طلع ṭiliʿ: go up and turn out | Arabic (Levantine) Grammar

طلع ṭiliʿ unifies motion “up/out” with several everyday extensions: “go up,” “leave/go out,” “come out,” “appear,” “amount to,” and “turn out.” (informal/neutral spoken) Its b-imperfect is بيطلع byiṭlaʿ. English uses several particles and sometimes no motion verb at all, but Lebanese treats each extension as an outcome becoming visible or emerging.

Form I طلع ṭiliʿ normally has the emerging or moving thing as subject. Doubled Form II طلّع ṭallaʿ means “take/bring out or up, make appear,” with a causer and affected object. The contrast follows the participant logic discussed under lexical causatives.

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Picture something crossing an inside/down boundary toward outside/up/visibility. That image connects physical ascent, leaving a building, a name appearing on a list, and a photo turning out well.

Perfect paradigm

The citation form has the spoken melody ṭiliʿ. Suffixed forms often begin with a cluster, while the 3rd-person feminine retains an audible linking vowel. Do not copy the citation vowels mechanically into every cell.

Person	Arabic	Romanization	Meaning
أنا	طْلِعْت	ṭliʿt	I went up / left / turned out
إنت	طْلِعْت	ṭliʿt	you (m.) went up
إنتي	طْلِعْتِي	ṭliʿte	you (f.) went up
هو	طِلِع	ṭiliʿ	he went up
هي	طِلْعِت	ṭilʿit	she went up
نحنا	طْلِعْنَا	ṭliʿna	we went up
إنتو	طْلِعْتُوا	ṭliʿto	you (pl.) went up
هني	طِلْعُوا	ṭilʿo	they went up

طلعنا عالسطح لنشوف الغروب

ṭliʿna ʿas-saṭeḥ la-nshūf il-ghurūb

We went up to the roof to watch the sunset.

طلعت من البيت قبل العجقة بنص ساعة

ṭilʿit min il-bēt ʾabil il-ʿazhʾa bi-noṣṣ sēʿa

She left home half an hour before rush-hour traffic.

With an upward goal, عـ is natural: طلع عالسطح / عالطابق التاني. When طلع means “leave/come out,” the origin takes من: طلع من البيت. English “go out” does not justify omitting the Lebanese source phrase when that source matters.

B-imperfect and bare imperfect

The nonpast switches from perfect ṭiliʿ to -iṭlaʿ. Store طلع / بيطلع as a principal-part pair, following the method on learning verb principal parts.

Person	B-imperfect	Bare imperfect	Meaning
أنا	بِطْلَع biṭlaʿ	اِطْلَع iṭlaʿ	I go up / that I go up
إنت	بْتِطْلَع btiṭlaʿ	تِطْلَع tiṭlaʿ	you (m.) go up
إنتي	بْتِطْلَعِي btiṭlaʿe	تِطْلَعِي tiṭlaʿe	you (f.) go up
هو	بِيِطْلَع byiṭlaʿ	يِطْلَع yiṭlaʿ	he goes up
هي	بْتِطْلَع btiṭlaʿ	تِطْلَع tiṭlaʿ	she goes up
نحنا	مْنِطْلَع mniṭlaʿ	نِطْلَع niṭlaʿ	we go up
إنتو	بْتِطْلَعُوا btiṭlaʿo	تِطْلَعُوا tiṭlaʿo	you (pl.) go up
هني	بِيِطْلَعُوا byiṭlaʿo	يِطْلَعُوا yiṭlaʿo	they go up

عادة بطلع من المكتب عالخمسة ونص

ʿāde biṭlaʿ min il-maktab ʿal-khamse w-noṣṣ

I usually leave the office at five thirty.

لازم نطلع بكير إذا بدنا نلحق الباص

lēzim niṭlaʿ bkīr iza badna nilḥaʾ il-bāṣ

We have to leave early if we want to catch the bus.

Here نطلع is bare after لازم. In the first example, بطلع is an independent habit. A translation such as English “leave” does not change the Lebanese conjugation class.

Imperative and active participle

The commands are اطلع iṭlaʿ (masculine), اطلعي iṭlaʿe (feminine), and اطلعوا iṭlaʿo (plural). Depending on the place phrase, they can mean “go up,” “go out,” or “leave.”

Addressee	Arabic	Romanization
masculine singular	اِطْلَع	iṭlaʿ
feminine singular	اِطْلَعِي	iṭlaʿe
plural	اِطْلَعُوا	iṭlaʿo

اطلعوا عالخامس وخبطوا عالباب اليمين

iṭlaʿo ʿal-khāmis w-khobṭo ʿal-bēb il-yamīn

Go up to the fifth floor and knock on the door on the right.

The active participle is طالع ṭāleʿ, feminine طالعة ṭālʿa, plural طالعين ṭālʿīn. In motion contexts it presents someone as heading out/up or having a settled near-future orientation. With nonhuman subjects it can describe visible emergence.

أنا طالع من البيت هلق، بشوفك بعد شوي

ana ṭāleʿ min il-bēt hallaʾ, bshūfak baʿd shwayy

I’m leaving the house now; I’ll see you shortly.

For the future-oriented use of motion participles, see motion participles. This participle agrees with the mover; a woman says أنا طالعة.

Turn out, appear, and amount to

When a result emerges, طلع + predicate means “turn out / come out.” The subject is the item evaluated, and the following adjective states the visible result.

الوصفة طلعت منيحة بس بدها ملح أقل

il-waṣfe ṭilʿit mnīḥa bass badda miliḥ aʾall

The recipe turned out well, but it needs less salt.

Appearance uses the same emergence logic: طلع اسمه عاللستة “his name appeared on the list,” طلع إشعار عالشاشة “a notification appeared on the screen.” With prices or totals, بيطلع means “comes to / works out to.”

بعد الحسم بيطلع الحساب شي أربعين دولار

baʿd il-ḥasim byiṭlaʿ il-ḥsēb she arbaʿīn dolār

After the discount, the total comes to about forty dollars.

طلع اسمي عاللستة بس الإيميل ما وصلني

ṭiliʿ isme ʿal-liste bass il-ēmēl ma wiṣilne

My name appeared on the list, but the email didn’t reach me.

Form II and object clitics

Core Form I is intransitive. To take something out/up or make it appear, use طلّع ṭallaʿ / byṭalliʿ. Its object clitics include طلّعني ṭallaʿne, طلّعك ṭallaʿak, طلّعه ṭallaʿo, طلّعها ṭallaʿa, طلّعنا ṭallaʿna, طلّعكن ṭallaʿkon, and طلّعهن ṭallaʿon.

طلعت الولاد من الغرفة وسكرت الباب

ṭallaʿet il-wlād min il-ghorfe w-sakkaret il-bēb

I got the kids out of the room and closed the door.

In ordinary writing, this transitive طلعت looks like forms of intransitive طلع. The object الولاد and the spoken doubling identify Form II. Do not attach a direct object to Form I merely because English uses a phrasal verb such as “take out.”

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Use the result test: الصورة طلعت حلوة has the photo as subject and reports its outcome. طلّعت الصورة has an agent as subject and the photo as an affected object.

Common Mistakes

❌ بيطلع

byiṭiliʿ

Incorrect reading — the verified nonpast is byiṭlaʿ, with a different vowel pattern from ṭiliʿ.

✅ بيطلع عالجبل كل أحد

byiṭlaʿ ʿal-zhabal kill aḥad

He goes up to the mountain every Sunday.

❌ طلعت عالبيت عالسبعة

Incorrect for ‘I left the house’ — عالبيت gives the house as a goal, not a source.

✅ طلعت من البيت عالسبعة

ṭliʿt min il-bēt ʿas-sabʿa

I left the house at seven.

❌ طلعت الشنطة من الخزانة

ṭliʿt ish-shanṭa min il-khzēne

Incorrect for ‘I took the bag out’ — that meaning requires causative Form II.

✅ طلعت الشنطة من الخزانة

ṭallaʿet ish-shanṭa min il-khzēne

I took the bag out of the closet.

❌ رح بيطلع الرقم عالشاشة

Incorrect — رح selects bare يطلع without b-.

✅ رح يطلع الرقم عالشاشة

raḥ yiṭlaʿ ir-raʾam ʿash-shēshe

The number will appear on the screen.

Key Takeaways

Learn طلع / بيطلع as ṭiliʿ / byiṭlaʿ rather than preserving one vowel pattern.
عـ marks an upward goal; من marks the source when someone leaves or comes out.
Physical emergence extends naturally to appearing, turning out, and amounting to a total.
Form I is normally intransitive; doubled Form II takes an affected object.

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