Lebanese كبرkibir describes a subject becoming bigger, older, or more grown-up. It is a Form I change-of-state verb: the subject undergoes the change, so الولد كبر means “the boy grew up,” not “someone enlarged the boy.” Its imperfect is بيكبرbyikbar, with a different stem vowel. To add an external causer, Lebanese uses Form II كبّرkabbar “make bigger; enlarge; turn up.”
English uses grow both transitively and intransitively: a child grows, but someone also grows tomatoes. Lebanese does not copy that alternation mechanically. كبر is intransitive; crops “grow” with verbs such as زرع “plant/grow crops,” while deliberate enlargement takes كبّر.
Perfect paradigm: a change already reached
The perfect normally presents the growth or increase as a bounded change. In stories, كبر often advances the timeline: a child grew up, a business got bigger, or a problem intensified.
| Person | Form | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| أنا | كبرت | kbirt |
| إنت | كبرت | kbirt |
| إنتي | كبرتي | kbirte |
| هو | كبر | kibir |
| هي | كبرت | kibrit |
| نحنا | كبرنا | kibirna |
| إنتو | كبرتوا | kibirto |
| هني | كبروا | kibro |
ابني كبر وصار يروح عالمدرسة لحاله.
ibne kibir w-ṣār yrōḥ ʿal-madrase la-ḥālo.
My son has grown up and now goes to school by himself. (informal; developmental change)
كبرت الشجرة كتير بهالسنتين.
kibrit esh-shazhara ktīr b-hal-sintēn.
The tree grew a lot over these two years. (neutral; feminine subject)
المشكلة كبرت لما ما حدا رد.
el-mishkle kibrit lamma ma ḥada radd.
The problem got bigger when nobody responded. (informal; metaphorical increase)
b-imperfect and bare imperfect
Use the b-imperfect for habits, general developments, and independently asserted processes. Use the bare imperfect after رح for future, after modals such as لازم and بدّه, and after عم together with its retained b-prefix in the Beirut progressive: عم بيكبر “is growing.”
| Person | b-imperfect | Bare imperfect |
|---|---|---|
| أنا | بكبر bikbar | اكبر ikbar |
| إنت | بتكبر btikbar | تكبر tikbar |
| إنتي | بتكبري btikbare | تكبري tikbare |
| هو | بيكبر byikbar | يكبر yikbar |
| هي | بتكبر btikbar | تكبر tikbar |
| نحنا | منكبر mnikbar | نكبر nikbar |
| إنتو | بتكبروا btikbaro | تكبروا tikbaro |
| هني | بيكبروا byikbaro | يكبروا yikbaro |
الولاد بيكبروا بسرعة وما مننتبه.
el-wlād byikbaro bi-sorʿa w-ma mnintibih.
Children grow up quickly, and we hardly notice. (informal; generic b-imperfect)
هالنبتة عم بتكبر منيح حد الشباك.
hal-nabte ʿam btikbar mnīḥ ḥadd esh-shobbēk.
This plant is growing well by the window. (informal; ongoing change)
رح يكبر الطلب بالصيف، لازم نتحضر.
raḥ yikbar eṭ-ṭalab biṣ-ṣēf, lāzem nitḥaḍḍar.
Demand will increase in summer; we need to prepare. (neutral; future bare form)
The imperatives are اكبرikbar, اكبريikbare, and اكبرواikbaro. Literal commands to grow are pragmatically limited because growth is not normally voluntary. They occur in impatient اكبر بقى “grow up already” or wishes and instructions about letting something expand.
اكبر بقى وما تزعل من كل كلمة.
ikbar baʾa w-ma tizʿal min kill kilme.
Grow up already, and don't get upset over every word. (informal; blunt and potentially rude)
Growing up, aging, and age comparison
For “when I grow up,” use the bare imperfect after لما when the event is future or open: لما اكبر. For a completed life stage, use the perfect لما كبرت “when I grew up.” To say someone is aging, كبر بالعمر is explicit; by itself كبر can simply mean becoming grown-up or larger.
لما اكبر بدي افتح مطعم صغير عالبحر.
lamma ikbar badde iftaḥ maṭʿam zghīr ʿal-baḥer.
When I grow up, I want to open a small restaurant by the sea. (informal; future life stage)
بيي كبر بالعمر بس بعده نشيط.
bayye kibir bil-ʿomor bass baʿdo nshīṭ.
My father has gotten older, but he's still active. (informal; aging, respectfully phrased)
Do not use the verb alone for an exact birthday. Say صار عمره عشرة “he turned ten” or عمره عشرة “he is ten.” Comparison uses the related adjective كبيرkbīr and elative أكبرakbar, not a comparative verb form. The difference is measured with بـ.
أختي أكبر مني بتلات سنين.
okhte akbar minne bi-tlēt snīn.
My sister is three years older than me. (informal; comparative adjective and measure)
اليوم صار عمره تمنتعش سنة.
el-yōm ṣār ʿomro tmantaʿash sane.
He turned eighteen today. (informal; exact age with صار عمره)
Form II كبّر: cause enlargement
Form II كبّرkabbar, imperfect بيكبّرbyikabber, imperative كبّرkabber, adds an agent who causes something to become bigger or more intense. It is frequent with screens, photographs, text, sound, portions, and figurative problems. Unlike basic كبر, it is transitive and therefore accepts direct-object clitics: كبّرها “he enlarged it/her,” كبّرلي الخط “make the font bigger for me.” See the broader lexical causatives pattern.
كبرلي الخط شوي لأني نسيت نظارتي.
kabberle l-khaṭṭ shwayy laʾanne nsīt naẓẓārte.
Make the font a little bigger for me because I forgot my glasses. (informal; imperative plus beneficiary clitic)
ما تكبر الموضوع قبل ما نعرف شو صار.
ma tkabber el-mawḍōʿ ʾabl ma niʿref shū ṣār.
Don't blow the issue out of proportion before we know what happened. (informal; metaphorical causative)
كبرنا الصورة وبانت اللوحة ورا السيارة.
kabbarna ṣ-ṣūra w-bēnit el-lawḥa wara s-sayyāra.
We enlarged the photo, and the sign behind the car became visible. (neutral; transitive perfect)
Adjective and participial limits
Lebanese normally describes the resulting size with the adjective كبير “big/old,” feminine كبيرة, plural كبار. It does not need an English-like present participle for every ongoing event: عم بيكبر is the ordinary process expression. Forms such as كبران occur with lexical and regional coloring (regional/marked), but they are not the productive Beirut default to memorize as “growing.”
البيت كبير بس بعده عم بيكبر مع كل إضافة.
el-bēt kbīr bass baʿdo ʿam byikbar maʿ kill iḍāfe.
The house is big, but it is still growing with every addition. (neutral; state adjective versus process verb)
Common Mistakes
❌ هو كبر الصورة يعني الصورة صارت أكبر وحدها.
huwwe kibir eṣ-ṣūra yaʿne ṣ-ṣūra ṣārit akbar la-ḥāla
Incorrect analysis — with الصورة as an object, كبّر is the causative ‘he enlarged.’
✅ هو كبر الصورة عالشاشة.
huwwe kabbar eṣ-ṣūra ʿash-shēshe.
He enlarged the picture on the screen. (informal; Form II)
❌ رح بيكبر المشروع السنة الجاية.
Incorrect — رح selects bare يكبر, without b-.
✅ رح يكبر المشروع السنة الجاية.
raḥ yikbar el-mashrōʿ es-sane zh-zhēye.
The project will grow next year. (neutral)
❌ كبر عشر سنين اليوم.
Incorrect English transfer for ‘turned ten’; exact age uses صار عمره.
✅ صار عمره عشر سنين اليوم.
ṣār ʿomro ʿashar snīn el-yōm.
He turned ten today. (informal)
❌ أختي كبرت مني بسنتين.
Incorrect for a stable age comparison — use أكبر مني.
✅ أختي أكبر مني بسنتين.
okhte akbar minne bi-santēn.
My sister is two years older than me. (informal)
Key Takeaways
Learn the principal pair kibir–byikbar. Basic كبر is intransitive and describes the subject's growth, aging, or increase; Form II كبّر–byikabber adds a causer and can carry object clitics. Use صار عمره for turning an exact age, أكبر من for “older/bigger than,” and عم بيكبر for an ongoing growth process.
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- Form I as a Lexical BaseB1 — Learn Form I through perfect–nonpast principal parts, lexical vowel classes, real complement frames, and the contrast between events and states.
- Form II faʿʿalB1 — Recognize the doubled middle radical of Form II and learn its causative, intensive, denominal, and fully lexical Lebanese verbs through principal parts and frames.
- Lexical and Derived Causative PairsB2 — Learn which Lebanese Form I–II and suppletive pairs add a causer, how their participants shift, and where the mapping stops being productive.
- Comparatives with أكتر and Elative FormsA2 — Compare people and things with productive أكتر phrases, inherited elatives, and standards introduced by من.
- Active Participles for Current States and ResultsB2 — Use Lebanese participles such as واصل, قاعد, نايم, لابس, عارف, and ماسك to describe states that hold now.