Lebanese اتّفق ittafaʾ means “agree” or “reach an agreement.” Its most useful frame is اتّفق مع حدا عَ شي: agree with a person on a point. A plural subject can itself supply the reciprocal relationship, so اتّفقنا عالسعر naturally means “we agreed with each other on the price.”
Morphologically, this is Form VIII from a historically initial-weak root. The old و is absent and the form’s t is doubled: ittafaʾ, not itwafaʾ. Beirut ق is the glottal stop ʾ. The related Form VIII overview explains the family; this page gives the complete lexical card.
Perfect paradigm
The perfect often reports an achieved agreement. In the conversational response اتّفقنا!, that completed form can itself ratify a proposal: “Deal!”
| Person | Form | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| أنا | اتّفقت | ittafaʾet |
| إنت | اتّفقت | ittafaʾet |
| إنتي | اتّفقتي | ittafaʾte |
| هو | اتّفق | ittafaʾ |
| هي | اتّفقت | ittafaʾit |
| نحنا | اتّفقنا | ittafaʾna |
| إنتو | اتّفقتوا | ittafaʾto |
| هني | اتّفقوا | ittafaʾo |
اتفقنا مع صاحب البيت عالسعر وموعد الدفع.
ittafaʾna maʿ ṣāḥeb el-bēt ʿas-siʿer w-mawʿed ed-dafeʿ.
We agreed with the landlord on the price and payment date. (neutral; person with مع, terms with عـ)
اتفقوا يلتقوا قدام المحطة عالسبعة.
ittafaʾo yiltiʾo ʾoddēm el-maḥaṭṭa ʿas-sabʿa.
They agreed to meet in front of the station at seven. (informal; plural subject and bare action)
b-imperfect and bare imperfect
The imperfect principal part is بيتّفق byittafeʾ. The last vowel is e, not the a of the perfect. The b-series expresses general tendencies and independently asserted nonpast events; future and modal selectors take the bare series.
| Person | b-imperfect | Bare imperfect |
|---|---|---|
| أنا | بتّفق bittafeʾ | اتّفق ittafeʾ |
| إنت | بتتّفق btittafeʾ | تتّفق tittafeʾ |
| إنتي | بتتّفقي btittafʾe | تتّفقي tittafʾe |
| هو | بيتّفق byittafeʾ | يتّفق yittafeʾ |
| هي | بتتّفق btittafeʾ | تتّفق tittafeʾ |
| نحنا | منتّفق mnittafeʾ | نتّفق nittafeʾ |
| إنتو | بتتّفقوا btittafʾo | تتّفقوا tittafʾo |
| هني | بيتّفقوا byittafʾo | يتّفقوا yittafʾo |
عادة منتفق عالخطوط العريضة ومنترك التفاصيل لبعدين.
ʿāde mnittafeʾ ʿal-khoṭūṭ el-ʿarīḍa w-mnitrok et-tafāṣīl la-baʿdēn.
We usually agree on the broad outlines and leave the details until later. (professional; habitual b-imperfect)
لازم نتفق عموعد قبل ما نحجز القاعة.
lēzem nittafeʾ ʿa-mawʿed ʾabl ma niḥzhoz el-ʾāʿa.
We need to agree on a time before booking the hall. (neutral; bare form after لازم)
An ongoing negotiation can use عم + b-imperfect: عم منتّفق عالتفاصيل “we are working out the details.” That does not yet assert success; perfect اتّفقنا does.
People, issues, and clauses
Use مع for the other party: اتّفقت مع رنا. Use عـ/على for the matter or terms: اتّفقت عالسعر. With both, the order is flexible, but keeping person and issue separately marked makes the roles transparent.
Pronominal complements attach to the prepositions, not directly to this intransitive-reciprocal verb: معي، معك، معه، معها، معنا، معكن، معن and عليه، عليها، عليهن. A form such as اتّفقته is not the ordinary Beirut equivalent of “I agreed with him.”
حكيت معها واتفقنا عليه بعد نقاش طويل.
ḥkēt maʿa w-ittafaʾna ʿalē baʿd niʾāsh ṭwīl.
I spoke with her, and we agreed on it after a long discussion. (neutral; suffixed prepositions)
For a jointly chosen action by the same participants, use an agreeing bare verb: اتّفقنا نلتقي. A fuller proposition, especially with a different actor, commonly uses إنو.
اتفقنا إنو الشركة تدفع كلفة التوصيل.
ittafaʾna inno sh-shirke tidfaʿ kilfet et-tawṣīl.
We agreed that the company would pay the delivery cost. (professional; إنو clause with a different actor)
English also uses agree for sharing an opinion: “I agree with you.” Lebanese بتّفق معك is natural there. For facts matching one another—“the figures agree”—speakers may instead use متطابقين or say there is no difference; do not force اتّفق into every English collocation.
Imperative, participle, and formal lexical layer
Commands are اتّفق ittafeʾ, feminine اتّفقي ittafʾe, plural اتّفقوا ittafʾo. Because agreement normally requires more than one willing party, an imperative often sounds like advice to settle a matter rather than an order to hold an opinion.
اتفقوا بيناتكن قبل ما تحكوا مع الزبون.
ittafʾo bēnētkon ʾabl ma tiḥko maʿ ez-zabūn.
Reach agreement among yourselves before speaking with the customer. (professional plural instruction)
The active participle is متّفق mittefiʾ, feminine متّفقة mittefʾa, plural متّفقين mittefʾīn. It presents agreement as a current settled relation or result and normally appears with مع or عـ.
نحنا متفقين عكل شي إلا تاريخ التسليم.
niḥna mittefʾīn ʿa-kill shi illa tērīkh et-taslīm.
We agree on everything except the delivery date. (professional; plural participial state)
اتّفاق ittifēʾ “agreement” is common in careful conversation, contracts, and institutional language. تمّ الاتفاق “agreement was reached” is (formal/bureaucratic); ordinary speech favours اتّفقنا. The adjective متّفق عليه “agreed upon” also belongs to professional and formal-contact registers.
بعتولنا الاتفاق النهائي بالإيميل بعد الاجتماع.
baʿatūlna l-ittifēʾ en-nihēʾe bil-ēmēl baʿd el-izhtimēʿ.
They emailed us the final agreement after the meeting. (professional; lexical noun)
Common Mistakes
Using a direct person object
❌ اتفقت المدير عالخطة.
Incorrect — the other party takes مع.
✅ اتفقت مع المدير عالخطة الجديدة.
ittafaʾet maʿ el-mdīr ʿal-khiṭṭa l-zhdīde.
I agreed with the manager on the new plan.
Marking the issue with مع
❌ اتفقنا مع السعر.
Incorrect for the matter agreed on — use عـ/على.
✅ اتفقنا عالسعر بعد مفاوضات طويلة.
ittafaʾna ʿas-siʿer baʿd mofāwaḍāt ṭwīle.
We agreed on the price after lengthy negotiations.
Keeping b- in the agreed action
❌ اتفقوا بيلتقوا بكرا.
Incorrect — the jointly chosen action is a bare agreeing verb.
✅ اتفقوا يلتقوا بكرا بعد الضهر.
ittafaʾo yiltiʾo bokra baʿd eḍ-ḍoher.
They agreed to meet tomorrow afternoon.
Pronouncing ق as formal q in ordinary Beirut speech
❌ اتفق
ittafaq
Incorrect for the urban Beirut production baseline — ordinary ق is ʾ here.
✅ اتفقنا، منشوفك التلاتا.
ittafaʾna, mnshūfak et-tlēta.
Deal—we'll see you Tuesday.
Key Takeaways
Store ittafaʾ–byittafeʾ–ittafeʾ–mittefiʾ as one card. Mark the other party with مع, the issue with عـ/على, and put pronoun suffixes on those prepositions. A plural subject naturally supports reciprocity; perfect expresses the achieved agreement, while the participle presents that agreement as holding now.
Now practice Arabic
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Form VIII ftaʿalB2 — Recognize the mobile t of Form VIII, its sound assimilations, weak-root shapes, and lexical middle or reciprocal meanings in Lebanese.
- Reciprocal Meaning with بعضC1 — Express ‘each other’ with inflected بعض, choose the right prepositional frame, and separate reciprocal, collective, and ‘some’ readings.
- Pronoun Suffixes after PrepositionsB1 — Use Beirut suffixed forms of مع، من، على، في، لـ, and بـ, including their irregular stems and verb-selected meanings.
- The Bare Imperfect after Modals and ParticlesA2 — Use fully agreeing imperfect verbs without b- after Lebanese modal, future, and command environments.
- Maṣdars from Weak RootsB2 — Learn which Lebanese weak-root verbal nouns are lexical, which derived patterns are predictable, and how they behave as real nouns.
- Professional Spoken LebaneseB1 — Use careful Lebanese, formal lexical resources, and purposeful code-switching with colleagues, clients, and audiences.