Lebanese سكّرsakkar is the ordinary everyday verb “close, shut.” It is morphologically Form II, with a doubled middle consonant, but speakers do not calculate a causative meaning every time they use it. The lexical verb itself covers closing a door, ending access, shutting a business, turning off a flow, and closing a digital window.
Like فتح “open,” سكّر can be transitive or intransitive: سكّرت الباب “I closed the door,” but المحل سكّر “the shop closed.” The result adjective مسكّرmsakkar then means “closed.” English learners must keep event, schedule, and state separate.
Perfect paradigm
Form II keeps its doubled middle consonant throughout the perfect. The endings attach to the stable sakkar- stem; a linking vowel is audible before some endings.
| Person | Form | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| أنا | سكرت | sakkaret |
| إنت | سكرت | sakkaret |
| إنتي | سكرتي | sakkarte |
| هو | سكر | sakkar |
| هي | سكرت | sakkarit |
| نحنا | سكرنا | sakkarna |
| إنتو | سكرتوا | sakkarto |
| هني | سكروا | sakkaro |
سكرت الغاز وتأكدت إنو الفرن برد قبل ما اطلع.
sakkaret el-ghēz w-tʾakkadet inno l-foron barad ʾabel ma iṭlaʿ.
I shut off the gas and made sure the oven had cooled before leaving. (informal; 1sg transitive perfect)
سكرت العيادة بكير، بس الصيدليات سكروا بوقتن العادي.
sakkarit el-ʿiyēde bkīr, bass eṣ-ṣaydaliyyāt sakkaro b-waʾton el-ʿāde.
The clinic closed early, but the pharmacies closed at their regular time. (neutral; intransitive 3sg.f and plural)
b-imperfect and bare imperfect
The imperfect changes the final stem vowel: بيسكّرbyisakker. First-person bare سكّر looks like the perfect citation form and the masculine command in unvocalized writing; construction and context distinguish them.
| Person | b-imperfect | Bare imperfect |
|---|---|---|
| أنا | بسكر bsakker | سكر sakker |
| إنت | بتسكر btsakker | تسكر tsakker |
| إنتي | بتسكري btsakkre | تسكري tsakkre |
| هو | بيسكر byisakker | يسكر ysakker |
| هي | بتسكر btsakker | تسكر tsakker |
| نحنا | منسكر mnsakker | نسكر nsakker |
| إنتو | بتسكروا btsakkro | تسكروا tsakkro |
| هني | بيسكروا byisakkro | يسكروا ysakkro |
المتحف بيسكر نهار التلاتا كرمال الصيانة.
el-matḥaf byisakker nhār et-tlēta kermēl eṣ-ṣiyēne.
The museum closes on Tuesdays for maintenance. (neutral schedule; intransitive b-imperfect)
رح نسكر الحساب المشترك بعد ما يخلص المشروع.
raḥ nsakker el-ḥisēb el-moshtarak baʿd ma ykhalliṣ el-mashrūʿ.
We'll close the joint account after the project ends. (professional; transitive bare 1pl after رح)
Current ongoing action uses Beirut عم + b-imperfect: عم بيسكّروا المداخل. A future schedule may retain the b-form with a future time phrase, while رح يسكّروا expresses a planned or predicted event.
The discourse contrast between those two future readings is treated on Scheduled Future with the b-Imperfect.
Imperative and object clitics
The positive command is سكّر to one man, سكّري to one woman, and سكّروا to a group. The feminine and plural endings attach to the imperfect/command stem sakker-, not the perfect sakkar- vowel pattern.
| Addressee | Positive | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| one man | سكر sakker | ما تسكر ma tsakker |
| one woman | سكري sakkre | ما تسكري ma tsakkre |
| a group | سكروا sakkro | ما تسكروا ma tsakkro |
سكروا الشبابيك بس ما تسكروا باب البلكون بعد.
sakkro sh-shabēbīk bass ma tsakkro bēb el-balkōn baʿd.
Close the windows, but don't close the balcony door yet. (informal instruction to a group)
Objects attach directly: سكّرته “I closed it,” بيسكّرها “he closes it,” سكّروهن “close them.” The clitic identifies what is closed; it does not make the verb reflexive.
التطبيق علق، سكرته وفتحته من جديد.
et-taṭbīʾ ʿiliʾ, sakkarto w-fataḥto min zhdīd.
The app froze, so I closed it and opened it again. (informal digital context; two object clitics)
Transitive and intransitive uses
With an agent, سكّر شي means to close or shut something. With a business, service, road, or access point as subject, the same verb can mean “close down / stop being open.” No reflexive marker is required.
البلدية سكرت الطريق ساعة، وبعدين الطريق رجعت فتحت.
el-baladiyye sakkarit eṭ-ṭarīʾ sēʿa, w-baʿdēn eṭ-ṭarīʾ rizhʿit fataḥit.
The municipality closed the road for an hour, and then the road reopened. (neutral; transitive closing and intransitive reopening)
هالمخبز سكر نهائي لما تقاعد صاحبه.
hal-makhbaz sakkar nihēʾe lamma tʾāʿad ṣāḥbo.
This bakery closed permanently when its owner retired. (informal; business cessation)
For a deliberately affected object, an active clause is usually clearer than an English-style passive. To focus only on the resulting state, use مسكّر rather than inventing a passive tense.
Shops, flows, and digital devices
For business hours, finite بيسكّر gives the schedule and participial مسكّر gives the state: المحل بيسكّر عالستة versus المحل مسكّر هلّق. Those are not interchangeable.
المطبخ بيسكر عالعشرة، بس الصالة بتضل مفتوحة للحدعش.
el-maṭbakh byisakker ʿal-ʿashara, bass eṣ-ṣāle btiḍall maftūḥa lal-ḥadaʿash.
The kitchen closes at ten, but the dining room stays open until eleven. (neutral service information)
سكّر الحنفية / الغاز means “turn off the tap/gas” because a flow is shut. سكّر التطبيق / الصفحة means “close the app/page.” But powering off a machine is often طفّى or سكّر الجهاز depending on the object and speaker; learn the collocation instead of assuming English turn off always equals سكّر.
قبل ما تفل سكر الحنفية وطفي سخان المي.
ʾabel ma tfill sakker el-ḥanafiyye w-ṭaffe sakhkhēn el-mayy.
Before you leave, turn off the tap and switch off the water heater. (informal; lexical contrast between shutting a flow and powering off)
مسكّر: two participial readings
Unvocalized مسكر can represent two related participles. Active مْسَكِّرmsakkir means “having closed / keeping closed” and profiles an agent. Result مْسَكَّرmsakkar means “closed” and profiles the affected entity. Everyday unvocalized spelling does not show the vowel contrast.
مين مسكر الخزنة؟ ليش بعدها مسكرة؟
mīn msakkir el-khizne? lēsh baʿda msakkra?
Who has closed the safe? Why is it still closed? (informal; active participle then feminine result adjective)
The result form agrees like an adjective: الباب مسكّر، البوابة مسكّرة، الموظفين مسكّرين المداخل has a different active plural interpretation from nonhuman الأبواب مسكّرة, which commonly takes feminine singular agreement.
Common Mistakes
Replacing lexical سكّر with an analytic causative
❌ خلي الباب يسكر بهدوء كرمال الولد ما يوعى.
Wrong for the intended direct instruction ‘close the door’ — خلّي الباب يسكّر means ‘let/make the door close’ and changes the event structure.
✅ سكر الباب بهدوء كرمال الولد ما يوعى.
sakkar el-bēb bi-hodūʾ kermēl el-walad ma yūʿa.
He closed the door quietly so the child wouldn't wake up.
Using a finite event for a state
❌ البنك بيسكر هلق يعني ما فينا نفوت.
Misleading for a current state — بيسكر means ‘closes/is closing,’ not simply ‘is closed.’
✅ البنك مسكر هلق، منرجع بكرا.
el-bank msakkar hallaʾ, mnrzhaʿ bokra.
The bank is closed now; we'll come back tomorrow.
Keeping b- after a modal
❌ لازم بيسكروا المخزن قبل الجرد.
Incorrect — لازم selects bare يسكروا.
✅ لازم يسكروا المخزن قبل ما يبلش الجرد.
lēzem ysakkro l-makhzan ʾabel ma yballesh el-zhard.
They have to close the storeroom before inventory starts.
Using سكّر for every kind of switching off
❌ سكر الضو قبل ما تنام.
Non-baseline collocation for ‘turn off the light’ — طفّي is the ordinary choice for an electrical light.
✅ طفي الضو وسكر باب الأوضة.
ṭaffe ḍ-ḍaww w-sakker bēb el-ōḍa.
Turn off the light and close the bedroom door.
Misreading the result participle
❌ الطريق مسكر.
eṭ-ṭarīʾ msakkir
Incorrect for the intended result state — the closed road is msakkar, not active msakkir.
✅ الطريق مسكر من جهة النفق.
eṭ-ṭarīʾ msakkar min zhihet en-nafaʾ.
The road is closed from the tunnel side.
Key Takeaways
Store سكّر–بيسكّر–سكّر as a lexical Form II set with long kk. Use the finite verb for a closing action or schedule and مسكّر for the resulting closed state. The verb can be transitive or intransitive, but its extensions remain object-specific: shutting a flow, closing a business or digital window, and powering off a device do not all use one automatic English-to-Lebanese mapping.
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