The Arabic Language

qad
; others stated that a new sentence starts after 
jāʾūkum
(‘or 
they came to you and their hearts became oppressed’); and only a few grammar
-
ians believed that this use was correct (Ibn al-ʾAnbāri, 
al-ʾInṣāf fī masāʾil al-ḫilāf
, ed. 
Weil, Leiden, 1913, pp. 113–16).
The verbs in the prefix conjugation typically denote a continuous or a repeated 
action, usually with present or future reference. Those who claim that the basic 
opposition in the verbal system is an aspectual one point out that for the prefix 
conjugation to denote the continuous or iterative aspect in the past it needs a past 
marker (
kuntu ʾaktubu 
‘I was writing; I used to write’).
In the modern dialects the opposition between a prefix and a suffix conju-
gation has been maintained (except in the pidginised and creolised varieties of 
Arabic, see Chapter 15). But in addition, the dialects have developed a system of 
aspectual prefixes (see Chapter 8, pp. 145f.), usually with one marker to express 
continuous/habitual aspect and one to denote future/volitional aspect.
A further difference with the verbal system of Classical Arabic is the position 
of the active participle, whose role in the verbal system has been strengthened 
in comparison with Classical Arabic. In Classical Arabic, the grammarians distin
-
guished between expressions like (2) and (3):
(2) 
ʾanā 
kātib-u 
l-kitāb-i
1s 
write.PART-NOM 
ART-book-GEN
‘I am the writer of the book’

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The Structure of Arabic 
95
(3) 
ʾanā 
kātib-un 
kitāb-an
 
1s 
write.PART-NOM.INDET book-ACC.INDET
‘I am writing a book’
In (2) the participle is interpreted as denoting perfect aspect (‘I have written the 
book’), in (3) it is said to have future connotation (‘I am going to write a book’). In 
the modern dialects the participle is fully integrated in the verbal system. In most 
dialects, its aspectual value depends on the lexical aspect of the verbs involved. In 
Egyptian Arabic, for instance, with inchoative verbs (including verbs of motion), 
the participle usually marks continuous aspect, as in (4), but may also be used for 
a resultative perfect, as in (5):
(4) 
ḥaḍritik 
ṛayḥ-a 
 
fēn
 
2fs 
go.PART-f
where
‘Where are you going?’ (Woidich 2006: 286)
(5) 
ana 
wāṣil 
hina 
mbāriḥ 
bass
 
1s 
arrive.PART here yesterday just
‘I have arrived here only yesterday’ (Woidich 2006: 288)
Stative verbs always denote continuous aspect, as in (6):
(6) 
ana 
ḫāyif 
il-ʿarabiyya 
tuʾaf

1s 
fear.PART 
ART-car 
stop.IMPERF3fs
min-ni
from-1s
‘I fear the car will break down on me’ (Woidich 2006: 285)
In some of the Gulf Arabic dialects the participle may be used with perfect value, 
but never seems to denote continuous aspect. The same use is found in Uzbek
-
istan Arabic, but here the development towards a finite verbal form has been 
completed (see Chapter 15, p. 287), because the participle is regularly used with 
both subject and object marking, as in (7):
(7) 
ṭert-i 
qotl-in-akā-ha
 
chicken-1s kill-LINK-2ms-3fs
‘You have killed my chicken’ (Vinnikov 1956: 187)
Verbal derivation further involves the internal passive 
fuʿila 
(see above, 
Chapter 8, p. 135) and the so-called verbal measures, extensions of the simple 
verb conveying such meanings as reflexive-intransitive, causative, etc. In many 
cases, the meaning of the derived verb is lexically specified. Traditionally, verbal 
measures are indicated with Roman numerals (Table 6.4), from I to X. The relation 
between them turns around the valency of the verb. Measure III (
fāʿala
), for 

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96
The Arabic Language
instance, often involves the raising of the indirect object of the base verb to the 
position of direct object, so that the verb becomes transitive, as in