Lebanese جابzhāb covers both “bring” and many uses of “get”: it can move something toward a relevant destination, fetch it from somewhere, acquire it, obtain a result, or introduce a topic. Its long ā disappears before several perfect endings, while the imperfect and command use long ī. Learn جاب–جبت–بيجيب–جيب–جايب as one hollow-verb set.
English separates bring, fetch, get, pick up, and sometimes cause. Lebanese organizes this semantic territory differently. The direct object tells you what is made available; source, recipient, and context supply the more specific English translation.
Perfect paradigm
The long-vowel form appears in unsuffixed جاب, feminine جابت, and plural جابوا. Before the consonant-initial first- and second-person endings, the hollow stem shortens to جبـ.
| Person | Form | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| أنا | جبت | zhebt |
| إنت | جبت | zhebt |
| إنتي | جبتي | zhebte |
| هو | جاب | zhāb |
| هي | جابت | zhābet |
| نحنا | جبنا | zhebna |
| إنتو | جبتوا | zhebto |
| هني | جابوا | zhābo |
جبت العقد معي كرمال نراجعه سوا.
zhebt el-ʿaʾd maʿe kermēl nrēzheʿo sawa.
I brought the contract with me so we could review it together. (neutral; 1sg perfect)
جابت الخبز من الفرن، وهني جابوا الجبنة من الضيعة.
zhābet el-khobez min el-foron, w-hinne zhābo l-zhibne min eḍ-ḍayʿa.
She brought the bread from the bakery, and they brought the cheese from the village. (informal; 3sg.f and 3pl)
b-imperfect and bare imperfect
The imperfect stem has long ī. The b-imperfect presents a habit, repeated event, schedule, or contextually anchored nonpast. The bare form follows رح, modals, purpose chains, and other selectors.
| Person | b-imperfect | Bare imperfect |
|---|---|---|
| أنا | بجيب bzhīb | جيب zhīb |
| إنت | بتجيب btzhīb | تجيب tzhīb |
| إنتي | بتجيبي btzhībe | تجيبي tzhībe |
| هو | بيجيب byzhīb | يجيب yzhīb |
| هي | بتجيب btzhīb | تجيب tzhīb |
| نحنا | منجيب mnzhīb | نجيب nzhīb |
| إنتو | بتجيبوا btzhībo | تجيبوا tzhībo |
| هني | بيجيبوا byzhībo | يجيبوا yzhībo |
كل خميس بيجيب خضرة لأمه من سوق المزارعين.
kill khmīs byzhīb khoḍra la-immo min sūʾ el-mzērʿīn.
Every Thursday he gets vegetables for his mother from the farmers' market. (informal habitual; beneficiary and source)
رح نجيب مترجم إذا الاجتماع رح يطول.
raḥ nzhīb motarzhim iza l-izhtimēʿ raḥ yṭawwel.
We'll get an interpreter if the meeting is going to run long. (professional; bare 1pl after رح)
The Beirut progressive is عم + b-imperfect: عم بيجيبوا “they are bringing.” Do not remove b- after عم in this course baseline. By contrast, راح يجيب in a motion-purpose chain means “he went to get”; the second verb is bare because the first motion verb licenses it.
Imperative and attached objects
Commands preserve long ī: جيب to one man, جيبي to one woman, and جيبوا to a group. Negative commands use ما + bare imperfect.
The broader pattern is compared on the weak imperatives page; جيب must still be learned as this verb's own command principal part.
| Addressee | Positive | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| one man | جيب zhīb | ما تجيب ma tzhīb |
| one woman | جيبي zhībe | ما تجيبي ma tzhībe |
| a group | جيبوا zhībo | ما تجيبوا ma tzhībo |
جيبي الفاتورة الأصلية وما تجيبي كل الملف.
zhībe l-fātūra l-aṣliyye w-ma tzhībe kill el-malaf.
Bring the original invoice, but don't bring the whole file. (neutral instruction to one woman)
Object clitics attach directly: جابه “he brought it,” جبناها “we brought her/it,” جيبه “bring it.” A beneficiary clitic with لـ follows the verb: جيبلي “bring/get me,” جيبلنا “bring/get us.” With both a theme pronoun and a beneficiary, independent يا keeps the roles clear: جيبلي ياه “bring it to me.”
إذا لقيت الملف جيبلي ياه عالمكتب.
iza lʾēt el-malaf zhīble yēh ʿal-maktab.
If you find the file, bring it to me at the office. (informal; beneficiary clitic plus independent theme)
Bring, fetch, and acquire
For literal transport, a source takes من and the destination is supplied by context or a place phrase. A beneficiary takes لـ. The same event may translate as bring, get, fetch, or pick up depending on viewpoint.
جاب الدوا من الصيدلية لأبوه قبل ما تسكر.
zhāb ed-dawa min eṣ-ṣaydalīye la-abū ʾabel ma tsakker.
He picked up the medicine from the pharmacy for his father before it closed. (informal; source and beneficiary)
جاب is transitive, unlike إجا “come.” Compare إجا سامر “Samer came” with جاب سامر الكراسي “Samer brought the chairs.” For a person as object, جاب رفيقه means “he brought his friend” or, in some contexts, “he got his friend to come”; the causative interpretation comes from making that person present, not from a separate productive causative rule.
Results, scores, and topics
Acquisition extends naturally beyond physical objects. جاب علامة منيحة means “got a good grade”; جاب نتيجة can mean “produced a result”; جاب مصاري can mean “earned/brought in money.” These extensions retain the core idea of making something available or obtaining it.
هالحملة جابت نتيجة أسرع من المتوقع.
hal-ḥamle zhābet natīzhe asraʿ min el-mtawaʾʾaʿ.
This campaign produced results faster than expected. (professional; acquisition/result sense)
The collocation جاب سيرة means “brought up / mentioned.” It normally takes the topic directly or with an attached possessive relation; it does not mean physically bringing someone's biography.
ما جاب سيرة الميزانية إلا بآخر النقاش.
ma zhāb sīret el-mīzēniyye illa b-ākhir en-niʾēsh.
He didn't bring up the budget until the end of the discussion. (neutral; idiomatic جاب سيرة)
Active participle جايب
The active participle جايبzhāyeb, feminine جايبةzhāybe, plural جايبينzhāybīn, presents the brought object as available now. This is a result state, not simply a decorative alternative to any past tense.
أنا جايب معي بطارية زيادة إذا خلصت بطاريتك.
ana zhāyeb maʿe baṭṭāriyye ziyēde iza khilṣet baṭṭāriyyetak.
I've brought an extra battery in case yours runs out. (informal; current availability)
Negate the state with مش جايب. Finite ما جبت denies a completed bringing event; مش جايب says the subject does not have the item along now.
Common Mistakes
Keeping ā before a perfect suffix
❌ أنا جابت الأوراق.
Incorrect for 1sg — جابت is feminine 3sg; the 1sg hollow form is جبت.
✅ أنا جبت الأوراق المطلوبة كلها.
ana zhebt el-awrāʾ el-maṭlūbe killa.
I brought all the required papers.
Using إجا transitively
❌ إجا القهوة معه.
Incorrect for ‘he brought the coffee’ — إجا is intransitive.
✅ جاب القهوة معه من البيت.
zhāb el-ʾahwe maʿo min el-bēt.
He brought the coffee with him from home.
Keeping b- after رح
❌ رح بيجيبوا الكراسي بعد شوي.
Incorrect in the Beirut baseline — رح selects bare يجيبوا.
✅ رح يجيبوا الكراسي قبل ما يوصلوا الضيوف.
raḥ yzhībo l-krēse ʾabel ma yōṣalo ḍ-ḍyūf.
They'll bring the chairs before the guests arrive.
Calquing English get automatically
❌ جبت تعبان بعد المشوار.
Incorrect calque of ‘got tired’ — جاب requires something obtained or made available; use تعبت.
✅ تعبت بعد المشوار الطويل ونمت بكير.
tʿibet baʿd el-mishwār eṭ-ṭawīl w-nimet bkīr.
I got tired after the long trip and went to sleep early.
Omitting the beneficiary marker
❌ جبت أختي قهوة.
Ambiguous — this can be parsed as bringing my sister and coffee; mark the intended beneficiary.
✅ جبت لأختي قهوة من المحمصة الجديدة.
zhebt la-ikhte ʾahwe min el-maḥmaṣa l-zhdīde.
I got my sister coffee from the new roastery.
Key Takeaways
Store جاب–جبت–بيجيب–جيب–جايب together. The direct object is what the subject brings or obtains, من marks a source, and لـ marks a beneficiary. Context selects English bring, fetch, get, or produce; do not extend the verb to every English use of get.
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
- bīʿ-Type Hollow VerbsB1 — Learn the Lebanese bēʿ–biʿt–byibīʿ pattern, its command forms, and the argument structure of selling.
- Imperatives of Weak VerbsB1 — Form and use Lebanese commands whose weak or irregular stems shorten, restore a radical, or change before agreement and clitics.
- Participles from Weak RootsB2 — Recognize and use Lebanese weak-root participles as current activities, result states, intentions, and lexicalized adjectives.
- Motion Verbs before Another VerbC1 — Combine go, come, return, and pass with another verb to express purpose or a tightly integrated event sequence in urban Lebanese.
- 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.
- إجا ʾizha: comeA2 — Conjugate the highly irregular Lebanese verb إجا and use it for motion toward the conversational center.