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لاقى — encounter or meet as a Form III defective verb

لَاقَى means “meet, encounter, experience, receive.” It is especially common in formal prose with reactions: a proposal لاقى ترحيبًا “received a welcome,” while a decision لاقى معارضةً “met opposition.” Its root is ل-ق-ي, and its Form-III stem is defective, or final-weak: the same last radical appears as ى, ي, or zero depending on the form.

Lookup card: لَاقَى — يُلَاقِي

The long ā after the first radical marks Form III; the final alif maqṣūra belongs to the weak ending. Both must be tracked. The verb is normally transitive and takes the person, difficulty, or reaction as a direct object.

PartVerified formUse
root and Formل-ق-ي، Form IIIfinal-weak in yāʾ
perfect, 3 m.sg.لَاقَىhe/it met, encountered, received
imperfect, 3 m.sg.يُلَاقِيhe/it meets, encounters, receives
imperative, 2 m.sg.لَاقِmeet!; face!
maṣdarمُلَاقَاةٌ؛ لِقَاءٌmeeting, encounter; لِقَاء is also shared with Form I
active participleمُلَاقٍ؛ الْمُلَاقِيmeeting, encountering; uncommon as a standalone label
passive participleمُلَاقًىencountered, met; relatively uncommon
passiveلُوقِيَ — يُلَاقَىwas/is met or received; formal

Both ملاقاة and لقاء are recorded as verbal nouns of لاقى. ملاقاة displays the Form-III stem transparently, while لقاء is the much more common independent noun for a meeting and is shared with Form-I لقي. This overlap is lexical; it does not erase the difference between the two finite paradigms.

لاقى الوفد ممثلي النقابة صباحا.

lāqā l-wafdu mumaththilī n-niqābati ṣabāḥan.

The delegation met the union representatives in the morning. (Formal.)

يلاقي العاملون صعوبات متزايدة في النقل.

yulāqī l-ʿāmilūna ṣuʿūbātin mutazāyidatan fī n-naql.

Workers are encountering increasing transportation difficulties. (Formal.)

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Memorize لَاقَى، يُلَاقِي، لَنْ يُلَاقِيَ، لَمْ يُلَاقِ، لَاقِ. The final yāʾ is retained in the indicative, carries fatḥa in the subjunctive, and disappears in the singular jussive and masculine-singular command.

The defective Form-III stem

Before consonant-initial perfect suffixes, yāʾ surfaces: لَاقَيْتُ، لَاقَيْنَا. Before masculine plural وا, the weak radical drops: لَاقَوْا. In the imperfect, يُلَاقِي retains yāʾ until jussive or imperative deletion requires يُلَاقِ، لَاقِ.

EnvironmentFormStem behavior
هو, perfectلَاقَىfinal weak vowel written ى
أنا / نحن, perfectلَاقَيْتُ / لَاقَيْنَاyāʾ appears before the suffix
هم, perfectلَاقَوْاweak radical drops before وا
هو, indicativeيُلَاقِيfinal yāʾ retained
هو after لنلَنْ يُلَاقِيَsubjunctive fatḥa follows yāʾ
هو after لملَمْ يُلَاقِjussive deletes final yāʾ

لاقيت في بداية عملي مقاومة للتغيير.

lāqaytu fī bidāyati ʿamalī muqāwamatan lit-taghyīr.

At the beginning of my work, I encountered resistance to change. (Formal.)

لن يلاقي الاقتراح قبولا ما لم تتضح تكلفته.

lan yulāqiya l-iqtirāḥu qabūlan mā lam tattaḍiḥ taklifatuh.

The proposal will not gain acceptance unless its cost becomes clear. (Formal.)

لم يلاق القرار معارضة تذكر داخل اللجنة.

lam yulāqi l-qarāru muʿāraḍatan tudhkaru dākhila l-lajna.

The decision met no noteworthy opposition within the committee. (Formal.)

لاق ضيفك عند المدخل ثم اصطحبه إلى القاعة.

lāqi ḍayfaka ʿinda l-madkhali thumma ṣṭaḥibhu ʾilā l-qāʿa.

Meet your guest at the entrance, then escort him to the hall. (Formal instruction.)

The imperative is grammatically ordinary, though استقبل “receive/welcome” or قابل “meet” may sound more specific in practical instructions. The final-weak mood system explains the same deletion across other defective verbs.

Meeting people and encountering circumstances

With a person, لاقى شخصًا takes a direct object and is usually formal or literary. It can describe an actual meeting, often with an overt time or place. In neutral everyday-oriented formal prose, قابل is common for meeting someone, while التقى بـ foregrounds a mutual meeting. لاقى is not automatically reciprocal simply because it belongs to Form III.

لاقى الكاتب قراءه في المعرض ووقع نسخا من روايته.

lāqā l-kātibu qurrāʾahu fī l-maʿriḍi wa-waqqaʿa nusakhan min riwāyatih.

The writer met his readers at the fair and signed copies of his novel. (Formal.)

With an abstract object, it means “encounter, face, experience”: لاقى صعوبة، عقبات، مقاومة، معاملة حسنة. The experiencer is the subject and the circumstance encountered is the direct object.

لاقى المرضى صعوبة في حجز المواعيد عبر الموقع.

lāqā l-marḍā ṣuʿūbatan fī ḥajzi l-mawāʿīdi ʿabra l-mawqiʿ.

Patients encountered difficulty booking appointments through the website. (Formal.)

لاقى الفريق معاملة طيبة من سكان القرية.

lāqā l-farīqu muʿāmalatan ṭayyibatan min sukkāni l-qarya.

The team received kind treatment from the village residents. (Formal.)

The reaction frame: receive approval, opposition, or interest

The most characteristic contemporary use puts a proposal, product, performance, or policy in subject position and a reaction in object position. English often translates this active Arabic syntax with “be received” or “meet with.”

لاقى التقرير ترحيبا واسعا من خبراء الصحة.

lāqā t-taqrīru tarḥīban wāsiʿan min khubarāʾi ṣ-ṣiḥḥa.

The report received a broad welcome from health experts. (Formal news register.)

لاقت المسرحية استحسان النقاد والجمهور.

lāqati l-masraḥiyyatu stiḥsāna n-nuqqādi wal-jumhūr.

The play won the approval of critics and audiences. (Formal cultural reporting.)

لاقى القرار انتقادات حادة بسبب غياب المشاورات.

lāqā l-qarāru ntiqādātin ḥāddatan bisababi ghiyābi l-mushāwarāt.

The decision drew sharp criticism because consultations had been absent. (Formal news register.)

Frequent collocationNatural English
لَاقَى تَرْحِيبًا / قَبُولًاreceive a welcome / gain acceptance
لَاقَى اسْتِحْسَانًاwin approval
لَاقَى إِقْبَالًاattract strong interest or demand
لَاقَى انْتِقَادًا / مُعَارَضَةًdraw criticism / meet opposition
لَاقَى صُعُوبَةً / عَقَبَاتٍencounter difficulty / obstacles
لَاقَى حَتْفَهُmeet his death; formal journalistic/euphemistic
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In the reaction frame, do not add بـ after active لاقى: لاقى الاقتراح ترحيبًا. If you choose an explicitly passive construction, use قُوبِلَ الاقتراحُ بترحيب. The preposition belongs to that passive frame, not to active لاقى.

Contrast with لقي and the passive

Form-I لَقِيَ — يَلْقَى also means “meet, encounter” and is treated on the لقي reference page. It is common with people and with formal reaction objects: لقي الاقتراح دعمًا. Form III لاقى is particularly productive in edited prose with reception and response collocations. The distinction is lexical and stylistic, not a mechanical rule that Form III must be reciprocal.

The Form-III passive لُوقِيَ — يُلَاقَى exists and is formal. It can foreground the reaction while omitting its source, though contemporary writers often choose the clearer قُوبِلَ بـ construction.

لوقي الإعلان بردود فعل متباينة.

lūqiya l-ʾiʿlānu birudūdi fiʿlin mutabāyina.

The announcement was met with mixed reactions. (Formal passive.)

قوبل الإعلان بردود فعل متباينة.

qūbila l-ʾiʿlānu birudūdi fiʿlin mutabāyina.

The announcement was met with mixed reactions. (Formal; more common explicit passive choice.)

Common Mistakes

Keeping final yāʾ after لم

❌ لم يلاقي الاقتراح قبولا واسعا.

Incorrect for singular Form III after لم—the jussive deletes final yāʾ.

✅ لم يلاق الاقتراح قبولا واسعا.

lam yulāqi l-iqtirāḥu qabūlan wāsiʿan.

The proposal did not gain broad acceptance.

Adding بـ to the active reaction object

❌ لاقى القرار بالرفض من اللجنة.

Incorrect in the active frame—the reaction is a direct object, not a بـ phrase.

✅ لاقى القرار رفضا من اللجنة.

lāqā l-qarāru rafḍan mina l-lajna.

The decision met with rejection from the committee.

Treating Form III as automatically reciprocal

❌ لاقى الاقتراح والنقاد استحسانا.

Incorrect for the intended reaction frame—الاقتراح is the subject and استحسان is its object; Form III does not force two reciprocal participants.

✅ لاقى الاقتراح استحسان النقاد.

lāqā l-iqtirāḥu stiḥsāna n-nuqqād.

The proposal won the critics’ approval.

Confusing the maṣdar with the finite verb

❌ جرت لاقى بين الوزيرين أمس.

Incorrect after جرت—a noun such as ملاقاة or the more usual لقاء is required, not the perfect verb لاقى.

✅ جرت ملاقاة بين الوزيرين أمس.

jarat mulāqātun bayna l-wazīrayni ʾams.

A meeting took place between the two ministers yesterday. (Formal; لقاء would be more usual.)

Key Takeaways

  • لَاقَى — يُلَاقِي — مُلَاقَاةً is final-weak Form III from root ل-ق-ي.
  • Singular jussive and masculine-singular imperative delete final yāʾ: لم يلاقِ، لاقِ.
  • People, difficulties, and reactions are normally direct objects.
  • The formal reaction frame is highly productive: لاقى ترحيبًا، استحسانًا، إقبالًا، انتقادًا، معارضةً.
  • لَقِيَ overlaps with it; Form III does not automatically encode reciprocity.
  • The passive لُوقِيَ بـ exists, but قُوبِلَ بـ is often the clearer contemporary alternative.

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