Lebanese سكنsakan means “live/reside” at a place. Its lexical card is سكن، سكنت، بيسكن، اسكن، ساكنsakan–sakant–byiskon–oskon–sēken. Although it is morphologically a strong Form I verb, its perfect and imperfect vowels are still lexical: the citation form alone does not tell you that the verified imperfect is بيسكنbyiskon.
Current residence is very often expressed with active participle ساكن: وين ساكن؟ “Where do you live?” That participle does not mean permanent residence by itself. A time phrase can make the same form temporary or long-established.
Complete perfect paradigm
The perfect reports a bounded period of residence or residence within a past frame. It does not necessarily mean “moved in”; انتقل is more explicit for the move itself.
| Person | Form | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| أنا | سكنت | sakant |
| إنت | سكنت | sakant |
| إنتي | سكنتي | sakante |
| هو | سكن | sakan |
| هي | سكنت | saknet |
| نحنا | سكنا | sakanna |
| إنتو | سكنتوا | sakanto |
| هني | سكنوا | sakano |
سكنت بهالشقة تلات سنين قبل ما اتزوج.
sakant b-hash-shaʾʾa tlēt snīn ʾabel ma itzhawwaz.
I lived in this apartment for three years before getting married. (informal; bounded past residence)
سكنت رنا عند خالتها أول شهر بالجامعة.
saknet Rana ʿind khālta awwal shaher bil-zhēmʿa.
Rana stayed with her aunt for her first month at university. (informal; feminine singular perfect)
سكنتوا ببيروت وقت كنتوا صغار؟
sakanto b-Bayrūt waʾet kinto zghār?
Did you all live in Beirut when you were young? (informal; plural addressee)
Perfect سكنت packages the residence as a completed episode. If it continues now, participial ساكن plus من is normally clearer.
Complete b-imperfect and bare imperfect
The imperfect stem is -iskon. The b-imperfect can express repeated accommodation choices, general residential patterns, or an ordinary finite nonpast. Bare forms follow رح, بدّي, لازم, and similar licensors.
| Person | b-imperfect | Bare imperfect |
|---|---|---|
| أنا | بسكن biskon | اسكن oskon |
| إنت | بتسكن btiskon | تسكن tiskon |
| إنتي | بتسكني btiskone | تسكني tiskone |
| هو | بيسكن byiskon | يسكن yiskon |
| هي | بتسكن btiskon | تسكن tiskon |
| نحنا | منسكن mniskon | نسكن niskon |
| إنتو | بتسكنوا btiskno | تسكنوا tiskno |
| هني | بيسكنوا byiskno | يسكنوا yiskno |
كل ما يجي عالشغل ببيروت بيسكن بفندق حد المكتب.
kill ma yizhe ʿash-shoghol b-Bayrūt byiskon bi-fondoʾ ḥadd el-maktab.
Whenever he comes to work in Beirut, he stays at a hotel near the office. (informal; repeated accommodation pattern)
رح نسكن قريب من الجامعة السنة الجاية.
raḥ niskon ʾarīb min el-zhēmʿa s-sane l-zhēyye.
We'll live near the university next year. (informal; bare plural after رح)
بدها تسكن لحالها بس تلاقي شقة مناسبة.
badda tiskon la-ḥāla bass tlāʾe shaʾʾa mnēsbe.
She wants to live on her own once she finds a suitable apartment. (informal; bare form after بدها)
For a simple answer about someone's current home, ساكن is often more idiomatic than forcing a finite present from English “lives.” The broader event-versus-state contrast is developed in perfect versus participle.
Imperative and active participle
The imperative exists, but commanding residence is pragmatically unusual. It appears in strong advice, invitations, institutional instructions, or arguments about where someone should settle. The participle, by contrast, is extremely frequent.
| Function | Masculine | Feminine | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| imperative | اسكن oskon | اسكني oskone | اسكنوا oskno |
| active participle | ساكن sēken | ساكنة sākne | ساكنين sāknīn |
إذا عجبك الحي، اسكن هون شهر وجرب.
iza ʿizhbak el-ḥayy, oskon hōn shaher w-zharreb.
If you like the neighborhood, live here for a month and try it. (informal; masculine advice framed as a command)
اسكنوا قريب من الشغل إذا لقيتوا أجار مناسب.
oskno ʾarīb min esh-shoghol iza lʾīto azhār mnēseb.
Live near work if you find suitable rent. (informal; advice to a group)
أنا ساكن بالجميزة وبشتغل بالحمرا.
ana sēken bil-Zhmayze w-bishtighil bil-Ḥamra.
I live in Gemmayzeh and work in Hamra. (informal; masculine current residence)
رفيقاتي ساكنين بنفس البناية من السنة الماضية.
rfīʾāte sāknīn b-nafs el-binēye min es-sane l-māḍye.
My friends have lived in the same building since last year. (informal; plural current state)
Temporary and long-term residence
The same participle works across both time scales. هالفترة makes a temporary arrangement explicit; من زمان or من عشرين سنة establishes continuity.
هالفترة ساكن عند خيي لبين ما تخلص التصليحات.
hal-fatra sēken ʿind khayye la-bēn ma tikhlaṣ et-taṣlīḥāt.
For now I'm staying with my brother until the repairs are finished. (informal; temporary residence)
ساكنين بهالبيت من أكتر من عشرين سنة.
sāknīn b-hal-bēt min aktar min ʿishrīn sane.
We've lived in this house for more than twenty years. (informal; long-established residence)
English present perfect progressive requires “have been living.” Lebanese needs no auxiliary here: the current participle plus من directly anchors how long the state has held.
Location with بـ and في
The attached preposition بـ is the compact everyday default before a named place or residence: ببيروت، بهالبيت، بالبناية. Full في can be stressed or contrasted and is indispensable before many attached pronouns: فيها، فيه، فيهن.
| Frame | Use |
|---|---|
| ساكن ببيروت | ordinary residence in Beirut |
| ساكن بهالبناية | residence in this building |
| في بيروت ولا بطرابلس؟ | full, contrastively stressed alternatives |
| الشقة يلي ساكن فيها | في carries a resumptive suffix |
هو ساكن ببيروت، مش بطرابلس.
howwe sēken b-Bayrūt, mish b-Ṭrāblos.
He lives in Beirut, not Tripoli. (informal; attached بـ in a location contrast)
هاي الشقة يلي كنا ساكنين فيها قبل.
hāy esh-shaʾʾa yalle kinna sāknīn fīha ʾabel.
This is the apartment we used to live in. (informal; beginner هاي and suffix on في)
The preposition is part of the residence frame. A bare city name after ساكن is not the course baseline, and conventionally bare proper names such as بيروت do not acquire an article after b-.
No direct-object clitics
سكن is intransitive: a person resides at a place. The place is therefore carried by بـ/في, not encoded as a direct-object suffix. Compare ساكن فيها “living in it.f” with impossible intended ساكنها.
| Place | Suffixed form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| بيت / حي | ساكن فيه sēken fī | living in it.m |
| شقة / بناية | ساكن فيها sēken fīha | living in it.f |
| بيوت / مناطق | ساكن فيهن sēken fīhon | living in them |
البيت يلي ساكن فيه قريب من البحر.
el-bēt yalle sēken fī ʾarīb min el-baḥer.
The house he lives in is near the sea. (informal; masculine place resumed on في)
عجبته البناية، بس ما حب الشقة يلي رح يسكن فيها.
ʿizhbitto l-binēye, bass ma ḥabb esh-shaʾʾa yalle raḥ yiskon fīha.
He liked the building, but he didn't like the apartment he'll live in. (informal; future bare verb and prepositional suffix)
Related nouns
The root builds several useful residence words, but their registers differ.
| Word | Meaning and register |
|---|---|
| ساكن sēken | resident / living there (everyday) |
| سكان sokkēn | residents, population (neutral/formal) |
| سكن sakan | housing, accommodation (institutional/neutral) |
| سكن طلاب sakan ṭollēb | student housing (institutional) |
| سكني sakane | residential (formal/administrative adjective) |
سكان البناية اشتكوا من صوت المولد.
sokkēn el-binēye ishtako min ṣōt el-mwallid.
The building's residents complained about the generator noise. (neutral; plural noun سكان)
الجامعة بتأمن سكن طلاب قريب من الحرم.
el-zhēmʿa bitʾammen sakan ṭollēb ʾarīb min el-ḥaram.
The university provides student housing near campus. (neutral/institutional noun سكن)
Dialogue: finding out where someone lives
وين ساكن هلق، بعدك بالأشرفية؟
wēn sēken hallaʾ, baʿdak bil-Ashrafiyye?
Maya: Where do you live now—are you still in Achrafieh? (informal; current participle)
لأ، هالفترة ساكن عند رفيقي بالحمرا.
laʾ, hal-fatra sēken ʿind rfīʾe bil-Ḥamra.
Karim: No, for now I'm staying with my friend in Hamra. (informal; temporary state)
ورح تضل عنده ولا بدك تسكن لحالك؟
w-raḥ tḍall ʿindo walla baddak tiskon la-ḥālak?
Maya: Will you stay with him, or do you want to live on your own? (informal; bare residence verb after بدك)
Common Mistakes
Guessing the imperfect from the perfect
❌ هو بيسكان قريب من هون.
Incorrect — the verified imperfect is بيسكن byiskon.
✅ هو بيسكن قريب من هون بس بيشتغل ببيروت.
howwe byiskon ʾarīb min hōn bass byishtighil b-Bayrūt.
He lives near here but works in Beirut.
Dropping the location preposition
❌ أنا ساكن بيروت.
Incorrect in the course baseline — residence at a city takes بـ.
✅ أنا ساكن ببيروت قريب من الجامعة.
ana sēken b-Bayrūt ʾarīb min el-zhēmʿa.
I live in Beirut near the university.
Adding an article to بيروت
❌ ساكن بالبيروت من سنتين.
Incorrect — بيروت is conventionally a bare proper name, so b- attaches without ال.
✅ ساكن ببيروت من سنتين.
sēken b-Bayrūt min sintēn.
He's lived in Beirut for two years.
Copying English present-perfect duration with لـ
❌ ساكن هون لخمس سنين، إذا المقصود من خمس سنين لهلق.
Incorrect for an ongoing ‘since five years ago’ reading — use من.
✅ ساكن هون من خمس سنين ومرتاح بالحي.
sēken hōn min khames snīn w-mirtēḥ bil-ḥayy.
He's lived here for five years and is comfortable in the neighborhood.
Using residence سكن for “be alive”
❌ جدي بعده ساكن، إذا المقصود إنه على قيد الحياة.
Incorrect meaning — ساكن concerns where someone resides; عايش means alive.
✅ جدي بعده عايش وساكن بضيعة صغيرة.
zhidde baʿdo ʿāyesh w-sēken b-ḍayʿa zghīra.
My grandfather is still alive and lives in a small village.
Key Takeaways
Store سكن–سكنت–بيسكن–اسكن–ساكن as one lexical set. The current participle ساكن is the most ordinary answer to “where do you live?” and can describe either temporary or long-term residence. Locations take بـ or full في, and because the verb is intransitive, place pronouns attach to في rather than directly to سكن.
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