qāl-Type Hollow Verbs | Arabic (Levantine) Grammar

The frequent verb قال / بيقول ʾāl / byiʾūl “say” represents a major hollow-verb pattern: a long ā-type vowel in the unsuffixed perfect, a short vowel before consonant-initial perfect suffixes, and ū in the nonpast and command. Calling this the “qāl-type” is a memory aid, not a license to predict every alif-medial verb from spelling.

This verb also exposes two problems English speakers face at once. Its stem changes with person, and its argument structure divides the jobs of English “say” and “tell” differently. Learn the forms and the frames together.

The core paradigm of قال

The written radical ق is pronounced as a glottal stop in the urban Beirut baseline. It remains ق in Arabic spelling but appears as ʾ in romanization.

Environment	Arabic	Romanization	Meaning
3ms perfect	قال	ʾāl	he said
3fs perfect	قالت	ʾālet	she said
1sg perfect	قلت	ʾelt	I said
1pl perfect	قلنا	ʾelna	we said
3pl perfect	قالوا	ʾālo	they said
1sg b-imperfect	بقول	bʾūl	I say
3ms b-imperfect	بيقول	byiʾūl	he says
3ms bare imperfect	يقول	yʾūl	that he say / he will say
2ms imperative	قول	ʾūl	say!

قال رامي إنو رح يتأخر عشر دقايق.

ʾāl Rāme inno raḥ yitʾakhkhar ʿashar dʾāyeʾ.

Rami said that he'll be ten minutes late. (informal; unsuffixed 3ms perfect)

قلنا إنو الطريق مسكرة، بس ما صدقونا.

ʾelna inno ṭ-ṭarīʾ msakkara, bass ma ṣaddaʾūna.

We said that the road was closed, but they didn't believe us. (informal; short stem before -na)

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The change قال → قلت is selected by the suffix, not by gender or meaning. Third-person قالت and قالوا retain the long stem because their endings begin with a vowel; قلت and قلنا begin their endings with consonants.

Perfect stem choice is person-driven

English “said” is identical for every person. Lebanese first chooses the appropriate hollow stem, then adds the person ending. That is why قالت ʾālet “she said” and قلت ʾelt “I/you said” differ even though both end in written ت.

قالت جنى إنها تركت المفتاح عند الجيران.

ʾālet Zhana inna taraket el-miftēḥ ʿind el-zhīrēn.

Jana said that she left the key with the neighbors. (informal; feminine third-person perfect)

قلت إني جايي، ما قلت إني وصلت.

ʾelt inne zhēye, ma ʾelt inne wiṣelt.

I said I was coming; I didn't say I had arrived. (informal; affirmative–negative contrast with first-person perfect)

There is no useful one-to-one rule equating the long form with an English simple past and the short form with another tense. Both examples locate the saying event as complete. The stem difference expresses agreement morphology.

Nonpast ū and the grammar around it

The qāl-type nonpast contains long ū: بقول، بتقول، بيقول، منقول. Speaker and phonological environment can make a long rounded vowel sound somewhat closer to [oː] (regional and individual phonetic variation), but this guide writes the course's phonemic ū consistently. That notation should not be confused with the short perfect vowel of قلت.

كل ما بسأله، بيقول إنه بعده ما قرر.

kill ma basʾalo, byiʾūl inno baʿdo ma ʾarrar.

Every time I ask him, he says he still hasn't decided. (informal; repeated b-imperfect)

هلق عم بيقولوا الأسامي عالباب، اسمع منيح.

hallaʾ ʿam byiʾūlo l-asēme ʿal-bēb, ismaʿ mnīḥ.

They're calling out the names at the door now; listen carefully. (informal; ongoing عم + b-imperfect)

رح قول رأيي بس يخلص الكل حكي.

raḥ ʾūl raʾye bass yikhlaṣ el-kill ḥake.

I'll give my opinion once everyone has finished speaking. (informal; رح + bare first-person form)

The markers express viewpoint: ordinary or repeated بقول, unfolding عم بقول, licensed bare قول after رح. The hollow vowel remains part of the verb. See Habitual Actions for the independent b-form and Bare Imperfect: The Essentials for licensing.

Saying content and telling a person

For content, قال can take a quoted expression, a noun phrase, or a clause with إنو. To name a recipient, Lebanese normally uses لـ or an attached dative clitic: قال لرامي “said to Rami,” قاللي “said/told me.” English directly combines “tell” with a person, so English speakers often omit this recipient marking.

قالتلي إنو الموعد تغير لنهار الخميس.

ʾāletle inno l-mawʿed tghayyar la-nhār el-khamīs.

She told me that the appointment moved to Thursday. (neutral; attached recipient plus content clause)

شو قلت للمحاسب عن الفاتورة الناقصة؟

shū ʾelt lal-mḥēseb ʿan el-fētūra n-nēʾṣa?

What did you tell the accountant about the missing invoice? (neutral workplace speech; explicit recipient with لـ)

With a direct quotation, intonation and punctuation can carry the boundary: قال: «بكرا» “He said, ‘Tomorrow.’” In spontaneous speech, إنو is the ordinary complementizer; using formal أنّ or adding formal case endings produces a different register (formal MSA).

Several common hollow verbs show an ā/ē-type perfect alongside ū in the nonpast. شاف / شفت / بيشوف / شوف shēf / shift / byshūf / shūf “see” is the most useful comparison. صام / صمت / بيصوم / صوم ṣām / ṣomt / byiṣūm / ṣūm “fast” is frequent in religious contexts (neutral; topic-specific).

شافت نور صاحبها بالمحطة ولوحتله من بعيد.

shēfet Nūr ṣāḥebha bil-maḥaṭṭa w-lawwaḥetlo min bʿīd.

Nour saw her friend at the station and waved to him from a distance. (informal; long feminine perfect of شاف)

بشوف الجبل من البلكون بس يكون الجو صافي.

bshūf el-zhabal min el-balkōn bass ykūn el-zhaww ṣāfe.

I can see the mountain from the balcony when the weather is clear. (informal; stative b-imperfect)

The exact perfect quality ā versus raised ē varies by verb and speaker (regional/social phonetic variation). More importantly, an alif-medial perfect does not guarantee ū in the nonpast: باع → بيبيع has ī, while نام → بينام keeps an ē-type vowel. Learn each verb's card rather than deriving it from Arabic spelling.

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The label “qāl-type” predicts a useful cluster, not a law of the root. It is safest for retrieval—remember قال–قلت–بيقول–قول—and unsafe as a machine for inventing unfamiliar verbs.

Affirmative and negative minimal pairs

بيقولوا إنو المحل فاتح نهار الأحد.

byiʾūlo inno l-maḥall fēteḥ nhār el-aḥad.

They say the shop is open on Sunday. (affirmative report; informal)

ما بيقولوا إنو المحل فاتح نهار الأحد.

ma byiʾūlo inno l-maḥall fēteḥ nhār el-aḥad.

They don't say that the shop is open on Sunday. (negative report; b- remains)

Dialogue: report, current speech, and planned speech

شو قال الطبيب عن الفحوصات؟

shū ʾāl eṭ-ṭabīb ʿan el-fḥūṣāt?

Mira: What did the doctor say about the tests? (neutral; completed report)

قاللي إنو كل شي طبيعي، وهلق عم بيقول نفس الشي لأمي.

ʾālle inno kill shi ṭabīʿe, w-hallaʾ ʿam byiʾūl nafs esh-shi la-emme.

Tarek: He told me everything is normal, and now he's telling my mother the same thing. (neutral; recipient clitic, then ongoing speech)

منيح، بس قول له يسأل عن الدوا الجديد.

mnīḥ, bass ʾūl lo yisʾal ʿan ed-dawa l-zhdīd.

Mira: Good, but tell him to ask about the new medicine. (informal; command plus recipient)

أكيد، رح قول له قبل ما نفل.

akīd, raḥ ʾūl lo ʾabl ma nfill.

Tarek: Definitely; I'll tell him before we leave. (informal; future bare form)

Common Mistakes

Using قالت for first person

❌ أنا قالت إنو ما في مشكلة.

Incorrect — قالت is third-person feminine; first-person uses the short stem قلت.

✅ أنا قلت إنو ما في مشكلة صغيرة ولا كبيرة.

ana ʾelt inno ma fī mishkle zghīra wala kbīra.

I said there wasn't any problem, small or large. (informal)

Copying the perfect vowel into the nonpast

❌ بيقال إنو الطريق مسكر.

Incorrect for ordinary active “he says” — the qāl-type b-imperfect is بيقول.

✅ بيقول إنو الطريق مسكر بسبب الحادث.

byiʾūl inno ṭ-ṭarīʾ msakkar b-sabab el-ḥēdes.

He says the road is closed because of the accident. (neutral)

Omitting the recipient marker

❌ قلت رامي إنو الاجتماع تأجل.

Incorrect for “I told Rami” — a named recipient needs لـ.

✅ قلت لرامي إنو الاجتماع تأجل لبكرا.

ʾelt la-Rāme inno l-izhtimēʿ tʾazhzhzal la-bokra.

I told Rami that the meeting was postponed until tomorrow. (neutral workplace speech)

Keeping b- after رح

❌ رح بقول له لما شوفه.

Incorrect in the course baseline — رح takes the bare form قول.

✅ رح قول له لما شوفه بالمكتب.

raḥ ʾūl lo lamma shūfo bil-maktab.

I'll tell him when I see him at the office. (informal future)

Importing formal qāf and endings unnoticed

❌ يقولون الحقيقة الآن.

✅ هني عم بيقولوا الحقيقة هلق.

hinne ʿam byiʾūlo l-ḥaʾīʾa hallaʾ.

They're telling the truth now. (informal urban Lebanese)

Key Takeaways

The qāl-type is anchored by قال–قلت–بيقول–قول: long perfect, short suffixed perfect, ū-class nonpast, and ū command. Agreement chooses between قالت and قلت; aspect and modality choose b-, عم + b-, or a licensed bare form. With people, mark the recipient using لـ or a dative clitic. Treat related verbs such as شاف as verified lexical neighbors, not proof that every hollow verb follows the same vowels.

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