineSingular/Dualand1stpersonFeminineSingular/Dualarecondensed
asone;thus,thetotalisreducedby4,bringingitto14.Acompletelistingoftheseisgiveninthetable
below(note:thisistakenfrompage20ofHussainAbdulSattarsBook,FundamentalsofClassical
Arabic,availablehere).
SarfVariationsofthePastTense
Untilnowwehaveseenhowtoconjugateverbsusingthesimplepasttensee.g.heate,hehelped,he
didetc.Nowwewillseehowwecancouplesomewordstothepasttenseverbandmakeiteither
presentperfecte.g.hehashelpedorpastperfecte.g.hehadhelped.
Stickingtheword infrontofapasttenseverbmakesitpresentperfect.Thus, denotesactions
whichhavejustbeencompletede.g.hehashelped,hehasdone,hehasreadetc.Notethat isa
(i.e.aparticle)soitdoesnotchangeitsformwiththechangingformoftheverb.Asanexample,
meanshehelpedand meanshehashelped.Thesignificanceofthiswillbecomeclearwhenwe
dealwiththenextsectionaboutmakingpastperfecttense.Onemorethingtonoteisthatyoucannot
attacha infrontof tonegateit:thisconstructionisnotallowedinArabic.
Ifweadd infrontofapasttenseverbtheverbbecomespastperfect.Thus, denotesactions
whichhavebeencompletedindistantpast.However, isaverb,justlike ,soitwillalsochange
itsformwhencoupledwiththepasttenseverb.Thefollowingtableshowshowthisisdone:
Hehadhelped
They(2males)hadhelped
They(manymales)hadhelped
Shehadhelped
They(2females)hadhelped
They(manyfemales)hadhelped
You(1male)hadhelped
You(2males)hadhelped
You(manymales)hadhelped
You(1female)hadhelped
You(2females)hadhelped
You(manyfemales)hadhelped
Ihadhelped
Wehadhelped
Thenegationofthisconjugationisconstructedsimplybyaddinga infrontofit.Also,thepassive
voiceforthisconjugationisconstructedthesamewayasbefore:dhammaonthefirstletter,kasraon
thesecondlastletter.
SarfThePresentandFutureTense
isthetenseinArabicwhichconveysthemeaningofbothpresent(simpleandcontinuous)and
futuretenses.Thecontextandsituationoftheusagewilldeterminewhichoftheabovethreearemeant
tobeconveyed.ItiswhatiscalledtheImperfecttenseinEnglishi.e.theactioniseithergoingonoris
stilltostart.
Unlikethe ,the ispeculiarinitsnaturebecauseitischaracterizedbythepresenceofoneof
3. Conjugation13willhave asaprefix
4. Conjugation14willhave asaprefix
SuffixRules:
1. 5conjugationswillhavenosuffixatalli.e.thelastletterofthewordwillbethebaseletterof
theverb.Theseareconjugations1,4,7,13,and14
2. 9conjugationsarefurthersubdividedinto4groups:
The4duals(3rdpersonDualMasculine/Feminine,2ndpersonDual
Masculine/Feminine)willhaveanendingconsistingofan followedbya witha
kasrae.g. . .Theseareconjugations2,5,8,and11
The2FemininePluralConjugations,number6and12,willendwithasukunonthe
laampositionoftheverbfollowedbya withafatha
The2ndpersonSingularFeminine,conjugationnumber10,hasthesuffix i.e.ayaa
saakinplusa withafathae.g.
TheTablebelowlistsallthese
Hedoes
They(Dual,Male)do
They(Plural,Male)do
Shedoes
They(Dual,Female)do
They(Plural,Female)do
You(Singular,Male)do
You(Dual,Male)do
You(Plural,Male)do
You(Singular,Female)do
You(Dual,Female)do
You(Plural,Female)do
Ido
Wedo
Thepassivevoiceforthe isconstructedby:
1. Puttingafathaonthesecondlastletter(ifnotalreadyafatha)
2. Addingadhammatotheprefix
Thus,
becomes( heishelped,heisbeinghelped,orhewillbehelped).
Adding infrontofbothactiveandpassivevoiceofthe willnegateit
SarfVariationsof
Welcomebackto,finally!Afteralonghaulwith wearebackinthedomainof.Insha
AllahIwillexplainsomeofthevariationswhichcanoccurwith( thepresentandfuturetense
verb)andhowthegrammaticalstructureandmeaningoftheverbwillchangewiththesevariations.
Therearetwo( particles)whichwillcombinewiththe tochangeittoanegativeverb:
and.Eachoftheseimpartsaslightlydifferentmeaningtotheresultingverbandeachofthemwill
causetheoriginalverbtohavedifferentendingsaswell.
1. :Adding to willnegateitandwillrestrictittothefuturetense.Rememberherethat
wehadearliersaidthat coversbothpresentandfuture.Sonowweknowhowtotalk
aboutjustaboutthefuture!Finally,when negatesthe anelementofemphasisisadded
tothenegation.Thus, meanshewillneverhelpand meanshewill
neverbehelped.
2. :Adding to willnegateitandwillremoveallnotionsofpresentandfuturetensefrom
theverb,thusrenderingitbackintopast!Thismightseemalittleoddsincewealreadyhavethe
( pasttense)withusandwehavealreadyseenthatwecannegateitbyusing.Sowhy
exactlydoweneedtostick infrontof toconstructwhatwealreadyhave?The
differencehereisrathersubtle:Ifyourlistenershavenopreviousknowledgeofanevent
occurringandyouwanttosaythattheeventdidnothappen(meaningyouaresimplyinforming
themoftheactionnotoccurring)thenyouwoulduse; ontheotherhandifyouarespeaking
tosomeonewhohasincorrectknowledgeoftheeventandbelievesthattheeventdidoccur
whereastheevenetdidnotoccurthenyouwoulduse.So issimplenegationwhereas
hastheelementofrejectioninit.Onewayofputtingthisistosaythat isusedwhen
arguingwithsomeone.
RulesforConjugating + :
1. The5conjugationswhichendedindhammawillnowendinfatha
2. Outoftheremaining9allexceptthetwofemininepluralswilllosetheirfinal
3. Thetwofemininepluralswillnotundergoanychange
Hewillneverdo
They(2males)willneverdo
They(groupofmales)willneverdo
Shewillneverdo
She(2females)willneverdo
She(groupoffemales)willneverdo
You(male)willneverdo
You(2males)willneverdo
You(groupofmales)willneverdo
You(female)willneverdo
You(2females)willneverdo
You(groupoffemales)willneverdo
Iwillneverdo
Wewillneverdo
RulesforConjugating + :
1. The5conjugationswhichendedindhammawillnowendinsukun
2. Outoftheremaining9allexceptthetwofemininepluralswilllosetheirfinal
3. Thetwofemininepluralswillnotundergoanychange
Hedidnotdo
They(2males)didnotdo
They(groupofmales)didnotdo
Shedidnotdo
She(2females)didnotdo
She(groupoffemales)didnotdo
You(male)didnotdo
You(2males)didnotdo
You(groupofmales)didnotdo
You(female)didnotdo
You(2females)didnotdo
You(groupoffemales)didnotdo
Ididnotdo
Wedidnotdo
Twofinalpoints:
1. Thepassiveofthe constructisbuiltbyswitchingthefathaonthefirstlettertoadhammae.g.
becomes ,andsoon
2. Thepassiveofthe constructisbuiltbyswitchingthefathaonthefirstlettertoadhamma
e.g. becomes ,andsoon
SarfMorevariationsof
Herewego!Wearenowbackdealingwith .Inthispostwewilldealwithsomemorevariations
ofthefuturetense.InapreviouspostIhadexplainedhow ,whichencompassesbothpresentand
futuretenseinArabic,canbelimitedtofuturetenseonly.However,recallthatatthattimewehaddone
thisbynegatingtheverb.Inthispost,InshaAllah,Iwillshowhowtodothesamewithoutnegatingthe
verbi.e.howtosayhewillhelp,shewillhelpetc.Secondly,Iwillalsotalkabouttheimperativefor
i.e.howtosayverilyhewillhelp,verilyyouwillhelpetc.
SimpleFutureTense:Thisisbuiltbysimplyaddinga or infrontofeachconjugationof
verb;thiswillrestrictthetensetofuture.Thus, becomes (or) andso
on.Thatsit!ThereisnothingmoretobuildingasimplefuturetenseverbinArabic,sowewillmove
ontoournextvariation.
EmphaticFutureTense:Thisoneisnotgoingtobeaseasyasthethreelinerabove. Tobuildthe
emphaticfor notonlydowehaveadda infrontofit(withafatha),buttheendingsoftheverb
changeaswell.Morespecifically,a isaddedattheendoftheverb.Itisinterestingtonotethatthis
canbeina( i.e.withashaddaonit)formorinthe( i.e.withasukunonit)form.Theformer
iscalled andthelatteriscalled ,literallymeaningheavynunandlightnun,respectively.
Intermsofmeaningthetwoendingsdonotdiffer,exceptintheirtone.Thusonemaybepickedupover
theothertosatisfycomplexpoetryrulesorwhengivingsermons.Meaningwise,thereisnodifference
betweenthetwoconjugations,betheyareformedfrom or .Letusnowseehowthese
conjugationsareformed:
1. Thefivesingularswillhavethereendingdhammachangedtoafathaandthefinal ,either
conjugation!Therefore,toavoidconfusion,thedhammaonthethirdpersonmasculinesingular
ischangedtoafathawhenformingthefutureemphatic.Conversely,thedhammaonthe
twomasculinepluralswhichremainsthereintheemphaticconjugationisanindicationofthe
dropped .Similarly,thekasraonthesecondpersonfemininesingularfutureemphaticformis
anindicationofthedropped
4. Nothingwilldropfromthetwopluralfeminines.However,toeasepronunciation,an is
insertedbetweentheoriginalfinal andtheemphaticforming or
Verilyhewilldo
Verilythey(2males)willdo
Verilythey(groupofmales)willdo
Verilyshewilldo
Verilythey(2females)willdo
Verilythey(groupoffemales)willdo
VerilyYou(male)willdo
Verilyyou(2males)willdo
Verilyyou(groupofmales)willdo
Verilyyou(females)willdo
Verilyyou(2females)willdo
Verilyyou(groupoffemales)willdo
VerilyIwilldo
Verilywewilldo
Notes:
1. Anexampleof conjugationis:
2. Thereare6lessconjugationinthe tablesthanthereareinthe tables.Thisisbecause
the isnotattachedtothoseconjugationswhichendinan( thefourdualsandthetwo
feminineplurals).Thus,rules2and4donotapplytothe tables
He did not do
They
She
did not do
We did not do
"
I must do!
$$
We must do!
"
2. After removing the sign of if the next letter (i.e. the position) has a vowel on it then
simply make the last letter of the remaining word sakin and use the endings from the table .
An example of this kind would be *. Since the second letter already has a fathah on it
therefore the command verb would be *.
3. After removing the sign of if the next letter is sakin then it cannot be pronounced since
words need to start with a vowel (dhamma, fatha, kasra). In this case, we add a hamza ( )in
front of the word to aid pronunciation, and then look at the position of the word: if this letter
has a dhamma then we put a dhamma on the hamza which is at the front of the word. However,
if this letter has either a fathah or a kasra we put a kasrah on the hamza. Examples of this
construction are:
. which changes to .
4. which changes to
5. which changes to
A complete listing of the 2nd Person Active command verb is given below. Note that the endings
remain that of the table:
"
verb) can occur in several different patterns depending upon the vowelling and number of
letters in the base verb. In this post, I will, Insha Allah, explain about different patterns of Arabic verbs
along with some of their examples.
To start with, we may be tempted to assume that any two verbs which have the same voice, same tense,
and the same conjugation number will look alike and will rhyme with one another. However, this is not
the case as can bee seen by looking at the following 3 examples:
1.
2.
3.
The first verb, ( to help), rhymes with and has the same number of letters as .
The second verb, ( to hear), although having the same number of letters as , does not
rhyme with it due to a kasra on the middle letter. Finally, the last verb, ( to roll), does not
rhyme with , and also has 4 letters in it, rather than 3. As a rule of thumb, differences in Arabic
verbs can occur due to one of 6 reasons:
3 of these reasons relate to number of letters in the base verb and its vowelling pattern
3 of these reasons relate to irregularities. These have nothing to do with number of base letters
or the vowelling pattern of the verb. Rather, these difference in verbs are introduced by the
presence of certain letters e.g. , ,
In this post I will deal with the first 3 rules which can be stated into the following expanded categories:
1. Difference in number of base letters of a verb
2. Difference in the way the verb is enhanced
3. Difference in the position vowelling of a verb
The minimum number of letters in a base verb is 3 and the maximum is 4. Each one of these two sets of
verbs may comprise of only base letters (i.e. without any enhancement) or they may have addition of
non-base, or extra, letters (i.e. enhanced), which provides us with 4 distinct verb groupings:
1. Verbs with 3 base letters which are not enhanced, called e.g.
2. Verbs with 3 base letters which are enhanced, called e.g.
3. Verbs with 4 base letters which are not enhanced, called e.g.
4. Verbs with 4 base letters which are enhanced, called e.g.
On top of this, verbs can differ in the way the vowel appears on the position. Using the
form of and switching the vowel on the position, we get 3 distinct patterns:
1.
2.
3.
For each of these patterns of a verb, there will exist 3 corresponding patterns
with their own vowelling patterns, giving us 9 patterns in total which are listed in the table below:
#
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
The patterns 6, 7, and 8 do not exist in the Arabic Language, which means that you will never find a
verb based on this pattern of vowelling. As for the remaining 6, each pattern is called a
( door) and can be defined as an etymological grouping which arises due to a difference in number
of letters or the
verb in Arabic will follow exactly one of these patterns. To ease memorization of these the
scholars of have picked up the most widely used example from each of them and have named the
after it. These are listed in the following table in their order of popularity:
1
2
89:;; ;
8;:;
9;
4
5
6
88;?
89: ;9;
The :
Enhancement to verbs can be done in various ways: duplication of the position e.g. >-
( to know -> to teach), or adding a hamzah, called ( or the enabling hamza, which is
added to ease pronunciation), at the front of the verb. This can be noticed with the which
has 14 , out of which 5 do not have the enabling hamzah in front of them and all of these 5 are
popular. The rest of the 9 have the enabling hamza in front of them and only 3 are popular from among
theses nine. The 5 of without the are given in the table below:
89?8
?;
98
N;;;
N;;
;;;
;;
I hope that this very brief introduction to will be a good starting point for further learning of
this vast field of . Insha Allah, I will write more about this topic once we go through it in the
course.
The presence of a
The last two base-letters being the same letter i.e. a doubled letter ()
Based on the presence or absence of one of these reasons the scholars of Sarf have divided the Arabic
verbs in 7 categories, or to give the Persian term for it, in
Example
, ,
or at the front
or at the position
or at the position
Category 3, 4, 5, and 6 all involve a or a and verbs falling under these categories are collectively
called .
This brief introduction is a prelude to the vast part of Sarf which deals with irregularities in Arabic
verbs. I will, Insha Allah, post more detail about each of these categories in the near future.
SarfTheIrregularVerb
Inthelastpostwelearnedaboutthe7categoriesintowhichArabicverbscanbegroupedandthenwe
sawhowintroductionofweakletterscancauseverbstobecomeirregulari.e.causetheirconjugations
todifferfromthenormalconjugationsofregularverbs.Nowwewill,InshaAllah,startgoinginto
detailsofeachoftheverbcategorieswhichdealwithirregularverbs.Ourfirstpostdealswith
which,asyoumayrecall,isaverbhaving or atthe position.
verbsinArabicLanguagecomefromeitheroneofthe3baabs: ,,or .
Thus, comesfromthe baab, comesfrom baab,and comesfrom
baab.Theveryfirstthingwhendealingwithirregularverbsistofindtheactualbaselettersin
it.Remember,irregularverbsarecalledirregularsinceoneormoreoftheirbaselettershaveeither
changedtosomeotherletterorhavedroppedaltogetherdue,mainly,topronunciationissues.Wewill
nowseehowwecanfindthebaselettersin verbsandduringthisexercisewewillcomeupwitha
ruletoformirregularverbsinthiscategorystartingfromtheirbaseletter.
Thebaseletterinanirregularverbcanbefoundby:
1. Lookingatnounsformedfromtheseverbs
2. Lookingatthe oftheirregularverb
ExposuretoArabicLanguageleadsustothefactthatthe3nounsformedfrom and,and
are(asaying),(atransactionorasale),and(fear),respectively.Also,aswewilllearn
shortly,the ofthethreeverbsalsocontain
initsmiddle.Thus,wecannowderivetheoriginalverbsusingthisfactandtheknowledgeofbaab
fromwhicheachverbcomes.
OriginalForm FinalForm
Nowwearereadytostateourrulefordealingwithactivevoiceofthe of .
SimpleChangetoAlifrule(Active):
Wheneverthereisa weakletteri.e.a ora precededbya letter,change
the or toalif.
Asyoucanseethatthisrulecompletelycoverstheconjugationgiveninthetableabove.
NowIwilllistthe tablefor whichwillthrowupsomemorelightonthetreatmentof
Hesaid
They(twomales)said
They(morethantwomales)said
Shesaid
They(twofemales)said
They(morethantwofemales)said
You(male)said
You(twomales)said
You(morethan2males)said
You(female)said
You(2females)said
You(morethan2females)said
Isaid
Wesaid
Notethelossofaliffrom6thconjugationonwards.Also,notethechangefromfathatodhamma.The
alifisdroppedbecauseitisnoteasytopronounceanaliffollowedbya letterbecauseofthe
introductionofanunnecessary.Thedhammaisintroducedasatraceforthefactthatitwasa
whichdroppedfromtheverb.Similarlyfor the6thconjugationwouldbe ,withthefirst
letterhavingakasra(andonwardstothelastconjugation)signifyingthatthedroppedletterwasa .
For ,however,thissimpleruledoesnotapplyintotality.The6thconjugationhereis
ratherthan,whichonewouldexpect.Thisisexplainedbythefactthatinthecaseof
thekasrasignifiesthattheverbis( hasakasraonthe position)because
originatesfromthe baab,thereforeitsmiddleletterhastohaveakasraonit.Inthiscasewedo
getahintastowhichletterwasdropped.
Todealwiththepassivevoicewerecognizethatthefollowingarethestartingpointsfortheabove
mentioned3verbs:
OriginalForm FinalForm
forthe
presenceofweakletters.Thesechangesaregivenbelow:
OriginalForm FinalForm
Thesechangesaregovernedbythefollowingrule:
Hesays
They(twomales)say
They(morethantwomales)say
Shesays
They(twofemales)say
They(morethantwofemales)say
You(male)say
You(twomales)say
You(morethan2males)say
You(female)say
You(2females)say
You(morethan2females)say
Isay
Wesay
Hopefullythisbriefintroductionto willbeagoodstartingpointforunderstandingirregularities
inArabicverbs,InshaAllah.
Disclaimer: This post is due to a major contribution from Humairah (blogging here). Any mistakes, of
course, are mine.
As we have already learned, verb is one which has or at its position. For the purpose of
illustration we will take three examples of a verb: ( he called) , which comes from
baab , ( he threw), which comes from baab, and ( he was pleased), which
comes from baab. In this post I will, Insha Allah, deal with the conjugations of the
verb.
of :
Below, I will list the conjugations for both and . Note that the only occurs in the
first 5 conjugations of both these verbs. I will Insha Allah also explain why the occurs in each
case. We will deal with separately later in this post, Insha Allah.
10
11
12
13
14
In the Arabic Language certain pronunciation issues arise when weak letters are preceded by
inappropriate vowels. For example, it is difficult to pronounce a which is and is preceded
by a or a which is and is preceded by a . In such cases we implement
rules which change these weak letters to other, pronounceable, letters coupled with a shift in the vowel
itself from one letter to another. Thus, for to occur the or need to be and need
to be preceded by inappropriate vowels.
On the other hand, a which is and is preceded by a is very normal; similarly a
which is and is preceded by a is very normal. Moreover, a or preceded by a
is also considered normal for pronunciation. Now, if you note that in the above table there is no
from the 6th conjugation downwards because in there the or is and is preceded by
a normal vowel i.e. a .
Fifth Conjugation: This was originally rhyming with . The changed to giving
us . It is important to note here that in this last form the is actually but has to carry a
because of the final which is the pronoun of duality. Thus the in the middle will drop
because of gathering of two letters leaving us with
All the above rules can be equally applied to the first five conjugation of the table.
As for the only major is in the 3rd conjugation, all other rhyming with the
corresponding conjugations of
10
11
12
13
14
First conjugation: It was actually but changed its form due a rule which is called the edge rule.
It states that any
change to
. This rule deals with the concept of small whereby one letter changes to
another but the form of the verb is not disfigured: still rhymes with .
Note: this small happens in all 14 conjugations for
Third conjugation: The 3rd conjugation was originally ( rhyming with ) which is
hard for pronunciation since the is preceded by a . Moreover, this here is then followed by
a which makes it even harder on the tongue. In this case, the moved from to , which lost
it . The is then dropped because it is left with a which is . The cannot be
dropped since it is a pronoun (denoting they, group of males).
This concludes our discussion of introducing the for the verb. The next post, Insha Allah,
will deal with the of the verb.
patterns for the same and we will see how some conjugations undergo .
In the of the verb, 6 conjugations do not have since they rhyme with their
counterparts. These are conjugations number 2,5,6,8,11, and 12 i.e. the 4 duals and the 2 plural
feminines. For example, the set of these 6 conjugations from the table will rhyme with
whereas the set of these 6 conjugations in the table will rhyme with .
Below, I will give the complete listing of the for 3 verbs:
10
11
12
13
14
Only the 5 singulars (1,4,7,13,14) and 3,9, and 10 have in them. Note that we include
conjugation 14 in the singular group since it looks like a singular
If you remember, the edge rule for a verb states that any
of a word) preceded by a
or . They all have at the position since we know that the base letters in
the table are and . Thus the first example should have been because the is
not preceded by a . However, it is changing to a . On top of this, we have also stated that
that there is no in this conjugation. To address this anomaly we say that since the final form of
the verb is still rhyming with its counter part i.e. , therefore there has only been a
change of a letter rather than a full blown . To explain the change of the letter (i.e. to ) we
state a rule which deals with a or occurring beyond the third position in a verb. This rule can
be named Fourth position or beyond rule and states that:
If a
, it changes into a .
Having noted this aspect, we now move on to deal with those conjugations which have full in
them.
First conjugation : In the case of it was actually rhyming with . The final
was awkward on and was dropped. In the case of this was actually . Again,
the was dropped since it was awkward on the . For the case of the original was
. The is at the fourth position so change it to according to the Fourth position or beyond
rule. This leave us with which has a which is and is preceded by a so
this is changed to according to the Simple Change to Alif rule , giving us
Third Conjugation: Here was originally . The on the was dropped
which leaves us with two which are . Thus, one of these is dropped giving us
The above process can actually be encompassed in a two step rule which states that: Whenever there
is a position or preceded by a or a , make the or the as . Now, if
the or is preceded by an appropriate short vowel and followed by an appropriate long vowel (see
here for this discussion) then drop this or . This rule also takes care of the 9th conjugation of
The was changed (according to the Fourth position rule) to since it is preceded by a giving
us . Now we have a which is and is preceded by a so we change it
to an using the Simple Change to Alif rule , the introduction of which results in gathering of two
. Again, one of the is dropped due to the gathering of two letters giving us
Almost of these rules can also be applied when constructing the passive conjugations for the
of the verb. In some future post I will Insha Allah try to list all the rules governing . Until
then, hopefully, this introduction will come in handy for the students of Classical Arabic.
then change this letter to an . See here for examples of this rule
Rules for :
1. The Edge Rule: It states that any position ( i.e. occurring at the edge of a word) preceded
by a will change to . This is depicted by the first conjugation of
which was originally . See here for examples of this rule
2. Fourth Position or Beyond Rule: If a comes in the fourth position or later in a word and it is
not preceded by a or a , it changes into a . See here for examples of this rule
3. Whenever there is a position or preceded by a or a , make the or the
as . Now, if the or is preceded by an appropriate short vowel and followed by an
appropriate long vowel (see here for this discussion) then drop this or . The change of
verb. Insha Allah, in the future, I will post about other ? and their governing rules as well.