Weak and high-frequency irregular verbs often have commands that are much shorter than their perfect or imperfect forms: قال / بيقول → قولʾūl “say,” أكل / بياكل → كلkol “eat,” and إجا / بيجي → تعىtaʿa “come.” Their feminine, plural, negative, and suffixed forms reveal different parts of the paradigm.
English has one command form regardless of addressee and uses separate object pronouns. Lebanese distinguishes one man, one woman, and a group, and can attach “me,” “him,” or “it” directly to the command. Learn each frequent command as a principal part rather than rebuilding it from an MSA formula. For the productive strong-verb pattern first, see Forming Positive Imperatives.
Four useful weak-command families
The table groups commands by what happens to the lexical stem. It is a recognition map, not an automatic generator.
| Behavior | Perfect / b-imperfect | Masculine command | What to learn |
|---|---|---|---|
| hollow long vowel | قال / بيقول | قول ʾūl | middle weak radical appears as a long vowel |
| final-ā | حكى / بيحكي | احكي iḥke | final weak edge surfaces as e |
| final-ī | نسي / بينسى | انسى insa | command follows the a-colored bare stem |
| hamzated shortening | أكل / بياكل | كل kol | initial radical is absent in the positive command |
| lexically replaced | إجا / بيجي | تعى taʿa | command comes from a different historical stem |
قول شو بدك من دون لف ودوران.
ʾūl shū baddak min dūn laff w-dawarēn.
Say what you want without beating around the bush. (informal; hollow imperative to one man)
احكي بهدوء كرمال الكل يفهم.
iḥke bi-hodūʾ kermēl el-kill yifham.
Speak calmly so everyone can understand. (neutral; final-weak command to one person)
كل لقمتين قبل ما يبرد الأكل.
kol loʾmtēn ʾabel ma yibrad el-akel.
Have a couple of bites before the food gets cold. (warm informal command to one man)
Masculine, feminine, and plural addressees
Feminine -e and plural -o attach to the command stem, but a final-weak vowel may merge with the feminine ending. Hollow stems generally keep their long vowel. The highly irregular “come” series must be memorized in full.
| Meaning | Masculine singular | Feminine singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| say | قول ʾūl | قولي ʾūle | قولوا ʾūlo |
| bring | جيب zhīb | جيبي zhībe | جيبوا zhībo |
| go | روح rūḥ | روحي rūḥe | روحوا rūḥo |
| forget | انسى insa | انسي inse | انسوا inso |
| come | تعى taʿa | تعي taʿe | تعوا taʿo |
قولي لنادين تتصل فيي بعد الغدا.
ʾūle la-Nādīn titteṣel fiyye baʿd el-ghada.
Tell Nadine to call me after lunch. (informal; addressed to one woman)
روحوا عالطريق الداخلية لتتفادوا العجقة.
rūḥo ʿaṭ-ṭarīʾ ed-dēkhliyye la-titfēdo l-ʿazhʾa.
Take the inner road to avoid the traffic. (informal; addressed to a group)
يا ريتا، تعي اقعدي حدنا.
ya Rīta, taʿe oʾʿode ḥaddna.
Rita, come sit with us. (warm informal invitation to one woman)
English go! supplies no number or gender information. Lebanese روح، روحي، روحوا does. Plural agreement is not a politeness strategy for one person in the ordinary Beirut baseline.
Positive commands and negative commands use different stems
A prohibition uses ما + second-person bare imperfect, not ما + positive imperative. That difference can restore material missing from the short positive form: كل / ما تاكل, خد / ما تاخد, تعى / ما تجي. With a hollow verb, the person prefix returns: قول / ما تقول.
| Positive | Negative | Structural contrast |
|---|---|---|
| كل kol | ما تاكل ma tēkol | initial hamza material returns in the imperfect stem |
| خد khod | ما تاخد ma tēkhod | positive short stem versus bare imperfect |
| تعى taʿa | ما تجي ma tzhe | suppletive positive versus regular bare form of بيجي |
| انسى insa | ما تنسى ma tinsa | t-prefix returns |
خد النسخة المطبوعة، وما تاخد المسودة.
khod en-noskha l-maṭbūʿa, w-ma tēkhod el-msawwade.
Take the printed copy, and don't take the draft. (neutral; affirmative and negative minimal pair)
تعى بكير، بس ما تجي قبل الساعة تمانية.
taʿa bkīr, bass ma tzhe ʾabel es-sēʿa tmēnye.
Come early, but don't come before eight. (informal; suppletive affirmative and bare negative)
قولي رأيك، وما تقولي يلي بدنا نسمعه بس.
ʾūle raʾyik, w-ma tʾūle yalle bidna nismaʿo bass.
Say what you think; don't just say what we want to hear. (informal; addressed to one woman)
Object and recipient suffixes reshape the command
Clitics attach to the command as one written word. A vowel-final command often lengthens before the suffix: عطي → عطينيʿṭīne “give me,” فرجي → فرجينيfarzhīne “show me,” احكي → احكيليiḥkīle “tell me.” Hollow commands keep a recognizable long-vowel host: جيبليzhīble “bring me.”
جيبلي الملف الأزرق من فوق الخزانة.
zhīble l-malaf el-azraʾ min fōʾ el-khzēne.
Bring me the blue file from above the cabinet. (informal; hollow command plus recipient clitic)
عطيني دقيقة لراجع الأرقام.
ʿṭīne daʾīʾa la-rēzheʿ el-arʾām.
Give me a minute to check the numbers. (neutral; final-weak command plus object clitic)
احكيلي الحقيقة حتى لو كانت مزعجة.
iḥkīle l-ḥaʾīʾa ḥatta law kēnit mizʿizhe.
Tell me the truth even if it's upsetting. (informal; dative clitic after final-weak command)
Some frequent commands are more contracted than a transparent suffixing rule predicts. قليʾelle “tell me” belongs with قال / بيقول / قول but has its own high-frequency shape. It is not simply pronounced ʾūl-le. This is genuine lexical irregularity.
قلي وين حطيت المفتاح وما تغير الموضوع.
ʾelle wēn ḥaṭṭēt el-miftēḥ w-ma tghayyer el-mawḍūʿ.
Tell me where you put the key, and don't change the subject. (informal; contracted command with clitic)
Retained and lost radicals
“Weak” describes historical root behavior, but surface outcomes differ. قول retains the qāf letter and realizes it as the urban glottal stop; the middle weak radical supplies long ū. كل and خد lack the initial hamza visible in أكل and أخد. Final-weak انسى ends in a vowel whose shape changes in انسي / انسوا. Suppletive تعى cannot be recovered from بيجي at all.
These facts make root awareness useful for recognition but insufficient for production. A learner who knows the root still needs the command principal part and its addressee forms.
Dialogue: choosing the right command shape
تعى شوف هالخريطة وقلي أي طريق أسرع.
taʿa shūf hal-kharīṭa w-ʾelle ayy ṭarīʾ asraʿ.
Maya: Come look at this map and tell me which route is faster. (informal dialogue; three weak/irregular commands)
ما تاخدي الطريق الساحلية؛ روحي من جوات المدينة.
ma tēkhde ṭ-ṭarīʾ es-sēḥliyye; rūḥe min zhuwwēt el-madīne.
Nour: Don't take the coastal road; go through the city. (informal dialogue; prohibition then feminine imperative)
Common Mistakes
Building the command from the perfect
❌ إجي لعندي بكرا.
Incorrect — the positive command of إجا / بيجي is suppletive تعى.
✅ تعى لعندي بعد الشغل.
taʿa la-ʿinde baʿd esh-shoghol.
Come over to my place after work.
Putting ما before the positive command
❌ ما كل هالحلو قبل الغدا.
Incorrect for ‘don't eat’ — prohibition uses the second-person bare imperfect.
✅ ما تاكل هالحلو قبل الغدا.
ma tēkol hal-ḥilo ʾabel el-ghada.
Don't eat this dessert before lunch.
Ignoring feminine agreement
❌ يا نادين، روح عالاستقبال.
Incorrect in the gender-agreeing baseline — one woman takes روحي.
✅ يا نادين، روحي عالاستقبال واسألي عن رامي.
ya Nādīn, rūḥe ʿal-istiʾbāl w-isʾale ʿan Rāme.
Nadine, go to reception and ask for Rami.
Appending a clitic without reshaping the host
❌ عطي ني القلم.
Incorrect spacing and stem shape — the clitic attaches, and the vowel lengthens.
✅ عطيني القلم لوقع هون.
ʿṭīne l-ʾalam la-waʾʾeʿ hōn.
Give me the pen so I can sign here.
Key Takeaways
Weak imperatives are lexical principal parts. Hollow verbs often keep a long vowel, final-weak verbs reshape the final vowel around gender, number, and clitics, hamzated verbs can lose their initial radical, and تعى is suppletive. Positive commands and prohibitions come from different stems; feminine and plural agreement remain obligatory; and attached objects can lengthen or contract the command host.
Now practice Arabic
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Forming Positive ImperativesA1 — Build masculine, feminine, and plural urban Lebanese commands from verified bare-imperfect stems, including initial vowels and irregular weak verbs.
- Imperatives with Object and Prepositional CliticsB1 — Attach object, recipient, and prepositional pronouns to urban Lebanese commands without losing the imperative stem or its natural syllable rhythm.
- Hollow VerbsB1 — Understand why Lebanese hollow verbs alternate between long-vowel and short-vowel stems across the perfect, imperfect, and imperative.
- Final-ā VerbsB1 — Master the changing perfect, imperfect, plural, and imperative stems of common Lebanese verbs whose citation form ends in -a.
- Final-ī VerbsB1 — Conjugate Lebanese verbs such as nisi that alternate between an i-perfect and an a-imperfect, including bare forms and clitics.
- إجا ʾizha: comeA2 — Conjugate the highly irregular Lebanese verb إجا and use it for motion toward the conversational center.