وصل wiṣil means “arrive,” “reach,” or “get to.” (informal/neutral spoken) A person arrives عـ a destination, a message can reach an attached person, and a package can arrive without naming an agent. The causative Form II وصّل waṣṣal means “deliver, take someone somewhere, connect,” so it must not be silently blended with intransitive Form I.
This is an initial-weak verb. The audible w of perfect wiṣil combines with nonpast prefixes to produce a long rounded vowel: بيوصل byūṣal. The participle restores a clear w in واصل wāṣel. See initial-weak verbs for the class comparison.
Perfect paradigm
The perfect keeps the wiṣil- family throughout. First-person وصلت wiṣelt and feminine وصلت wiṣlet have identical ordinary spelling but different spoken ordering of the final cluster.
| Person | Arabic | Romanization | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| أنا | وِصِلْت | wiṣelt | I arrived / reached |
| إنت | وِصِلْت | wiṣelt | you (m.) arrived |
| إنتي | وِصِلْتِي | wiṣelte | you (f.) arrived |
| هو | وِصِل | wiṣil | he arrived |
| هي | وِصْلِت | wiṣlet | she arrived |
| نحنا | وِصِلْنَا | wiṣelna | we arrived |
| إنتو | وِصِلْتُوا | wiṣelto | you (pl.) arrived |
| هني | وِصْلُوا | wiṣlo | they arrived |
وصلنا عالفندق بعد نص الليل
wiṣelna ʿal-fondoʾ baʿd noṣṣ il-lēl
We arrived at the hotel after midnight.
وصلت الشنطة تاني يوم بس كانت مكسورة
wiṣlet ish-shanṭa tēne yōm bass kēnit maksūra
The suitcase arrived the next day, but it was broken.
A person or thing arriving is the subject. The destination normally takes عـ: وصل عالبيت، وصل عالمطار. With a person’s place, لعند is natural: وصل لعند رفيقه “he got to his friend’s place.” من instead marks the origin: وصل من طرابلس “he arrived from Tripoli.”
B-imperfect and bare imperfect
In the b-imperfect, prefix plus initial و produces the long ū/ō series shown below. The bare series keeps the same weak stem but drops b- in licensed environments.
| Person | B-imperfect | Bare imperfect | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| أنا | بُوصَل būṣal | اُوصَل ūṣal | I arrive / that I arrive |
| إنت | بْتُوصَل btūṣal | تُوصَل tōṣal | you (m.) arrive |
| إنتي | بْتُوصَلِي btūṣale | تُوصَلِي tōṣale | you (f.) arrive |
| هو | بِيُوصَل byūṣal | يُوصَل yūṣal | he arrives |
| هي | بْتُوصَل btūṣal | تُوصَل tōṣal | she arrives |
| نحنا | مْنُوصَل mnūṣal | نُوصَل nōṣal | we arrive |
| إنتو | بْتُوصَلُوا btūṣalo | تُوصَلُوا tōṣalo | you (pl.) arrive |
| هني | بِيُوصَلُوا byūṣalo | يُوصَلُوا yūṣalo | they arrive |
الطلب بيوصل خلال يومين إذا العنوان واضح
iṭ-ṭalab byūṣal khilēl yōmēn iza l-ʿonwēn wāḍiḥ
The order arrives within two days if the address is clear.
رح نوصل لعندكن شي عالتمانية
raḥ nōṣal la-ʿindkon she ʿat-tmēnye
We’ll get to your place around eight.
The imperfect vowel is lexical. Do not apply an MSA rule that deletes و and produces بيصل, and do not read each written letter as a separate segment in بيوصل.
Imperative and active participle
The ordinary Beirut commands are اوصل ūṣal (masculine), اوصلي ūṣale (feminine), and اوصلوا ūṣalo (plural). The short formal Arabic command صِلْ belongs to a different register (formal MSA).
| Addressee | Arabic | Romanization |
|---|---|---|
| masculine singular | اُوصَل | ūṣal |
| feminine singular | اُوصَلِي | ūṣale |
| plural | اُوصَلُوا | ūṣalo |
اوصلي قبل السبعة كرمال نلحق نشرب قهوة
ūṣale ʾabil is-sabʿa kirmēl nilḥaʾ nishrab ʾahwe
Get there before seven so we have time to drink coffee.
The active participle واصل wāṣel, feminine واصلة wāṣle, plural واصلين wāṣlīn normally presents an achieved arrival whose result holds now. It answers “are they there yet?” more naturally than it describes motion still underway.
الشباب واصلين عالمطار وعم ينطروا الشناتي
ish-shabēb wāṣlīn ʿal-maṭār w-ʿam yinṭoro sh-shanēte
The guys have arrived at the airport and are waiting for the bags.
This result-state use belongs to the system described under weak-root participles. For an unfolding approach, use عم بوصل / عم بيوصل as the subject requires.
Reach a point or person
An endpoint can be expressed with لـ: وصل لآخر الشارع “reached the end of the street,” وصلنا للحل “we reached the solution.” With a message, sound, or news, the reached person is commonly an attached clitic.
وصلنا لآخر الطريق وما لقينا المحل
wiṣelna la-ēkhir iṭ-ṭarīʾ w-ma lʾēna l-maḥall
We reached the end of the road and didn’t find the shop.
وصلني صوت الموسيقى من آخر الشارع
wiṣilne ṣōt il-mūsīʾa min ēkhir ish-shēriʿ
The sound of the music reached me from the end of the street.
The clitic series includes وصلني wiṣilne, وصلك wiṣlak, وصله wiṣlo, وصلها wiṣla, وصلنا wiṣilna, وصلكن wiṣilkon, and وصلهن wiṣlon. Context distinguishes “reached us” from subject-marked “we arrived,” both written وصلنا.
Arrival versus delivery
Compare intransitive Form I and causative Form II:
| Event | Lebanese form | Participant structure |
|---|---|---|
| the package arrived | الطرد وِصِل iṭ-ṭard wiṣil | package is subject |
| the driver delivered the package | السواق وَصَّل الطرد is-sawwāʾ waṣṣal iṭ-ṭard | driver is subject; package is object |
| the driver took me home | السواق وَصَّلْنِي عالبيت is-sawwāʾ waṣṣalne ʿal-bēt | driver causes my arrival |
السواق وصل الطلب عالعنوان الجديد
is-sawwāʾ waṣṣal iṭ-ṭalab ʿal-ʿonwēn il-zhdīd
The driver delivered the order to the new address.
Again, unvocalized وصل can hide the shadda of Form II. The overt agent and direct object clarify the reading. A direct-object clitic on Form II, such as وصّله waṣṣalo “delivered/took him,” is different from Form I وصله الخبر wiṣlo l-khabar “the news reached him.”
Common Mistakes
❌ بيصل الباص عالضيعة بكير
Incorrect in the Beirut baseline — the initial-weak nonpast is بيوصل.
✅ بيوصل الباص عالضيعة بكير
byūṣal il-bāṣ ʿaḍ-ḍayʿa bkīr
The bus reaches the village early.
❌ وصلت من البيت عالستة
Incorrect for ‘I arrived home’ — من البيت marks the house as the origin.
✅ وصلت عالبيت عالستة
wiṣelt ʿal-bēt ʿas-sitte
I arrived home at six.
❌ السواق وصلني عالبيت
is-sawwāʾ wiṣilne ʿal-bēt
Incorrect reading — with the driver as causer and me as object, the verb is doubled Form II waṣṣalne.
✅ السواق وصلني عالبيت
is-sawwāʾ waṣṣalne ʿal-bēt
The driver took me home.
❌ هني عم واصلين هلق
Incorrect for an unfolding arrival — واصلين presents the achieved state, while عم selects a finite progressive.
✅ هني عم بيوصلوا هلق
hinne ʿam byūṣalo hallaʾ
They’re arriving now.
Key Takeaways
- Learn the initial-weak network wiṣil – byūṣal – ūṣal – wāṣel.
- Destinations normally take عـ; من marks an origin and لـ can mark an endpoint.
- Messages and sounds can take the reached person as a clitic: وصلني الخبر.
- Form I means arrive/reach; doubled Form II adds a deliverer or transporter and a direct object.
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