Attached Subject Pronouns with the Irregular Perfective Verbs

A regular perfective verb الفِعْل المَاضِي الصَّحِيْح, explained in a previous lesson, is the verb that does not include a long vowel حَرْفُ عِلَّة (i.e. و ، ا ، ي). The absence of the long vowel makes its conjugation with different persons / pronouns straightforward. That is, the root verb does not change when pronoun suffixes (or affixes) are added. By contract, the irregular perfective verb الفِعْل المَاضِي المُعْتَل includes one or more long vowels as part of the root. For now, let’s look at the verbs that have one long vowel. This vowel can be at the beginning of the verb (i.e. وَعَدَ, وَصَلَ, وَجَدَ), in the middle (i.e. قَالَ, خَافَ, صَامَ), or at the end (i.e. جَرَى, دَعَا, مَشَى).

 Personal

Pronoun

Attached

Pronoun

Root

Verb

Perfective form examples
أنَا ـتُ

قَالَ

نَامَ

دَعا

وَصَلَ

قُلْـتُ إِنَّهُ ضَرُوْرِي – I said that it was necessary

نِمْـتُ سَاعَةً – I slept for an hour

دَعَوْتُ صَدِيْقِي – I called my friend

وَصْلْـتُ مَسَاءً – I arrived in the evening

نَحْنُ ـنَا

وَجَدَ

بَاعَ

وَضَعَ

دَعَا

وَجَدْنَا الكَنْز – we found the treasure

بِعْـنَا بَيْتَنَا – we sold our house

وَضَعْـنَا الأَسَدَ فِي القَفَص – we put the lion in the cage

دَعَوْنَا سَلِيْم – we invited Saleem

أَنْتَ ـتَ

ضَاعَ

جَرَى

خَافَ

دَعا

ضَعْـتَ فِي الغَابَة – your were lost in the jungle

جَرَيْـتَ فِي الشَّارِع – you ran in the street

خُفْـتَ مِنَ الكَلْب – you were afraid of the dog

هَلْ دَعَوْتَ أَحْمَد؟ - did you call Ahmed?

أَنْتِ ـتِ

كَانَ

مَشَى

وَزَنَ

صَامَ

كُنْـتِ فِي البَيْت – you were at home

مَشَيْـتِ إِلَى البَيْت – you walked home

وَزَنْـتِ التُّفَّاح – you weighed the apple

صِمْـتِ رَمَضَان – you fasted Ramadhan

أَنْتُم ـتُم

طَارَ

رَمَى

سَارَ

غَزَا

طُرْتُم إِلَى سِيَاتِل – you flew to Seattle

رَمِيْـتُم الأَسْد – you shot the lion

سِرْتُم إِلَى مَكَّة – you walked to Mecca

غَزَوْتُم العِرَاق – you invaded Iraq

أَنْتُنَّ ـتُنَّ

وَعَدَ

خَافَ

جَرَى

فَازَ

وَعَدْتُنَّـنَا – you promised us

خُفْـتُنَّ الظَّلام – you were scared of the dark

جَرَيْـتُنَّ فِي الحَوْش – you ran in the yard

هَلْ فُزْتُنَّ؟ - did you win?

هُوَ ..

قَالَ

وَثَبَ

صَارَ

مَشَى

قَالَ إِنَّهُ مَرِيض – he said that he was sick

وَثَبَ بِسُهُولَة – he jumped easily

صَارَ طَبِيْبًا – he became a doctor

مَشَى ثَلاثَة أَمْيَال – he walked three miles

هِيَ ... تْ

قَامَ

دَعَا

كَانَ

بكَى

قَامَـتْ مِنْ النَّوم – she woke up

دَعَـتْ صَدِيقَاتِها – she invited her friends

كَانَـتْ جَمِيْلَة – she was beautiful

بَكَـتْ مِنَ الخَوْف – she cried of fear

هُم ـوَا

كَانَ

غَزَا

نَسَى

لَامَ

كَانُـوا هُنَا – they were here

غَزَوْا العِرَاق – they invaded Iraq

نَسُـوا أُخْتَهُم – they forgot their sister

لامُـوا سَلِيْم – they blame Saleem

هُنَّ ـنَ

كَانَ

دَارَ  

جَرَى

دَعا

كُـنَّ فِي المَدْرَسَة – they were in the school

دُرْنَ حَوْلَ المَدْرَسَة – they walked around the school

جَرَيْـنَ إِلَى النَادِي – they ran to the club

دَعَوْنَ سَمِيْرَة – they called Samira

From the examples in the table above you can see that some verb roots change, while others don’t. The change can be dropping a letter or changing a long vowel to another.
Verbs that begin with a vowel: (e.g. وصَلَ)
No change occurs with the verb that start with the vowel (which is always و). The attached pronoun is simply added to the end of the verb, like we do with regular verbs.  

وَصَلْـتُ

أنَا

وَصَلْـنَا

نَحْنُ

وَصَلْـتَ

أَنْتَ

وَصَلْـتِ

أَنْتِ

وَصَلْـتُم

أَنْتُم

وَصَلْـتُنَّ

أَنْتُنَّ

وَصَلَ - root

هُوَ

وَصَلَـتْ

هِيَ

وَصَلُـوا

هُم

وَصَلْـنَ

هُنَّ

Verbs that have a middle vowel: (e.g. قَالَ)
The middle vowel is mostly an alif. When added, attached pronouns trigger a sukuun on the last letter of the verb (here the ل). The letter before ل is alif, and it has a sukuun over it. Generally, a sequence of two sukuuns in Arabic is prohibited; therefore, the first is always dropped. So, alif in قَالَ is dropped. With هُوَ, هِيَ, and هُم, the ل does not have a sukuun over it, so alif is retained.

قُلْـتُ

أنَا

قُلْـنَا

نَحْنُ

قُلْـتَ

أَنْتَ

قُلْـتِ

أَنْتِ

قُلْـتُم

أَنْتُم

قُلْـتُنَّ

أَنْتُنَّ

قَالَ - root

هُوَ

قَالَـتْ

هِيَ

قَالُـوا

هُم

قُلْـنَ

هُنَّ

Verbs that end with a vowel: (e.g. جَرَى and دَعَا)
جَرَى ends with alif layinah (i.e. ي-shaped without the two dots). When attached pronouns are added, it changes to regular ي except with هِيَ and هُم. With هِيَ, verbs end with تْ with sukuun. With هُم, verbs end with ـوا with sukuun on the و. The يْ with sukuun before تْ and ـوا is dropped for the sequence of two sukuuns. دَعَا end with alif madd. When attached pronouns are added, it changes to و. With هِيَ and هُم, it is dropped for the sequence of two sukuuns.

جَرَيْـتُ ، دَعَوْتُ

أنَا

جَرِيْـنَا ، دَعَوْنَا

نَحْنُ

جَرِيْـتَ ، دَعَوْتَ

أَنْتَ

جَرِيْـتِ ، دَعَوْتِ

أَنْتِ

جَرِيْـتُم ، دَعَوْتُم

أَنْتُم

جَرَيْـتُنَّ ، دَعَوْتُنَّ

أَنْتُنَّ

جَرَى ، دَعَا - root

هُوَ

جَرَتْ ، دَعَـتْ

هِيَ

جَرَوا ، دَعَـوا

هُم

جَرَيْـنَ ، دَعَوْنَ

هُنَّ

Note: The verb with هُوَ is the root as it does not have any suffixes. The subject with this verb is covert مُسْتَتِر understood as هُوَ. Also, the verb with هِيَ has تْ. This تْ is not the subject; it is the feminine marker, and the subject is covert مُسْتَتِر inferred from the تْ as هِيَ. Review the conjugation of verbs in the first two tables to fully understand and apply the rules. 

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