The Command Or Imperative Verb In Arabic Language (فعل الأمر)

 The Command Or Imperative Tense In Arabic Language (فعل الأمر)

By: Yusuf Basirat Bolanle

In our previous lessons, we have discussed The Past Tense in Arabic Language, and the Conditions in which it can take different Parsing Marks (الحركات), aside Al-fatha. We have also discussed The Classification of Verbs In Arabic Language. Today, we shall talk about The Command or Imperative Tense and the conditions in which it can be given different parsing marks aside (As-sukun).

Discussion

The command or Imperative verb in Arabic Language is known as (فعل الأمر). The command tense indicates a request (الطلب) by the first person from the second person, asking the second person to carry out a particular act or action. The Command Tense as said in the earlier lessons is Non-Declinable in nature (المبني), because it always takes As-sukun sign if nothing is attached to its end. 

Hence, we shall look into the conditions in which a Command Tense can take different parsing marks aside the normal fixed sign which is (As-sukun).

1- A Command tense always takes As-sukun (السكون) parsing mark if it has a sound or healthy end (صحيح الآخر) and nothing is attached to it at the end.

2- If a command tense is addressing plural feminine, then, a feminine plural Nun (النون النسوة) will be attached to it at the end, thereby ends with As-sukun as well.

3- A Command tense takes Al-fatha (الفتحة) parsing mark, if  An-nun At-tawkeed (النون التوكيد) (نّ), The emphasis Nun, is attached to its end.

4- If a verb ends with one of the sick alphabets (حروف العلة) (اوى), in its past form, then, its command tense is built on the removal of the sick alphabet from its end

5- If a command tense is addressing or commanding two people (مثنى) to carry out an act, It will take Alif ithnain (الف الإثنين) (The dual Alif) at the end

6- If a command tense is addressing Plural Masculine, then, it will end with Waw Al-Jama'at (واو الجماعة) The plural masculine Waw.

7- Lastly, if a command tense is addressing a singular female, then it will take Yaa Ali Mukhatabah (ياء المخاطبة), The second person singular feminine Yaa.

Now, let us look into the aforementioned points one after the other with examples to illustrate our explanation.

1-  The conditions in which a command tense takes As-sukun (السكون) parsing mark

A-   The Healthy Or Sound End Verbs (الفعل الصحيح الآخر)

The first one under this is, if a command tense has a verb with healthy or sound end (الفعل الصحيح الآخر) and nothing is attached to the end, either the verb is of three, four, five or six roots, Then, it takes As-sukun sign. Examples are:

اجلسْ يا ولد

Sit down you boy!

افتحْ الباب يا يوسف

Open the door, You Yusuf

اقرأْ القرآن يا عيسى

Read the Quran, You Issah

استغفرْ ربك يا عم

Seek forgiveness from your Lord, You Uncle

احمدْ ربك ليلا والنهار

Thank your Lord in the night and the day

All the above verbs have sound or healthy end and nothing is attached to each of them. that is why they all take As-sukun parsing mark freely and easily.

B-    Attachment of Plural Feminine Pronoun (النون النسوة)

The second condition in which a command tense takes As-sukun parsing mark is when the request is addressing plural female, in this case, a feminine plural subjective pronoun (نون النسوة), will be attached to it at the end and the verb itself will end with As-sukun. Examples of this are:

استيقظْنَ مبكرات

Wake up early

 

أطعمْنَ أولاكن يا النساء

Feed your children, you women

استغفرْنَ لربكن ليلا والنهار

Seek forgiveness from your Lord in the night and the day

اكتبْنَ درسكن جيدا

Write your lesson properly

In all the above sentences, the verbs therein all end with feminine plural pronoun nun (ن), indicating that the request is made from the plural female, while the verbs all end with As-sukun parsing mark. This is due to the attachment of female plural Nun.

2-  Condition in which a command tense takes Al-fatha (الفتحة) sign at the end. 

Attachment of The Emphasis Nun (النون التوكيد)

A command tense takes Al-fatha parsing mark if it ends with An-nun At-tawkeed, The emphasis Nun (النون التوكيد), emphasizing on the importance of carrying our a particular request from the second person. Examples are:

تجنبَنَّ المزاح الكثير فى المسجد

Move away from too much jokes in the mosque

عاشرَنَّ زوجتك بالمعروف

Relate with your wife with goodness

أخرجَنَّ إلى الميدان

Move out to the garden

The sentences above contain verbs with heavy emphasis Nun (نَّ) emphasizing on the importance of carrying out the act requested.

3-    What happens if a verb ends with one of the sick alphabets (حروف العلة)?

The Verbs With Sick Ends (الفعل المعتل الأخر)

If a verb ends with one of the sick alphabets or alphabets of elongation (اوى) in its past form, then, the command tense is formed by the removal of the sick alphabet from its end. Examples are:

أُدْعُ ربك يا طالب العلم

Call unto your Lord, you seeker of knowledge

ألق الشبكة يا صياد

Throw the net, you fisherman

رِ السماء يا مدرس

See the heaven, you teacher

رم الحجارة فوق البحر

Throw the stone over the river

The above verbs in their past form end with one of the sick alphabets, which is removed while forming the command tense. In their past form, they are (دعى), (ألقى), (رأى) and (رمى) respectively.

4-     What happens If a command tense is addressing or requesting an action from two people (المثنى)?

Attachment of The Dual Alif (ألف الإثنين)

If a command tense is addressing two people, then, it will end with Alif ithnain (الف الإثنين) (The dual alif). Examples are:

افتحَا نوافذ البيت

Open the house windows

اكتبَا درسكما

Write your lesson

اجلسَا عل الكرسي فى الفصل

Sit on the chair in the class

أكرمَا ضيوفكما

Honor your visitors

اسمعَا لقراءة القرآن

Listen to the recitation of the Holy Quran

The above sentences all end with Dual Alif (ا), because they are commanding two people to carry out a particular act.

5- A command tense addressing plural masculine

Attachment of Plural Masculine Waw (الولو الجماعة)

When a command tense is addressing plural masculine, then it ends with The Plural Waw (الواو الجماعة). Examples are:

تعونوا على البر والتقوى

Co-operate on the goodness and consciousness, you Muslims

اجمعوا على الخير يا رجال

Gather on the goodness you men

اسمعوا إلى قراءة القرآن 

Listen to the recitation of the Holy Quran

اخرجوا إلى البستان فى الصباح

Go out to the farm in the morning

Looking at the above sentences, we discovered they all end with Masculine Plural Waw (و) because that is exactly the set of people being addressed

6-    What happens if a command tense is addressing a second person singular feminine (المخاطبة)?

Attaching A Singular feminine Yaa (ياء المخاطبة)

If a command tense is addressing a singular second person female (المخاطبة), it will end with a Second Person singular Feminine Yaa (ياء المخاطبة). Examples are;

أغلقى الباب يا بنت

Close the door, you girl

افتحى النوافذ يا سلمى

Open the windows, you Salmah

اقرئى القرآن يا راضية

Read the Holy Quran, You Rodiyah

اسمعى إلى النصيحة يا مريم

Listen to the advice, you Maryam

اخرجى من الفصل يا خديجة

Go out of the class, You Khadijah

 The verbs in the above sentences all end with singular feminine Yaa (ى) because each of the sentences is making a request from a singular female entity.