Lebanese أخدʾakhad is the everyday verb for “take,” but its range is wider than moving an object away. It also covers taking someone somewhere, using transport, taking medicine, making a decision, having a break, and requiring time. Its principal-parts card is أخد، أخدت، بياخد، خد، آخد.
English also stretches take across many constructions, but the two languages do not stretch it in identical directions. Learn the paradigm together with the argument frame or collocation: أخد الكتاب من رنا, أخد الولاد عالمدرسة, أخد قرار.
Complete perfect paradigm
The perfect keeps the initial hamza. Because this page explicitly teaches a hamzated verb, its readings show that onset as ʾ.
| Person | Form | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| أنا | أخدت | ʾakhadt |
| إنت | أخدت | ʾakhadt |
| إنتي | أخدتي | ʾakhadte |
| هو | أخد | ʾakhad |
| هي | أخدت | ʾakhadit |
| نحنا | أخدنا | ʾakhadna |
| إنتو | أخدتوا | ʾakhadto |
| هني | أخدوا | ʾakhado |
أخدت الشاحن من المكتب ورجعته تاني يوم.
ʾakhadt esh-shēḥen min el-maktab w-razzhaʿto tēne yōm.
I took the charger from the office and returned it the next day. (informal; first-person perfect)
أخدت نادين الولاد عالمدرسة ورجعت عالبيت.
ʾakhadit Nadīn el-wlād ʿal-madrase w-rizhʿit ʿal-bēt.
Nadine took the children to school and went back home. (informal; feminine singular perfect)
أخدتوا الأوراق معكن ولا نسيتوهن بالمكتب؟
ʾakhadto l-awrāʾ maʿkon walla nsītūhon bil-maktab?
Did you take the papers with you, or did you forget them at the office? (informal; plural addressee)
The written form أخدت can mean “I took,” masculine “you took,” or “she took.” Spoken ʾakhadit singles out the third-person feminine; context distinguishes the two ʾakhadt readings.
Complete b-imperfect and bare imperfect
The nonpast stem has a long ē-like vowel in the b-imperfect. Bare forms after future and modal licensors retain that fused stem: رح آخد, لازم ياخد, not forms rebuilt directly from أخد.
| Person | b-imperfect | Bare imperfect |
|---|---|---|
| أنا | باخد bēkhod | آخد ākhod |
| إنت | بتاخد btēkhod | تاخد tēkhod |
| إنتي | بتاخدي btēkhde | تاخدي tēkhde |
| هو | بياخد byēkhod | ياخد yēkhod |
| هي | بتاخد btēkhod | تاخد tēkhod |
| نحنا | مناخد mnēkhod | ناخد nākhod |
| إنتو | بتاخدوا btēkhdo | تاخدوا tēkhdo |
| هني | بياخدوا byēkhdo | ياخدوا yēkhdo |
باخد الباص عالشغل لما تكون العجقة قوية.
bēkhod el-bāṣ ʿash-shoghol lamma tkūn el-ʿazhʾa ʾawiyye.
I take the bus to work when traffic is heavy. (informal; habitual transport)
رح آخد معي شاحن زيادة إذا بدك.
raḥ ākhod maʿe shēḥen zyēde iza baddak.
I'll take an extra charger with me if you want. (informal; first-person bare form after رح)
لازم تاخدي موعد قبل ما تروحي عالعيادة.
lāzem tēkhde mawʿid ʾabel ma trūḥe ʿal-ʿiyēde.
You need to make an appointment before going to the clinic. (neutral; feminine bare form and light-verb collocation)
For an action happening now, the Beirut baseline uses عم + b-imperfect: عم باخد ملاحظات “I am taking notes.” The future marker رح, by contrast, selects a bare form without b-.
Short imperative and active participle
Positive commands use the short stem خد. A prohibition is not built from this imperative; it uses ما + bare second person, so the longer تاخد family returns.
| Function | Masculine | Feminine | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| imperative | خد khod | خدي khode | خدوا khodo |
| active participle | آخد ākhed | آخدة ākhde | آخدين ākhdīn |
خد هالمظلة لأنو شكلها رح تشتي.
khod hal-maẓalle laʾanno shakla raḥ tshatte.
Take this umbrella because it looks like it's going to rain. (informal; masculine command)
خدوا نسخة لكل واحد وما تاخدوا النسخة الأصلية.
khodo noskha la-kill wāḥad w-ma tēkhdo n-noskha l-aṣliyye.
Take a copy for each person, and don't take the original. (neutral; plural command versus prohibition)
The active participle presents a current result: someone has taken something and still has it, holds a position, or is committed to an item already selected. It is not the neutral progressive.
هو آخد المفتاح معه، دقله قبل ما توصل.
howwe ākhed el-miftēḥ maʿo, diʾʾlo ʾabel ma tōṣal.
He has the key with him; call him before you arrive. (informal; masculine result-state participle)
هني آخدين الطاولة الكبيرة، خلينا ناخد الصغيرة.
hinne ākhdīn eṭ-ṭāwle l-kbīre, khallīna nākhod eṣ-zghīre.
They've taken the big table; let's take the small one. (informal; plural result state)
Theme, source, destination, and recipient
The thing or person moved is the direct object. من marks where it came from; a destination uses على, لـ, or لعند according to meaning. A human recipient is normally introduced by لـ/لعند, not placed as a second bare object in an English-style double-object frame.
| Frame | Meaning |
|---|---|
| أخد الكتاب | took the book |
| أخد الكتاب من رنا | took the book from Rana |
| أخد الكتاب عالمكتب | took the book to the office |
| أخد الكتاب لعند رنا | took the book over to Rana |
| أخد لرنا قهوة | took/brought Rana a coffee |
أخد الملف من نادين ووصله لعند المدير.
ʾakhad el-malaf min Nadīn w-waṣṣalo la-ʿind el-mdīr.
He took the file from Nadine and delivered it to the manager. (neutral; source and destination)
إذا رايح عالمكتب، خد لسارة هالقهوة معك.
iza rāyeḥ ʿal-maktab, khod la-Sāra hal-ʾahwe maʿak.
If you're going to the office, take this coffee to Sara with you. (informal; recipient with لـ)
In the second example, خد is the short masculine command. Keep it distinct from perfect أخد “he took”; a pause does not restore the perfect's initial hamza.
Taking people and transport
With a human direct object plus a destination, أخد means accompany, drive, or convey: the exact mode comes from context. With a vehicle as object, it means use that transport.
أخدني خيي عالمطار بكير الصبح.
ʾakhadne khayye ʿal-maṭār bkīr eṣ-ṣoboḥ.
My brother took me to the airport early in the morning. (informal; first-person object plus destination)
من هون فيك تاخد تاكسي أو باص عالحمرا.
min hōn fīk tēkhod takse aw bāṣ ʿal-Ḥamra.
From here you can take a taxi or a bus to Hamra. (informal; transport choice)
English bring and take depend strongly on viewpoint. Lebanese جاب typically presents movement toward the relevant center, while أخد presents removal or accompanying away. Real situations can be framed from either endpoint, so this is a discourse choice, not a mechanical geographic formula.
Object clitics
Direct-object suffixes attach to the actual verb form. The complete person set below uses the third-person masculine perfect base; أخدنا is therefore structurally ambiguous between “he took us” and “we took.” Context resolves it.
| Object | Form | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| me | أخدني | ʾakhadne | he took me |
| you.m | أخدك | ʾakhadak | he took you |
| you.f | أخدك | ʾakhadik | he took you |
| him/it.m | أخده | ʾakhado | he took him/it |
| her/it.f | أخدها | ʾakhada | he took her/it |
| us | أخدنا | ʾakhadna | he took us |
| you.pl | أخدكن | ʾakhadkon | he took you all |
| them | أخدهن | ʾakhadon | he took them |
هالدفتر أخده رامي بالغلط ورجعه تاني يوم.
had-daftar ʾakhado Rāme bil-ghalaṭ w-razzhaʿo tēne yōm.
Rami took this notebook by mistake and returned it the next day. (informal; masculine object suffix)
خدني معك إذا بعد في محل بالسيارة.
khodne maʿak iza baʿd fī maḥall bis-sayyāra.
Take me with you if there's still room in the car. (informal; first-person suffix on the short command)
For double-suffix ordering on imperatives, see imperatives with object clitics.
Light-verb collocations
In a light-verb construction, the noun carries much of the lexical meaning. Translate the whole expression rather than the verb alone.
| Collocation | Natural English |
|---|---|
| أخد قرار | make a decision |
| أخد استراحة | take a break |
| أخد نفس | take a breath |
| أخد موعد | make/get an appointment |
| أخد دوا | take medicine |
| أخد صورة | take a picture |
| أخد وقت | take time |
أخدنا استراحة عشر دقايق ورجعنا كفينا الاجتماع.
ʾakhadna istirēḥa ʿashar daʾāyeʾ w-rizhiʿna kaffēna l-izhtimēʿ.
We took a ten-minute break and then continued the meeting. (neutral workplace collocation)
هالقرار أخد وقت لأنو سألنا الفريق كله.
hal-ʾarār ʾakhad waʾet laʾanno sʾalna l-farīʾ killo.
This decision took time because we asked the whole team. (neutral; duration use)
The noun determines the English equivalent: أخد قرار is “made a decision,” not “took a decision” in most English varieties. The light-verb guide develops this division of labor.
Dialogue: getting to an appointment
كيف رح تروحي عالعيادة بكرا؟
kīf raḥ trūḥe ʿal-ʿiyēde bokra?
Maya: How are you going to the clinic tomorrow? (informal)
رح آخد تاكسي لأنو موعدي بكير.
raḥ ākhod takse laʾanno mawʿide bkīr.
Lina: I'll take a taxi because my appointment is early. (informal)
خدي هالورقة معك، وبعد الفحص خدي الدوا من الصيدلية.
khode hal-waraʾa maʿik, w-baʿd el-faḥeṣ khode d-dawa min eṣ-ṣaydaliyye.
Maya: Take this paper with you, and after the examination get the medicine from the pharmacy. (informal; two feminine commands)
Common Mistakes
Guessing the nonpast from the perfect
❌ هو بيأخد الباص كل يوم.
Incorrect for the course's urban Lebanese baseline — the nonpast has the fused form بياخد.
✅ هو بياخد الباص كل يوم.
howwe byēkhod el-bāṣ kill yōm.
He takes the bus every day.
Regularizing the positive command
❌ أخد هالشنطة معك.
Incorrect as the intended command — أخد normally reads as ‘he took.’
✅ خد هالشنطة معك.
khod hash-shanṭa maʿak.
Take this bag with you.
Using the wrong source preposition
❌ أخدت المفتاح على رنا.
Incorrect for ‘from Rana’ — a source takes من.
✅ أخدت المفتاح من رنا ورجعته بعدين.
ʾakhadt el-miftēḥ min Rana w-razzhaʿto baʿdēn.
I took the key from Rana and returned it later.
Keeping b- after رح
❌ رح باخد معي مي.
Incorrect — رح selects the bare first-person form آخد.
✅ رح آخد معي مي وقهوة.
raḥ ākhod maʿe mayy w-ʾahwe.
I'll take water and coffee with me.
Translating an English phrasal verb literally
❌ أخد الجاكيت من عليه لما وصل.
Incorrect for ‘took off his jacket’ — physical removal of clothing uses قلع.
✅ قلع الجاكيت لما وصل وحطه عالكرسي.
ʾalaʿ el-zhākēt lamma wiṣel w-ḥaṭṭo ʿal-kirse.
He took off his jacket when he arrived and put it on the chair.
Key Takeaways
Store أخد–أخدت–بياخد–خد–آخد as a complete lexical set. The direct object is what moves; من marks its source, while على/لـ/لعند express different destinations and recipients. Human objects yield the transport/accompaniment meaning, vehicle objects yield “take the bus/taxi,” and light nouns create collocations such as أخد قرار and أخد استراحة. Do not carry English phrasal particles into Lebanese word for word.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
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- Hamzated VerbsB1 — Understand how lexical hamza behaves as an initial, medial, or final radical across Lebanese verb paradigms and spelling.
- Imperatives with Object and Prepositional CliticsB1 — Attach object, recipient, and prepositional pronouns to urban Lebanese commands without losing the imperative stem or its natural syllable rhythm.
- Light-Verb ConstructionsB2 — Build natural Lebanese event expressions with عمل, عطى, أخد, and صار while keeping aspect, valency, and collocation on the whole phrase.
- Direct-Object Suffixes on VerbsB1 — Attach Beirut direct-object pronouns to perfect and imperfect verbs, including weak, geminate, and vowel-final hosts and topical doubling.
- من: From, Of, and ThanA1 — Use من for sources, materials, partitives, causes, and comparisons, with natural connected pronunciation and suffix forms.