باع bāʿ: sell | Arabic (Levantine) Grammar

Lebanese باع “sell” is a hollow Form I verb: its middle weak radical produces different stem shapes across the paradigm. The practical Beirut card is باع، بعت، بيبيع، بيعbēʿ–biʿt–byibīʿ–bīʿ. The page title uses broad bāʿ, but the raised Beirut pronunciation bēʿ is the production model below.

Selling also has a stable participant frame. The goods are a direct object, the buyer normally takes لـ, and a sale price takes بـ. English speakers must learn those roles together with the stem changes, because confusing من and لـ can reverse the buying and selling viewpoints.

For the wider morphology, see the bīʿ-type hollow pattern. The companion اشترى reference presents the same transaction from the buyer's viewpoint.

Complete perfect paradigm

The long stem bēʿ- appears throughout the third person, including باعت and باعوا. Before the consonant-initial first- and second-person endings and ـنا, the middle vowel shortens to i and the written ا disappears.

Person	Form	Reading
أنا	بعت	biʿt
إنت	بعت	biʿt
إنتي	بعتي	biʿte
هو	باع	bēʿ
هي	باعت	bēʿet
نحنا	بعنا	biʿna
إنتو	بعتوا	biʿto
هني	باعوا	bēʿo

باعت مايا مكتبها القديم لزميلتها بالشغل.

bēʿet Māya maktaba l-ʾdīm la-zmīlta bish-shoghol.

Maya sold her old desk to her colleague at work. (informal; feminine perfect and buyer with لـ)

بعنا أغراض المكتب لأنو الشركة انتقلت.

biʿna aghrāḍ el-maktab laʾanno sh-shirke ntaʾalet.

We sold the office furniture because the company moved. (neutral; short stem before -na)

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Memorize the four-part chain bēʿ–biʿt–byibīʿ–bīʿ. The written alif in باع neither stays before every ending nor predicts one invariant spoken vowel.

Unvocalized بعت has a real ambiguity: biʿt means “I/you sold,” while baʿat can mean “he sent.” A buyer, price, or saleable item favors “sold”; a message, file, or destination often favors “sent.” Context is part of fluent reading.

Complete b-imperfect and bare imperfect

The nonpast stem has long ī. The b-imperfect expresses ordinary habits, business activity, and independent nonpast statements. The bare imperfect follows رح, بدّي, لازم, and similar licensors.

Person	b-imperfect	Bare imperfect
أنا	ببيع bbīʿ	ابيع bīʿ
إنت	بتبيع btbīʿ	تبيع tbīʿ
إنتي	بتبيعي btbīʿe	تبيعي tbīʿe
هو	بيبيع byibīʿ	يبيع ybīʿ
هي	بتبيع btbīʿ	تبيع tbīʿ
نحنا	منبيع mnbīʿ	نبيع nbīʿ
إنتو	بتبيعوا btbīʿo	تبيعوا tbīʿo
هني	بيبيعوا byibīʿo	يبيعوا ybīʿo

هاد الفرن بيبيع خبز سخن من الصبح.

hād el-forn byibīʿ khobez sokhon min eṣ-ṣobeḥ.

This bakery sells hot bread from the morning onward. (informal; habitual business activity)

لازم نبيع الكنباية قبل ما توصل الجديدة.

lāzem nbīʿ el-kanabēye ʾabel ma tūṣal el-zhdīde.

We need to sell the sofa before the new one arrives. (informal; bare 1pl after لازم)

For an unfolding clearance or transaction, use course-baseline عم + b-imperfect. A simple b-form can instead describe what a shop characteristically stocks.

هالأسبوع عم بيبيعوا كل المعروضات بنص السعر.

hal-osbūʿ ʿam byibīʿo kill el-maʿrūḍāt b-noṣṣ es-siʿer.

This week they're selling all the display items at half price. (neutral; temporary sale with عم + b-imperfect)

Imperative and active participle

The positive commands keep the long ī stem. A prohibition uses ما + the corresponding second-person bare imperfect; it does not negate the positive command itself.

Addressee	Positive	Negative
one man	بيع bīʿ	ما تبيع ma tbīʿ
one woman	بيعي bīʿe	ما تبيعي ma tbīʿe
a group	بيعوا bīʿo	ما تبيعوا ma tbīʿo

بيعوا الطاولة لحالها وخبوا الكراسي للبيت.

bīʿo ṭ-ṭāwle la-ḥāla w-khabbo l-krēse lil-bēt.

Sell the table by itself and keep the chairs for the house. (informal; plural commands)

The active participle is بايعbāyeʿ, feminine بايعةbāyʿa, plural بايعينbāyʿīn. It can present a sale as settled or currently relevant. The finite perfect remains the neutral way to report a completed sale, and occupational “seller/vendor” is often expressed by a noun or by بيبيع in context.

أنا بايع المحل لشريكي، بس التسليم آخر الشهر.

ana bāyeʿ el-maḥall la-shrīke, bass et-taslīm ākhir esh-shaher.

I've sold the shop to my partner, but the handover is at the end of the month. (neutral; result-relevant active participle)

Goods, buyer, and price

The item sold is direct: باع السيارة. The buyer takes لـ: باعها لجاره. The amount received as the sale price takes بـ: باعها بألف دولار. In a question, بقديش؟ asks “for how much?” These are Lebanese lexical frames, not interchangeable translations of English to, from, and for.

بقديش بعت الكاميرا، ولمين؟

b-ʾaddēsh biʿt el-kāmīra, w-la-mīn?

How much did you sell the camera for, and to whom? (informal; price and buyer questions)

بعتها لقريبتي بتمانية مليون ليرة.

biʿta la-ʾrībte b-tamēnye malyōn līra.

I sold it to my relative for eight million lira. (informal; feminine object clitic, buyer, and price)

English “sell someone something” permits two bare objects. Lebanese does not simply copy that order. Use the goods as the direct object and mark the buyer with لـ. A beneficiary or buyer suffix can attach to the verb, but an expressed theme is often kept as a noun or independent ياه/ياها.

Object clitics

Form	Reading	Meaning
باعها	bēʿa	he sold it.f
بعتها	biʿta	I/you.m sold it.f
بيبيعها	byibīʿa	he sells it.f
بيعها	bīʿa	sell it.f!
ببيعلك ياه	bbīʿlak yē	I'll sell it.m to you.m

إذا بعدك مهتم بالكتاب، ببيعلك ياه مع التوصيل.

iza baʿdak mohtamm bil-ktēb, bbīʿlak yē maʿ et-tawṣīl.

If you're still interested in the book, I'll sell it to you with delivery. (informal; recipient suffix plus independent theme)

Passive and result strategies

Everyday Lebanese usually avoids a productive MSA-style internal passive. انباع reports a sale event with the goods as subject; مبيوع describes a sold or contractually disposed-of state; a generic plural such as باعوه reports the event while leaving the sellers unnamed. The broader choice is mapped under passive strategies.

البيت انباع بأقل من السعر المطلوب.

el-bēt nbēʿ b-aʾall min es-siʿer el-maṭlūb.

The house was sold for less than the asking price. (neutral; sale event with انباع)

هالقطعة مبيوعة، بس في وحدة متلها بالمخزن.

hal-ʾiṭʿa mabyūʿa, bass fī waḥde mitla bil-makhzan.

This item is sold, but there's another one like it in storage. (professional retail; result state)

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Choose the passive strategy by meaning: انباع answers “what happened?”, مبيوع answers “what is its status?”, and باعوه keeps a human seller implicit.

Common Mistakes

Keeping the long perfect stem before ـت

❌ أنا باعت الدراجة.

Incorrect — first-person perfect uses the short hollow stem بعت.

✅ أنا بعت الدراجة لأنو بطلت استعملها.

ana biʿt ed-darrēzhe laʾanno baṭṭalt staʿmela.

I sold the bicycle because I stopped using it. (informal)

Reversing “sell” and “buy”

❌ بعت هالجاكيت من المحل.

Wrong for ‘I bought this jacket from the shop’ — بعت means ‘I sold.’

✅ اشتريت هالجاكيت من المحل وقت التنزيلات.

ishtarēt hal-zhākēt min el-maḥall waʾt et-tanzīlāt.

I bought this jacket from the shop during the sale.

Leaving the buyer unmarked

❌ باعت التلفون رفيقتها.

Incorrect for ‘she sold the phone to her friend’ — the buyer needs لـ.

✅ باعت التلفون لرفيقتها بسعر منيح.

bēʿet et-telefōn la-rfīʾta b-siʿer mnīḥ.

She sold the phone to her friend for a good price.

Copying English “sell for” with لـ

❌ باعه لخمسين دولار.

Incorrect neutral price frame — لـ marks the buyer; the price takes بـ.

✅ باعه بخمسين دولار لواحد من الجيران.

bēʿo b-khamsīn dolār la-wāḥad min el-zhīrān.

He sold it for fifty dollars to one of the neighbors.

Using the positive command after ما

❌ ما بيع الساعة هلق.

Incorrect prohibition — ما selects the second-person bare imperfect تبيع.

✅ ما تبيع الساعة قبل ما تعرف قيمتها.

ma tbīʿ es-sēʿa ʾabel ma taʿref ʾīmta.

Don't sell the watch before you know its value.

Key Takeaways

Store باع–بعت–بيبيع–بيع as one hollow set: Beirut bēʿ, short biʿ- before consonantal perfect endings, and long bīʿ in the nonpast and command. The goods are direct, the buyer takes لـ, and the price takes بـ. For an affected-subject rendering, distinguish sale event انباع from sold state مبيوع.

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