Verbs that end in a long vowel

Lesson 17 taught what a weak letter in the middle of a root does. A weak letter at the end does something else: in the verbs of this lesson the past ends in a long vowel, and that vowel changes as the verb does. This lesson teaches five such verbs, with three verbs whose root has no weak letter.

The new words

Four of them, daʿā, hadā, qaḍā and talā, carry the religion in the Qur’ān's use of them: the course gives no meaning of its own for them, and you read them in the verses, with the edition's meaning beside them.

The past: a long ā

The root's last letter is w or y, and in the past with "he" as the doer these five say it as a long ā. Daʿā has the root d-ʿ-w; hadā has h-d-y; jazā j-z-y; qaḍā q-ḍ-y; talā t-l-w. Not every such verb does this: nasiya, from the root n-s-y, ends in -iya.

Fa-hadā is fa and hadā. The corpus marks the verb perfect, third person, masculine, singular.

Talāhā is talā and hā, "her" or "it", as the one the action reaches.

Wa-jazāhum is wa, then jazā, then hum, "them".

Before nā: ay or aw

Where nā, "we", is the doer, the long ā gives way to the root's last letter: ay for a root ending in y, aw for one ending in w.

Wa-hadaynāhu is wa, then hadaynā, then hu, "him": hadā with nā.

Daʿawtu is daʿaw and tu, "I". The doer here is tu, not nā, and the change is the same, with aw because the root ends in w.

Where nā is the one the action reaches, "us", and the doer is "he", the long ā stays.

Hadānā is hadā and nā.

The present: ū or ī

In the present of these five the last letter shows itself again: ū for a root ending in w, ī for one ending in y.

Yatlū is ya- and the root t-l-w, with a long ū at the end. The Qur’ān writes an alif after the ū here, which is not sounded.

Adʿū is a-, "I", and the root d-ʿ-w, with the same alif after the ū.

Najzī is na-, "we", and the root j-z-y, with a long ī at the end.

Yaqḍī is ya- and the root q-ḍ-y.

Not every such verb goes this way.

Yasʿā, from the root s-ʿ-y, has a long ā in the present too.

Where the long vowel is made short

Lesson 11 taught that after the li- of command a verb loses its last vowel. A verb that ends in a long vowel makes that vowel short instead.

Fa-l-yadʿu is fa, then l-, then yadʿu: the long ū of yadʿū has been made short. The corpus marks it jussive, its name for this form of the present.

Yaqḍi, with a short i, after lammā: before a present verb, this is the lammā that lesson 15 said the corpus counts with lam. The corpus marks the verb jussive too.

Three verbs with no weak letter

Amara, kasaba and ṣabara have no weak letter in their root, and in the past they take the same endings as jaʿala in lesson 6.

Amara: the past, with "he" as the doer.

Kasaba: the past, with "he" as the doer.

Wa-ṣbir is wa and iṣbir, the command of ṣabara; after wa its first vowel is not sounded.

In a sentence

This sentence was written for practice. Mashā, "walked", from the root m-sh-y, ends in a long ā like the five above. The doer comes after it, then maʿa akhīhi: akhīhi is in the genitive, with a long ī, as lesson 23 taught.

Reading

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Recall

• How does the past of daʿā end, with "he" as the doer?
• What does the ā become before nā, "we"?
• What happens to the long vowel after the li- of command?

Answers: in a long ā; ay for a root ending in y, aw for one ending in w; it is made short.

Next

The next lesson teaches the names the Qur’ān uses most, and why many of them have one ending for two cases.