Arabic Irregular Verbs: Hollow Verbs (Part 1)Posted by 

aziza on Feb 3, 2010 in Grammar

This post deals with conjugation of verbs that have a medial vowel ( ‫)ا‬. They are called hollow
verbs( ‫)الفعل األجوف‬, e.g. ( ‫‘ )نام‬slept’, ( ‫‘ )باع‬sold’, ( ‫‘ )قام‬got up’, etc. In the present tense, the
medial vowel can change, as it becomes like its root. The three examples below give
examples of three verbs that behave differently in the present. It should be noted that the
medial vowel has to be deleted when the verb is conjugated with the pronouns ( ّ‫ ) هن‬and ( ّ‫) أنتن‬.
The deleted long vowel is replaced by a short vowel.

‫نام‬ ‫باع‬ ‫قام‬

‫أنا‬ ‫أنام‬ ‫أبيع‬ ‫أقوم‬

َ‫أنت‬ ‫تنام‬ ‫تبيع‬ ‫تقوم‬

‫ت‬
ِ ‫أن‬ ‫تنامين‬ ‫تبيعين‬ ‫تقومين‬

‫هو‬ ‫ينام‬ ‫يبيع‬ ‫يقوم‬

‫هي‬ ‫تنام‬ ‫تبيع‬ ‫تقوم‬

m ‫هما‬ ‫ينامان‬ ‫يبيعان‬ ‫يقومان‬

f ‫هما‬ ‫تنامان‬ ‫تبيعان‬ ‫تقومان‬

‫نحن‬ ‫ننام‬ ‫نبيع‬ ‫نقوم‬

‫أنتما‬ ‫تنامان‬ ‫تبيعان‬ ‫تقومان‬

‫هم‬ ‫ينامون‬ ‫يبيعون‬ ‫يقومون‬

ّ
‫هن‬ ‫ينمن‬ ‫يبعن‬ ‫يقمن‬

ّ
‫أنتن‬ ‫تنَمن‬ ‫تبِعن‬ ‫تقُمن‬