The Bare Imperfect after Modals and Particles | Arabic (Levantine) Grammar

The bare imperfect is the imperfect person pattern without the ordinary b-/m- predication marker. It appears after high-frequency expressions such as بدّي “I want,” فيني “I can,” ممكن “possibly/can,” لازم “must,” and future رح. It also supplies the verb in a negative command.

“Bare” does not mean unconjugated. In بدّك تكتب “you want to write,” بدها تكتب “she wants to write,” and بدهن يكتبوا “they want to write,” the verb still marks person, gender, and number. English uses an infinitive after want; Lebanese uses a finite-looking agreeing imperfect. Compare its full person frame with the ordinary form in The b-Imperfect.

Do not confuse this dependent bare form with the progressive construction. The guide's Beirut baseline keeps b- after عم—عم بكتب “I am writing”—while عم + bare imperfect occurs as labeled regional/social variation in Lebanon and the northern Levant. By contrast, بدّي اكتب and رح اكتب obligatorily use the bare form in the production baseline taught here.

Focused paradigm after رح

The invariant future particle رح combines with the bare imperfect. The common weak verb راح / بيروح has the bare stem روح rūḥ; its long vowel must be learned as part of the principal parts.

Person	Future phrase	Reading	Meaning
I	رح روح	raḥ rūḥ	I will go
you, masculine singular	رح تروح	raḥ trūḥ	you will go
you, feminine singular	رح تروحي	raḥ trūḥe	you will go
he	رح يروح	raḥ yrūḥ	he will go
she	رح تروح	raḥ trūḥ	she will go
we	رح نروح	raḥ nrūḥ	we will go
you, plural	رح تروحوا	raḥ trūḥo	you all will go
they	رح يروحوا	raḥ yrūḥo	they will go

رح روح عالمكتب بكرا.

raḥ rūḥ ʿal-maktab bokra.

I'll go to the office tomorrow. (informal; first-person bare imperfect after رح)

رح تروحي معنا عالعشا؟

raḥ trūḥe maʿna ʿal-ʿasha?

Will you go with us to dinner? (addressed to one woman; feminine -e)

رح يروحوا عالضيعة آخر الأسبوع.

raḥ yrūḥo ʿaḍ-ḍayʿa ākher el-usbūʿ.

They'll go to the village at the end of the week. (informal; plural -o)

💡

After رح, remove only the ordinary b-marker. Keep the subject prefix and any feminine or plural suffix.

After بدّ: the desired action still agrees

بدّ carries a suffix identifying the wanter; the following bare imperfect identifies the actor of the desired action. When both refer to the same person, their agreement matches.

بدي اكتب الإيميل هلق.

badde iktob el-īmēl hallaʾ.

I want to write the email now. (informal; first-person bare imperfect)

بدها تكتب للمدير قبل الاجتماع.

badda tiktob lal-mdīr ʾabl el-izhtimēʿ.

She wants to write to the manager before the meeting. (informal; feminine subject selected by context)

The two subjects can differ when an explicit noun intervenes:

بدها رامي يكتب التقرير.

badda Rāme yiktob et-taʾrīr.

She wants Rami to write the report. (informal; -ها identifies the wanter, while يكتب agrees with Rami)

This is why calling يكتب an “infinitive” is misleading. The embedded actor determines its person form.

After فيني: situational ability

The suffixed expression فيني، فيك، فيه... means “can/be able to” in ordinary Lebanese. The following action is bare and agrees with the person whose ability is at issue.

فيني ساعدك بعد الشغل.

fīne sāʿdak baʿd esh-shoghl.

I can help you after work. (informal; first-person ability)

فيكي تبعتيلي العنوان؟

fīke tibʿatīle l-ʿonwēn?

Can you send me the address? (polite informal request to one woman)

Negating the ability expression gives ما فيني “I can't,” not a b-marked lexical verb.

ما فيني إحكي هلق، برجع بتصل فيك.

ma fīne iḥke hallaʾ, barzhaʿ bittaṣel fīk.

I can't talk now; I'll call you back. (informal; negative ability plus bare إحكي)

After ممكن and لازم

Invariant ممكن introduces possibility or a polite request; لازم introduces necessity. The bare verb, not the particle, identifies the actor.

ممكن تفتح الشباك شوي؟

momken tiftaḥ esh-shobbēk shwayy?

Could you open the window a little? (polite informal request to one man)

ممكن يتأخر الباص عشر دقايق.

momken yitʾakhkhar el-bāṣ ʿashar dʾāyeʾ.

The bus might be ten minutes late. (informal possibility; third-person bare verb)

لازم نخلص هالشغل قبل الجمعة.

lāzem nkhalliṣ hash-shoghl ʾabl el-zhomʿa.

We have to finish this work before Friday. (neutral; first-person plural bare verb)

💡

With invariant ممكن and لازم, look to the following verb for person: تفتح، يتأخر، نخلص.

Negation scopes over the licensing expression

The most useful negative pairs negate the modal or future expression while leaving the following verb bare:

رح اكتب التقرير الليلة.

raḥ iktob et-taʾrīr el-lēle.

I'll write the report tonight. (informal affirmative future)

ما رح اكتب التقرير الليلة.

ma raḥ iktob et-taʾrīr el-lēle.

I won't write the report tonight. (informal negative future)

بدي روح معكن.

badde rūḥ maʿkon.

I want to go with you. (informal affirmative desire)

ما بدي روح معكن.

ma badde rūḥ maʿkon.

I don't want to go with you. (informal negative desire)

Lebanese can also negate the embedded proposition when the meaning requires it, as in بدي ما اتأخر “I want not to be late.” That is a scope choice, not a change in the bare verb's person marking.

A negative command uses ما + second-person bare imperfect:

ما تكتب كلمة السر هون.

ma tiktob kilmit es-serr hōn.

Don't write the password here. (informal prohibition to one man)

ما تكتبي كلمة السر هون.

ma tiktbe kilmit es-serr hōn.

Don't write the password here. (informal prohibition to one woman)

Positive imperatives have their own formation rules. روح! “Go!” happens to look like first-person bare روح in رح روح “I will go,” but the contexts and subjects are different. Do not call every bare imperfect an imperative.

A dialogue with changing modality

فينا نلتقي هلق؟

fīna niltiʾe hallaʾ?

Maya: Can we meet now? (informal; ability/possibility plus first-person plural bare verb)

ما فيني هلق. لازم خلص التقرير.

ma fīne hallaʾ. lāzem khalliṣ et-taʾrīr.

Rami: I can't now. I have to finish the report. (negative ability and necessity)

طيب، رح تجي عالستة؟

ṭayyeb, raḥ tzhe ʿas-sitte?

Maya: Okay, will you come at six? (future plus masculine second-person bare verb)

إيه، رح إجي عالستة.

ē, raḥ izhe ʿas-sitte.

Rami: Yes, I'll come at six. (future plus irregular first-person bare form)

The last pair uses irregular إجا / بيجي “came/comes.” A modal environment removes b-, but it does not make an irregular stem regular.

Common Mistakes

Copying English infinitive logic

❌ بدها اكتب التقرير.

Incorrect for ‘she wants to write’; the bare verb must agree with the female actor.

✅ بدها تكتب التقرير.

badda tiktob et-taʾrīr.

She wants to write the report. (informal; agreeing bare imperfect)

❌ فيني بساعدك.

Incorrect—the action selected by فيني is bare.

✅ فيني ساعدك.

fīne sāʿdak.

I can help you. (informal ability)

Keeping b- after رح

❌ رح بيروحوا بكرا.

Incorrect in the Beirut baseline—رح selects a bare agreeing verb.

✅ رح يروحوا بكرا.

raḥ yrūḥo bokra.

They'll go tomorrow. (informal future)

Removing agreement together with b-

❌ رح تروح إنتي بكرا.

Incorrect for one female addressee—the feminine -ي remains on the bare verb.

✅ رح تروحي بكرا.

raḥ trūḥe bokra.

You'll go tomorrow. (addressed to one woman)

Regularizing an irregular verb after رح

❌ رح يجي على وزن يكتب بلا ما أحفظ إجا وبيجي.

Incorrect learning strategy—removing b- does not erase lexical irregularity.

✅ بحفظ إجا وبيجي ويجي سوا.

baḥfaẓ izha w-byizhe w-yizhe sawa.

I memorize izha, byizhe, and yizhe together. (neutral learning strategy)

Key Takeaways

The bare imperfect keeps person, gender, and number agreement but lacks ordinary b-/m-. It follows بدّ، في، ممكن، لازم، رح and appears in negative commands. Negation usually precedes the licensing expression—ما بدي، ما فيني، ما رح—while the following verb remains bare. Positive imperatives are related but separate. Weak and irregular stems remain weak and irregular, so learn bare forms as part of each verb's principal-part network.

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