Lebanese نام “sleep / go to sleep” is a hollow verb: its middle weak radical appears through vowel alternations rather than as one stable consonant. The page title retains the course's broad lemma label nām; in the urban Beirut forms taught here, the unsuffixed singular is normally pronounced nēm, as in the practical card نام، نمت، بينام، نام، نايمnēm–nimt–byinēm–nēm–nāyem.
English separates “sleep,” “fall asleep,” and “be asleep.” Lebanese distributes those readings across aspect and the active participle: perfect نام can present falling asleep or a completed stretch of sleep, while نايم presents the current state “asleep.”
Complete perfect paradigm
The long vowel appears in unsuffixed third-person forms, while consonant-initial endings select short i. This alternation is morphological, not an optional fast-speech reduction.
| Person | Form | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| أنا | نمت | nimt |
| إنت | نمت | nimt |
| إنتي | نمتي | nimte |
| هو | نام | nēm |
| هي | نامت | nēmet |
| نحنا | نمنا | nimna |
| إنتو | نمتوا | nimto |
| هني | ناموا | nāmo |
نمت بكير لأنو كان عندي شغل عالفجر.
nimt bkīr laʾanno kēn ʿinde shoghol ʿal-fazher.
I went to sleep early because I had work at dawn. (informal; first-person short perfect stem)
نامت لينا عالكنباية قبل ما يخلص الفيلم.
nēmet Līna ʿal-kanabēye ʾabel ma yikhlaṣ el-fīlem.
Lina fell asleep on the sofa before the film ended. (informal; feminine singular perfect)
نمتوا منيح بالخيمة ولا كان في ضجة؟
nimto mnīḥ bil-khēme walla kēn fī ḍazhzhe?
Did you all sleep well in the tent, or was it noisy? (informal; plural addressee)
The perfect does not by itself choose “slept” versus “fell asleep.” A duration favors the completed activity; a following event or sudden setting often favors entry into sleep.
Complete b-imperfect and bare imperfect
The b-imperfect expresses habits, sleep patterns, and ordinary generalizations. The bare form follows رح, بدّي, لازم, purpose clauses, and prohibitions.
| Person | b-imperfect | Bare imperfect |
|---|---|---|
| أنا | بنام bnēm | نام nēm |
| إنت | بتنام btnēm | تنام tnēm |
| إنتي | بتنامي btnēme | تنامي tnēme |
| هو | بينام byinēm | ينام ynēm |
| هي | بتنام btinēm | تنام tnēm |
| نحنا | مننام mnēm | ننام nnēm |
| إنتو | بتناموا btnēmo | تناموا tnēmo |
| هني | بيناموا byinēmo | يناموا yinēmo |
عادة بنام سبع ساعات وبفيق بلا منبه.
ʿāde bnēm sabeʿ sēʿāt w-bfīʾ bla mnabbeh.
I usually sleep seven hours and wake up without an alarm. (informal; habitual first-person forms)
رح يناموا عند ستي لأنو الطريق بعيدة.
raḥ yinēmo ʿind sitte laʾanno ṭ-ṭarīʾ bʿīde.
They'll sleep at my grandmother's because the road is far. (informal; plural bare form after رح)
لازم تنامي منيح قبل الامتحان.
lāzem tnēme mnīḥ ʾabel el-imtiḥēn.
You need to sleep well before the exam. (informal; feminine bare form after لازم)
For a regular sleep pattern, use the independent b-form. For a specific future or desired sleep event, a licensor selects the bare form. The hollow vowel remains lexical in both.
Imperative and active participle
The everyday Beirut positive imperative uses the long-vowel stem. It agrees with one man, one woman, or a group.
| Function | Masculine | Feminine | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| imperative | نام nēm | نامي nēme | ناموا nāmo |
| active participle | نايم nāyem | نايمة nāyme | نايمين nāymīn |
نام هلق، ومنحكي بالموضوع بكرا.
nēm hallaʾ, w-mnḥke bil-mawḍūʿ bokra.
Go to sleep now, and we'll talk about it tomorrow. (informal; masculine command)
نامي بالسرير، مش عالكنباية.
nēme bis-sarīr, mish ʿal-kanabēye.
Sleep in the bed, not on the sofa. (informal; feminine command)
The participle نايم is the ordinary current-state expression “asleep.” English uses a progressive-looking form in “the baby is sleeping,” but Lebanese usually presents the resulting state, not an activity in progress.
وطي صوتك، البيبي نايم بالغرفة.
waṭṭe ṣōtak, el-bēbe nāyem bil-ghorfe.
Lower your voice; the baby is asleep in the room. (informal; masculine participial state)
البنات بعدن نايمين، ما تفيقيهن.
el-banēt baʿdon nāymīn, ma tfayyeʾīhon.
The girls are still asleep; don't wake them. (informal; plural participle and causative prohibition)
Negate this state with مش: مش نايم “not asleep.” Finite ما بينام instead denies a habit, ability, or ordinary event.
Duration and time expressions
An extent of time can follow نام directly: نام تماني ساعات “slept eight hours.” English requires for in many such sentences; Lebanese does not require لـ or من before the duration.
نام الولد عشر ساعات بعد السفرة الطويلة.
nēm el-walad ʿashar sēʿāt baʿd es-safra ṭ-ṭawīle.
The boy slept ten hours after the long trip. (informal; direct duration)
ما نمت غير ساعتين مبارح بالليل.
ma nimt ghēr sēʿtēn mbēreḥ bil-lēl.
I slept only two hours last night. (informal; limited duration)
A clock time with عـ normally gives the time of going to sleep: نام عالعشرة “went to sleep at ten.” A span with من... للـ... gives the interval.
نام عالعشرة وصحي عالستة.
nēm ʿal-ʿashara w-ṣiḥe ʿas-sitte.
He went to sleep at ten and woke at six. (informal; two clock-time endpoints)
Place and bedtime collocations
Sleeping is intransitive. Places therefore appear in location phrases: بالغرفة, عالسرير, عند رفيقي, بفندق. These phrases do not become direct objects.
| Collocation | Natural English |
|---|---|
| نام بكير | go to sleep early |
| نام متأخر | go to sleep late |
| نام منيح | sleep well |
| نام عالسرير | sleep on/in the bed |
| نام عند رفيقه | sleep over at his friend's place |
إذا تأخر الوقت، نام عندنا وفل بكرا.
iza tʾakhkhar el-waʾet, nēm ʿindna w-fill bokra.
If it gets late, sleep at our place and leave tomorrow. (warm informal invitation)
English phrasal verbs divide differently. “Sleep over” is نام عند حدا; “sleep in” in the sense “stay asleep late” is naturally ضل نايم لوقت متأخر. There is no single particle that can be added to نام to reproduce both.
Why there are no direct-object clitics
Basic نام has no direct object, so forms such as hypothetical نامه cannot mean “slept him.” To make someone wake, Lebanese uses causative فيّق; to describe whom the sleep event affected, it can use an ethical dative with لـ.
ناملي الصبي بالسيارة قبل ما نوصل.
nēmle ṣ-ṣabe bis-sayyāra ʾabel ma nōṣal.
The boy fell asleep on me in the car before we arrived. (informal; affected-person dative, not a direct object)
فيقني عالسبعة إذا ما دق المنبه.
fayyeʾne ʿas-sabʿa iza ma daʾʾ el-mnabbeh.
Wake me at seven if the alarm doesn't go off. (informal; direct object belongs to causative فيّق)
The attached ـلي in ناملي belongs to the preposition لـ, not to the transitivity of “sleep.” See ethical datives for this affected-person perspective.
Dialogue: bedtime
بعدك فايقة؟ بكرا لازم تفيقي بكير.
baʿdik fēyʾa? bokra lāzem tfīʾe bkīr.
Rami: Are you still awake? Tomorrow you have to wake up early. (informal; addressed to one woman)
بعرف، بس ما عم بقدر نام من الضجة.
baʿref, bass ma ʿam baʾdar nēm min eḍ-ḍazhzhe.
Lina: I know, but I can't fall asleep because of the noise. (informal; bare form after بقدر)
سكري الشباك ونامي؛ أنا بفيقك عالسبعة.
sakkre sh-shobbēk w-nēme; ana bfayyeʾik ʿas-sabʿa.
Rami: Close the window and sleep; I'll wake you at seven. (informal; feminine commands and causative object)
Common Mistakes
Keeping the long perfect stem before -t
❌ أنا نامت بكير.
Incorrect — first-person perfect uses the short stem نمت.
✅ أنا نمت بكير لأنو كنت تعبان.
ana nimt bkīr laʾanno kint taʿbēn.
I went to sleep early because I was tired.
Guessing a ū-vowel because other hollow verbs have one
❌ الولد بينوم عالتمانية.
Incorrect — the verified Beirut nonpast is بينام byinēm.
✅ الولد بينام عالتمانية أيام المدرسة.
el-walad byinēm ʿat-tmēnye ayyēm el-madrase.
The boy goes to sleep at eight on school nights.
Adding a preposition before a duration
❌ نمت لتماني ساعات.
Incorrect for a simple duration — the number of hours follows directly.
✅ نمت تماني ساعات وصحيت مرتاح.
nimt tmēne sēʿāt w-ṣiḥīt mirtēḥ.
I slept eight hours and woke up rested.
Using the finite verb for the current asleep state
❌ هلق البيبي بينام بالغرفة، إذا المقصود إنه نايم حاليا.
Incorrect for the intended current state — the b-form suggests a pattern or contextual event.
✅ هلق البيبي نايم بالغرفة.
hallaʾ el-bēbe nāyem bil-ghorfe.
The baby is asleep in the room now.
Translating “sleep over” with a literal particle
❌ نام فوق عند رفيقه.
Incorrect calque — English over is not a Lebanese verbal particle here.
✅ نام عند رفيقه لأنو تأخر الوقت.
nēm ʿind rfīʾo laʾanno tʾakhkhar el-waʾet.
He slept over at his friend's because it got late.
Key Takeaways
Learn نام–نمت–بينام–نام–نايم as a full hollow-verb card. A direct duration needs no preposition; place uses an ordinary location phrase. Perfect نام can present falling asleep or a completed sleep event, while نايم is the ordinary current state. Basic نام is intransitive, so person suffixes arise on a preposition or on a different causative verb, not as direct objects.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Hollow VerbsB1 — Understand why Lebanese hollow verbs alternate between long-vowel and short-vowel stems across the perfect, imperfect, and imperative.
- rāḥ-Type and Other Irregular Hollow VerbsB1 — Master rāḥ–riḥt–byrūḥ and learn why other frequent Lebanese hollow verbs require their own principal-part cards.
- Imperatives of Weak VerbsB1 — Form and use Lebanese commands whose weak or irregular stems shorten, restore a radical, or change before agreement and clitics.
- Transitive, Intransitive, and Prepositional Verb FramesA2 — Learn whether a Lebanese verb takes a direct object, no object, or a required preposition.
- Perfect Verb or Active ParticipleB1 — Choose a perfect verb to report a completed event or an active participle to profile a current state or relevant result.
- Affected-Person and Ethical-Dative CliticsB2 — Use Lebanese dative clitics for recipients, beneficiaries, affected people, and a speaker's interpersonal stake in an event.