Threw, spent, struck: verbs of form IV

Lesson 18 showed that a root makes verbs on more than one pattern. Form IV puts a- in front of the root, and after the first form it is the commonest in the Qur’ān. This lesson teaches eight of its verbs, and what the form does in the past, the present and the command.

The new words

Five of them, anzala, aḥbab, aqāma, aḍalla and ashraka, carry the religion in the Qur’ān's use of them: the course gives no meaning of its own for any of them, and you read them in the verses, with the edition's meaning beside them.

The past: a- in front

Wa-anzalnā is wa, then anzal, then nā, "we". The root is n-z-l. The corpus marks the verb perfect and form IV. In the passive, as in lesson 18, the first vowel is u and the root's last letter but one takes i: unzila.

Alqā is the same form from the root l-q-y. Lesson 26 explains why it ends in a long vowel.

The present: u after the first letter

In the first form the letter in front that says who acts takes a, as in yaqūlu. In form IV it takes u, whoever acts: u-, tu-, yu-, nu-. Forms II and III do the same. In the active, the root's last letter but one takes i.

Yuḥibbu is yu- and the root ḥ-b-b, third person, masculine, singular, as the corpus marks it. Here the last two letters of the root are one letter, doubled, and the i stands on the letter before them.

Tulqūna is tulqu, with tu- in front for "you", then ūna, the "you" of more than two, as in lesson 7. The root l-q-y ends in a weak letter, and before ūna neither that letter nor the i is seen. The corpus marks the verb imperfect, form IV, second person plural.

Sa-nulqī is sa- from lesson 7 and nulqī: nu-, "we", with the verb.

Ushriku is u-, "I", from the root sh-r-k.

A weak middle letter

Where the root's middle letter is weak, the past with "he" as the doer has a long ā, and the present a long ī. Aqāma, from the root q-w-m, has the present yuqīmu; aṣāba, from ṣ-w-b, has yuṣību. Before nā, "we", the ā is made short: aṣabnā. Where the verb loses its last vowel, the ī is made short too, as the command below shows.

Wa-yuqīmū is wa, then yuqīmu, then ū, "they". The corpus marks it subjunctive, and like a verb after lan in lesson 15 it has lost the -na of the plural.

Aṣāba: the past, with the long ā.

The command: a- comes back

In the command of a verb of form IV the a- stands in front again: anfiq, "spend!". Unlike the alif of fa-dkhulī in lesson 11, it stays sounded after fa or wa.

Fa-anfiqū is fa, then anfiqu, then ū: the command to more than two. The corpus marks it imperative and form IV.

Wa-aqīmū is the same, from aqāma. Said to one man it is aqim, with the long vowel made short, as in qul in lesson 11.

In a sentence

This sentence was written for practice. Yukhriju, the present of akhraja from lesson 18: yu-, then the root kh-r-j with i before its last letter.

Reading

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Recall

• What does form IV put in front of the root in the past?
• What vowel does the letter in front of a form IV present take?
• Does the a- of form IV stand in the command?

Answers: a-; u; yes, as in anfiq.

Next

The next lesson teaches verbs whose root ends in a weak letter, and which end in a long vowel.