ساق sāʾ: drive and lead | Arabic (Levantine) Grammar

Lebanese ساقsāʾ means “drive” a vehicle and, in suitable contexts, “lead/herd” a person or animal onward. It is both hollow and qāf-final: the middle radical produces long/short stem alternations, while written ق is pronounced ʾ in the urban Beirut baseline.

English drive can be intransitive (“I drove all night”) or transitive (“I drove the car”). Lebanese allows both, but passengers and destinations need clear packaging: ساق السيارة “drove the car,” ساقني عالمطار “drove me to the airport,” and ساق من بيروت لطرابلس “drove from Beirut to Tripoli.”

Complete perfect paradigm

The unsuffixed third-person forms use long ā; most suffixed forms use short i. The qāf remains written even though it is pronounced as a glottal stop.

Person	Form	Reading
أنا	سقت	siʾt
إنت	سقت	siʾt
إنتي	سقتي	siʾte
هو	ساق	sāʾ
هي	ساقت	sāʾit
نحنا	سقنا	siʾna
إنتو	سقتوا	siʾto
هني	ساقوا	sāʾo

سقت من بيروت لجبيل بكير قبل العجقة.

siʾt min Bērūt la-Zhbēl bkīr ʾabel el-ʿazhʾa.

I drove from Beirut to Byblos early, before the traffic. (informal; first-person short perfect stem)

ساقت نادين السيارة لأول مرة عالأوتوستراد.

sāʾit Nadīn es-sayyāra la-awwal marra ʿal-otostrād.

Nadine drove the car on the highway for the first time. (informal; feminine long perfect stem)

ساقوا طول الليل ووقفوا يرتاحوا مرتين.

sāʾo ṭūl el-lēl w-waʾafo yirtāḥo marrtēn.

They drove all night and stopped twice to rest. (informal; plural perfect)

💡

Store sāʾ–siʾt–bysūʾ–sūʾ–sēyeʾ. Neither the short perfect vowel nor the long ū of the nonpast can be recovered from the bare spelling alone.

b-imperfect and bare imperfect

The nonpast stem has long ū. The b-series states habits and independent events; رح, modals, and purpose environments select the bare series.

Person	b-imperfect	Bare imperfect
أنا	بسوق bsūʾ	سوق sūʾ
إنت	بتسوق btsūʾ	تسوق tsūʾ
إنتي	بتسوقي btsūʾe	تسوقي tsūʾe
هو	بيسوق bysūʾ	يسوق ysūʾ
هي	بتسوق btsūʾ	تسوق tsūʾ
نحنا	منسوق mnsūʾ	نسوق nsūʾ
إنتو	بتسوقوا btsūʾo	تسوقوا tsūʾo
هني	بيسوقوا bysūʾo	يسوقوا ysūʾo

عادة بسوق عمهلي لما تكون الدنيا عم بتشتي.

ʿāde bsūʾ ʿa-mahle lamma tkūn ed-dinye ʿam bitshte.

I usually drive slowly when it's raining. (informal; habitual first person)

رح تسوقي إنتي ولا بدك سوق أنا؟

raḥ tsūʾe inte walla baddik sūʾ ana?

Are you going to drive, or do you want me to drive? (informal; feminine and first-person bare forms)

ما فيني احكي هلق، عم بسوق بنص العجقة.

ma fīne iḥke hallaʾ, ʿam bsūʾ b-noṣṣ el-ʿazhʾa.

I can't talk now; I'm driving in heavy traffic. (informal; ongoing action)

Vehicles, passengers, animals, and routes

A vehicle can be a direct object: ساق السيارة / الشاحنة / البسكليت. With a passenger object plus destination, ساق حدا عَ مطرح means “drive/take someone somewhere.” This is not the same as وصّل, which foregrounds successful delivery or arrival.

ساقني خيي عالمطار لأن التاكسي تأخر.

sāʾne khayye ʿal-maṭār laʾann et-tākse tʾakhkhar.

My brother drove me to the airport because the taxi was late. (informal; person object and destination)

هاي السيارة سقتها مرة وما ارتحتلها.

hāy es-sayyāra siʾta marra w-ma rtaḥtla.

I drove this car once and didn't feel comfortable with it. (informal; feminine vehicle clitic)

For routes use من... لـ..., عَـ for a road/destination, and بـ for conditions or an area: ساق بالثلج، ساق بالمدينة. English drive on a road often maps to ساق عالطريق, not a general direct object.

The older “lead/herd” sense remains available when context supplies an animal or group: ساق الغنم عالحظيرة “he drove the sheep toward the pen.” It is neutral but less frequent in an urban daily routine than vehicle driving.

الراعي ساق الغنم عالحظيرة قبل ما تعتم.

er-rāʿe sāʾ el-ghanam ʿal-ḥaẓīra ʾabel ma tʿattem.

The shepherd drove the sheep toward the pen before dark. (neutral; animal object and route)

Imperative, participle, and clitics

The commands are سوقsūʾ, سوقيsūʾe, and سوقواsūʾo. Negative commands use ما + bare second person.

Addressee	Positive	Negative
one man	سوق sūʾ	ما تسوق ma tsūʾ
one woman	سوقي sūʾe	ما تسوقي ma tsūʾe
a group	سوقوا sūʾo	ما تسوقوا ma tsūʾo

سوق عمهلك وما تطلع عالتلفون.

sūʾ ʿa-mahlak w-ma tiṭlaʿ ʿat-tilifōn.

Drive carefully and don't look at your phone. (informal safety instruction to one man)

The active participle agrees: سايقsēyeʾ, سايقةsēyʾa, سايقينsēyʾīn. It can identify the driver or present someone as currently engaged in driving. A lexical noun سواق is also common for a driver.

ما تدقلا هلق، هي سايقة والطرقات زحمة.

ma tidoʾʾla hallaʾ, hiyye sēyʾa wiṭ-ṭoroʾāt zaḥme.

Don't call her now; she's driving and the roads are congested. (informal; feminine participle)

Object suffixes attach to the perfect or imperfect stem: ساقني “he drove me,” سقتها “I drove it/her,” بيسوقهن “he drives them.” The suffix does not replace the vehicle/passenger role supplied by context. See weak-verb clitics.

💡

Do not translate every English drive with a phrasal calque. Put the vehicle or passenger directly after ساق, then express road, conditions, origin, and destination with their own prepositions.

Common Mistakes

❌ أنا ساقت عالشغل.

Incorrect — first-person perfect uses the short hollow stem سقت.

✅ أنا سقت عالشغل لأن الباص تأخر.

ana siʾt ʿash-shoghl laʾann el-bāṣ tʾakhkhar.

I drove to work because the bus was late. (informal)

❌ رح بيسوقوا من بيروت لصيدا.

Incorrect — رح selects bare يسوقوا.

✅ رح يسوقوا من بيروت لصيدا بكرا.

raḥ ysūʾo min Bērūt la-Ṣayda bokra.

They'll drive from Beirut to Sidon tomorrow. (informal)

❌ ساق على السيارة الجديدة.

Incorrect for ‘drove the new car’ — the vehicle is a direct object.

✅ ساق السيارة الجديدة عالأوتوستراد.

sāʾ es-sayyāra l-zhdīde ʿal-otostrād.

He drove the new car on the highway. (informal)

❌ ساقني من المطار يعني أكيد وصلني.

Incorrect inference — ساق foregrounds the driving; successful delivery is more explicitly expressed with وصّل.

✅ ساقني من المطار، وبعدين وصلني عباب البيت.

sāʾne min el-maṭār, w-baʿdēn waṣṣalne ʿa-bēb el-bēt.

He drove me from the airport and then dropped me at my front door. (informal; activity versus achieved delivery)

Key Takeaways

Learn sāʾ–siʾt–bysūʾ–sūʾ–sēyeʾ as one hollow card, with written qāf pronounced ʾ. Vehicles and passengers are direct objects; routes and conditions use عَـ، بـ، من... لـ.... Commands retain long ū, and the participle سايق identifies or situates a driver.

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