قال ʾāl is the core Lebanese verb “say.” (informal/neutral spoken) It introduces exact words, paraphrased content, and a recipient with لـ. It also appears in conversational formulas such as شو بدي قول؟ “what can I say?” and متل ما بيقولوا “as they say.”
Its spelling preserves ق, but the urban Beirut production baseline pronounces that consonant as a glottal stop ʾ. Its principal parts are قال ʾāl, قلت ʾelt, بيقول byiʾūl, and قول ʾūl!. Speakers who retain [q] are common in several regional and social repertoires (regional: Levant); [q] is also heard in careful formal reading. Keep written ق in every case.
Perfect paradigm
The long ā stem appears in قال, feminine قالت, and plural قالوا. Before consonant-initial suffixes such as -t and -na, the verb selects the short stem قلـ pronounced ʾel-.
| Person | Arabic | Romanization | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| أنا | قِلْت | ʾelt | I said |
| إنت | قِلْت | ʾelt | you (m.) said |
| إنتي | قِلْتِي | ʾelte | you (f.) said |
| هو | قَال | ʾāl | he said |
| هي | قَالِت | ʾālet | she said |
| نحنا | قِلْنَا | ʾelna | we said |
| إنتو | قِلْتُوا | ʾelto | you (pl.) said |
| هني | قَالُوا | ʾālo | they said |
قلنا إنو منرد عليهن قبل آخر النهار
ʾelna inno mnirudd ʿalēhon ʾabil ēkhir in-nhār
We said we’d reply to them before the end of the day.
قالت ما بدها تغير الموعد مرة تانية
ʾālet ma badda tghayyir il-mawʿid marra tēnye
She said she didn’t want to change the appointment again.
The written ت in قلت and قالت does not signal the same person: short قلت is “I/you said,” whereas long قالت is “she said.” English relies on a pronoun; Lebanese can often omit it because the stem and ending already identify the form.
B-imperfect and bare imperfect
The nonpast has long ū. The b-series describes habits and ordinary present-time saying; the bare series appears after future and modality and in dependent environments.
| Person | B-imperfect | Bare imperfect | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| أنا | بْقُول bʾūl | قُول ʾūl | I say / that I say |
| إنت | بْتِقُول btiʾūl | تِقُول tiʾūl | you (m.) say |
| إنتي | بْتِقُولِي btiʾūle | تِقُولِي tiʾūle | you (f.) say |
| هو | بِيْقُول byiʾūl | يْقُول yiʾūl | he says |
| هي | بْتِقُول btiʾūl | تِقُول tiʾūl | she says |
| نحنا | مْنِقُول mniʾūl | نِقُول niʾūl | we say |
| إنتو | بْتِقُولُوا btiʾūlo | تِقُولُوا tiʾūlo | you (pl.) say |
| هني | بِيْقُولُوا byiʾūlo | يْقُولُوا yiʾūlo | they say |
دايما بيقول نفس النكتة لما منشوفه
dēyman byiʾūl nafs in-nikte lamma mnishūfo
He always tells the same joke when we see him.
ممكن تقوللها تبعتلي العنوان؟
momken tʾūlla tibʿatle l-ʿonwēn?
Could you tell her to send me the address?
Notice that English may translate قال as tell when a recipient is present. The Lebanese verb does not change; recipient marking changes the frame.
Imperative and active participle
The commands are short and extremely frequent: قول ʾūl (masculine), قولي ʾūle (feminine), and قولوا ʾūlo (plural). With لي, the singular command has a lexical contraction: قلّي ʾelle “tell me.” This cannot be predicted simply by gluing ʾūl + le.
| Addressee | Plain command | With “to me” |
|---|---|---|
| masculine singular | قُول ʾūl | قِلِّي ʾelle |
| feminine singular | قُولِي ʾūle | قُولِيلِي ʾūlīle |
| plural | قُولُوا ʾūlo | قُولُولِي ʾūlūle |
قلي شو رأيك بلا مجاملة
ʾelle shū raʾyak bla muzhēmale
Tell me what you think, without being polite just for politeness’ sake.
The active participle is قايل ʾāyel, feminine قايلة ʾāyle, plural قايلين ʾāylīn. It is useful when prior words remain relevant: أنا قايللك “I’ve told you / I already told you.” It is not the ordinary progressive “is saying,” which normally uses عم بيقول.
أنا قايللك من الأول إنو الطريق طويلة
ana ʾāyellak min il-awwal inno ṭ-ṭarīʾ ṭwīle
I told you from the start that the route is long.
Content, quotations, and recipients
قال can take a quoted expression, a noun naming the words, or an إنو clause. Punctuation helps readers with a direct quote, but speech itself uses intonation and context.
قال: أنا ناطر برا، ما تستعجلوا
ʾāl: ana nāṭir barra, ma tistaʿzhlo
He said, ‘I’m waiting outside; don’t rush.’
شو قال عن الاقتراح الجديد؟
shū ʾāl ʿan il-iʾtirāḥ il-zhdīd?
What did he say about the new proposal?
A person who receives the words takes لـ: قال لسمر “he said to Samar.” With pronouns, the preposition fuses: قاللي ʾālle, قاللك ʾāllak, قالله ʾāllo, قاللها ʾālla, قاللنا ʾāllna, قاللكن ʾāllkon, قاللهن ʾāllon. Short-stem perfect forms may insert a linking vowel: قلتله ʾeltello “I told him.”
قلتله يرجع يتصل فيي بعد الغدا
ʾeltello yirzhaʿ yittiṣil fiyye baʿd il-ghada
I told him to call me again after lunch.
A direct object, by contrast, represents the words or message: قالها بصراحة “he said it frankly.” Do not use the direct object ending for the recipient. This “content versus person hearing it” distinction is the same one explained under حكى.
Conversational and discourse uses
Several formulas are productive (informal) rather than frozen museum pieces. شو بدي قول؟ can signal resignation, uncertainty, or that the facts speak for themselves. متل ما بيقولوا introduces a familiar saying without claiming an exact source. يعني بدك تقول...؟ reformulates what someone appears to mean.
شو بدي قول؟ جربنا كل الحلول وما زبط شي
shū badde ʾūl? zharrabna kill il-ḥulūl w-ma zibit she
What can I say? We tried every solution and nothing worked.
يعني بدك تقول إنو ما رح تقدر تجي؟
yaʿne baddak tʾūl inno ma raḥ tiʾdar tizhe?
So you mean that you won’t be able to come?
In storytelling, a present بيقول can make a past exchange vivid: “so he says to me…” (informal narrative). This is a narrative viewpoint choice, not a new tense. Maintain the b-prefix because it is the finite b-imperfect used as a historical present.
Common Mistakes
❌ أنا قالت إنو بتأخر
Incorrect — قالت is ‘she said’; first person requires the short form قلت.
✅ أنا قلت إنو بتأخر
ana ʾelt inno btʾakhkhar
I said I’d be late.
❌ رح بيقوللكن النتيجة بكرا
Incorrect — رح selects bare يقول, not b-imperfect بيقول.
✅ رح يقوللكن النتيجة بكرا
raḥ yʾūlilkon in-natīzhe bokra
He’ll tell you all the result tomorrow.
❌ قلتها إنو الاجتماع تأجل
Incorrect for ‘I told her’ — a person receiving words needs لـ, not a direct-object suffix.
✅ قلتلها إنو الاجتماع تأجل
ʾeltella inno l-izhtimēʿ tʾazhzhil
I told her that the meeting was postponed.
❌ قوللي شو صار
Incorrect in this guide’s ordinary Beirut baseline — the masculine singular plus لي contracts to قلّي, not *ʾūlle*.
✅ قلي شو صار
ʾelle shū ṣār
Tell me what happened.
Key Takeaways
- Urban Beirut keeps written ق but normally pronounces it ʾ in قال and its family.
- Memorize the long/short/nonpast/command set ʾāl – ʾelt – byiʾūl – ʾūl.
- Content may be quoted or introduced by إنو; the recipient takes لـ or a fused dative clitic.
- Learn the high-frequency contraction قلّي ʾelle and the discourse formulas built from قول.
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- qāl-Type Hollow VerbsB1 — Master the qāl-type alternation through قال and related Lebanese hollow verbs with an ā/ē perfect and ū-class nonpast.
- Hollow VerbsB1 — Understand why Lebanese hollow verbs alternate between long-vowel and short-vowel stems across the perfect, imperfect, and imperative.
- Weak Verbs with Object CliticsB2 — Attach Lebanese object and recipient clitics to hollow and final-weak hosts while preserving the correct subject stem, glide, and linking vowel.
- Imperatives of Weak VerbsB1 — Form and use Lebanese commands whose weak or irregular stems shorten, restore a radical, or change before agreement and clitics.
- حكى ḥaka: speak and tellA2 — Conjugate Lebanese حكى and distinguish speaking with someone, talking about a topic, telling content, and reporting speech.