Part 2 – Verbally Speaking
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In this chapter we will treat Forms V and VI together because of the similarities in their structures. تَعَلَّمَ is a Form V verb meaning “to learn.” Form V is characterized by a prefix of تَ added to the Form II stem, in this case عَلَّمَ Often the Form V has a meaning related…
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In Chapter Three of Part II, I mentioned that there were two other items concerning the passive which I wanted to mention. The first of these two is the impersonal use of the passive. It is often a problem for students, especially for students who do not have an understanding of the use of…
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This section is a bit long, but do not confuse length with difficulty. Read it carefully and then do the drills which follow. These three words cause more than their fair share of trouble. The following explanation will try to avoid some of the pitfalls in other texts when they try to explain how these…
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The following discussion of Form IV is based largely on the active voice. For the passive conjugations, which you should be able to predict anyway once you know the active, see the charts at the end of this book. You need to familiarize yourself with the passive conjugations – the drills on Form IV in…
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As you know, many adjectives have the فَعيل pattern. Among them are قريب , بعيد , كبير , كثير and طويل . For these adjectives there is a special pattern (called the elative in most textbooks) which provides both the comparative and superlative adjectives. This same pattern is also used for adjectives which vary slightly…
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The passive voice is widely used in Arabic without the negative associations regarding style that the passive voice has in English. American students are often uncomfortable with the passive voice when reading Arabic texts because the unvoweled passive conjugations often look exactly like active voice conjugations. Since many students often are horrified at the thought…
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Form III verbs are characterized by an alif placed between the first two radicals. For example قابَلَ, شاهَدَ, , and حاوَلَ are all Form III verbs. In the past tense these verbs conjugate like all the other verbs you have seen. In the present tense they have a voweling pattern similar to that for Form…
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The active participle is known in Arabic as اسم الفاعل The word فاعل refers to the form the participles take when derived from a Form I verb. The active participle (AP) is essentially an adjective closely related in meaning to the meaning of the verb. However, active participles are often also used as nouns. For…
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A verbal noun represents a change in the form of a verb which allows it to be used as a noun in a sentence. For example, the verbal noun in English for “to read” is “reading.” You would say, for example, “Reading is good for you.” In the previous sentence, “reading” is the subject. If…
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The subjunctive as a concept in grammar refers, in general, to that which is uncertain or related to emotion. Often it is used for things which are sought, desired, or feared, but which are not necessarily realized. In such situation, verbs in many languages reflect the somewhat uncertain nature of what is happening through changes…