Ok, I’m not sure what the cat picture got to do with this post but I’m pretty sure most of you have seen verb conjugation tables ever since you started learning Levantine Arabic.
They are certainly useful and allow us, non-natives, to tackle the language systematically (I’m telling ya, natives know nothin’ about verb forms and conjugation tables!)
In this post, I will share with you two tips that I found useful in terms of pronouncing verbs and their conjugations the right way.
These tips were especially useful for me back when I was still a beginner trying to grasp the concept of verb conjugation.
In addition, I’m going to use conjugation tables that I’m most familiar with which are from my favourite book, 101 Most Used Verbs in Spoken Arabic (Jordan & Palestine) by Fridrik Tiedemann.
Note that depending on the individual’s learning method, my tips may not resonate with everybody but here goes…
1) BIT
So what is BIT?
BIT is what I think of when I want to differentiate between the two ways of conjugating (or the two ways of pronouncing) the verbs in the present tense.
So for example, if we were to look at the different variations of Verb Form I…
On one hand, there is the verb “to become”:
صار – بِصِير
(you can also spell بصير as بيصير)
Now, so how does “BIT” come into the picture?
Well, knowing which verb conjugation table (or verb form) uses BIT helps me to determine how to conjugate and pronounce the verb conjugation for she (هي).
And subsequently, I will also know how to conjugate and pronounce the verb conjugation for “you” (انت / انتي / اتوا) since it’s the same format as “she” (هي).
[The verb conjugation for “he”, “I” and “they” are not difficult because they are pretty straight-forward.]
So as you can see in the third row, the verb conjugation for “she” (هي) is
بِتِصير
(BIT – Siiir)
And subsequently, the verb conjugation for the three types of “you” are
انت بِتْصِير
(BIT-Siiir)
انتِ بِتْصِيري
(BIT-Siiirii)
انتوا بِتْصِيروا
(BIT-Siiiruu)
So when I think of all the verbs that follow the same conjugation pattern as the verb صار, I connect those verbs with “BIT” and then it becomes much easier and quicker for me to conjugate and pronounce the present tense conjugation of these verbs.
Now, why do I find this “BIT” thing useful?
This is because it helps me to differentiate between this way of conjugating and pronouncing the present tense verb conjugations and the other way.
For example, on the other hand, there is the verb “to lift”:
رَفَع – بِرفَع
(You can also spell برفع as بيرفع )
When you look at the verb conjugation for “she”, it is
بْتِرفَع
(b-tr-fa3)
This is what I classify as non-BIT (or the normal way) because it does not has the “BIT” sound at the beginning of the pronunciation.
انت بْتِرفَع
انتِ بْتِرفَعي
انتوا بْتِرفَعوا
احنا مْنِرْفَع
So for verbs that follow this pattern of conjugation, I think of them as non-BIT which means that you pronounce the B prefix (and M prefix) with a sukoon when you conjugate for “she”, the three types of “you” and “we”.
So to make things easy for me, I would just remember which verb forms have the “BIT” and that’s it (since the rest of the verb forms would follow the non-BIT pattern).
Let’s take a look at the other type of verbs that do have the “BIT”.
- Verbs with the letter alef in the middle (Verb Form I)
صَار – بِصِير
صَارَت – بِتْصِير
(BIT- Siir)
نام – بِنَام
نامت – بِتْنَام
(BIT – naam)
شاف – بِشُوف
شافت – بِتْشُوف
(BIT – shoof)
- Verbs with only two letters (Verb Form I)
حَبَّ – بِحِبّ
حَبَّتْ – بِتْحِبّ
(BIT- Heb)
ضَلّ – بِضَلّ
ضَلَّت – بِتْضَلّ
(BIT – Dhol)
حَطّ – بِحُطّ
حَطَّت – بِتْحُطّ
(BIT – HuT)
- All of Verb Form II
قَدَّم – بِقَدِّم
قَدَّمَت – بِتْقَدِّم
(BIT – 2adem)
سَوَّى – بِسَوِّي
سَوَّت – بِتْسَوِّي
(BIT – sawwi)
- All of Verb Form III
سَاعَد – بِسَاعِد
سَاعَدَت – بِتْسَاعِد
(BIT – saa -3ed)
نَادَى – بِنَادِي
نَادَتْ – بِتْنَادِي
(BIT – naa – dii)
This means that the REST are non-BIT so remember to pronounce the B-prefix with a sukoon (it’s almost like spitting something out your mouth) when you’re conjugating for “she”, the three “you” and “we”.
Here are some examples of non-BIT from various verb forms:
هي بْتِنْبَسِط
(b – tin – ba -seT)
هي بْتِشْتَغِل
(b – tish – ta – ghel)
هي بْتَاكُل
(b – ta – kol)
هي بْتِفْهَم
(b – tif – ham)
See what I mean by that there are two ways you can conjugate (and pronounce) for present tense verbs? And I choose to think of them as BIT and non-BIT.
2) 8 0r ate
So “8” or “ate” is what I think of when I want to conjugate (and pronounce) the past tense for verbs that end with the letter ya ى
This tip works for the conjugation of the three “you” and “I”.
Here are some examples:
- The verb “to say”
هو حَكَى
انت / انا حَكَيْت
(Ha-kayt = Hak-EIGHT / Hak-ATE)
انتِ حَكَيْتِ
(Ha-kayti)
انتوا حَكَيْتُوا
(Ha-kaytuu)
As you can see, the pronunciation for the last three conjugations above sounds similar to the number “8” (eight) or the word “ate”.
It can also work for the conjugation of “we”:
حَكَيْنَا
Ha-kay-na
(although the “8” or “ate” will not be pronounced fully but instead combined with the “na” sound)
Here are other examples:
هو سَوّى
انا / انت سَوَيْت
(sa -weyt = sa-wEIGHT / sa-wATE)
هو لقى / لاقى
انا / انت لقيت / لاقيت
(la-2et = la-EIGHT / la-ATE)
هو تْمَنَى
انا / انت تْمَنَيت
(T-ma-neyt = t-ma-nEIGHT / t-ma-nATE)
هو أعطى
انا / انت أعطيت
(a3-Tayt = a3-tEIGHT/ a3-tATE)
…and etc etc…you get the drift, right?
This pronunciation tip also works with other verb forms that have a shadda ّ on the last letter.
- Verbs with only two letters (Verb Form I, shadda on the last letter)
هو حَبّ
انا / انت حَبَّيْت
(Ha-bayt = Ha-bEIGHT/ Ha- bATE)
انا / انت ضَلَّيْت
(Dhol – layt)
انا / انت حَطَّيْت
(Ha – tayt)
- Verb Form VII (shadda on the last letter)
to go crazy
هو انْجَنّ
انا / انت اِنْجَنَّيْت
(in- jan – nayt)
- Verb Form VIII (shadda on the last letter)
to care
هو اِهْتَمّ
انا / انت اِهْتَمَّيْت
(eH – tam -mayt)
to be obliged
هو اِضْطَرّ
انا / انت اِضْطَرَّيْت
(iD- Tar – reyt)
- Verb Form X (shadda on the last letter)
to take advantage
هو اِسْتَغَّل
انا / انت اِسْتَغلَّيْت
(is – ta – ghal – layt)
- The verb “to read”
انا / انت قَرَيْت
(2a -reyt)
As you can see, the pronunciation of these verbs endings almost sound like “8” or “ate”.
~~~
Note that these verb inflections are based on Jordanian/Palestinian Arabic. Syrian and Lebanese verb inflections may differ slightly.
And that’s it, folks. These are my two mini pronunciation tips 🙂
Did you find it useful?!
If you find these two tips useful, you got to let me know and I’ll let you in on my other pronunciation tip which is what I call the “vowel shift” or “the shifting of the vowel” when it comes to having verbs with attached pronouns.
Also if you haven’t check out my other post on when to conjugate verbs with B-prefix and when to drop the B, you can do so here.
Take care and I’ll see you around in the hosh,
Lyn
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