بَاعَ / يَبِيعُ “sell” is a Form-I hollow yāʾ verb from root ب-ي-ع. Its long middle vowel changes with the grammatical environment: باع in the basic perfect, يبيع in the indicative imperfect, but بِعْتُ “I sold,” لَمْ يَبِعْ “he did not sell,” and بِعْ “sell!”
This verb resembles قَالَ / يَقُولُ structurally, but its short vowel is i, not u. That difference is lexical; compare the dedicated قَالَ-type page. English “sell” provides no clue to it, and the consonantal spelling باع alone does not display it. Learn the verified bundle بَاعَ / يَبِيعُ / بَيْعٌ together with its transitive frame: someone sells a thing, often لِـ “to” a buyer and بِـ “for/at” a price.
One verb, three diagnostic environments
The following forms reveal the hollow-yāʾ class:
| Environment | Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| perfect, 3 m.sg. | بَاعَ | he sold |
| imperfect, 3 m.sg. | يَبِيعُ | he sells / is selling |
| maṣdar | بَيْعٌ | selling, sale |
| perfect + ـت | بِعْتُ | I sold |
| jussive after لم | لَمْ يَبِعْ | he did not sell |
| imperative, 2 m.sg. | بِعْ | sell! |
In باع and يبيع, the middle radical surfaces as part of a long vowel. Before a consonant-initial perfect suffix, the stem becomes biʿ-. In the masculine-singular jussive and imperative, shortening produces yabiʿ and biʿ. The final ع remains: this is a middle-weak verb, not a final-weak one.
باع خالد سيارته القديمة لجاره
bāʿa khālidun sayyāratahu l-qadīmata lijārih
Khalid sold his old car to his neighbor. (Formal neutral narration.)
تبيع المكتبة كتبا مستعملة بأسعار منخفضة
tabīʿu l-maktabatu kutuban mustaʿmalatan biʾasʿārin munkhafiḍa
The bookstore sells used books at low prices. (Formal.)
بعت الحاسوب بعد أن نسخت ملفاتي
biʿtu l-ḥāsūba baʿda ʾan nasakhtu malaffātī
I sold the computer after copying my files. (Formal.)
The thing sold is a direct object. A buyer can follow لـ, while price or exchange value often follows بـ. The related Form VIII verb اشترى means “buy”; swapping the participants does not change باع into “buy.”
The perfect paradigm
Long ā appears in the unsuffixed third-person singular and before several vowel-initial endings. Short i appears before consonant-initial suffixes:
| Subject | Form | Subject | Form |
|---|---|---|---|
| هو | بَاعَ | هي | بَاعَتْ |
| هما (m.) | بَاعَا | هم | بَاعُوا |
| أنا | بِعْتُ | نحن | بِعْنَا |
| أنتِ | بِعْتِ | هنّ | بِعْنَ |
باعت الشركتان حصتيهما لمستثمر محلي
bāʿati sh-sharikatāni ḥiṣṣatayhimā limustathmirin maḥalliyy
The two companies sold their stakes to a local investor. (Formal VSO; singular feminine verb before a dual nonhuman subject.)
بعنا الأثاث الذي لم نعد نحتاج إليه
biʿnā l-ʾathātha lladhī lam naʿud naḥtāju ʾilayh
We sold the furniture that we no longer needed. (Formal.)
المالكات بعن الشقق قبل ارتفاع الضرائب
al-mālikātu biʿna sh-shuqaqa qabla rtifāʿi ḍ-ḍarāʾib
The female owners sold the apartments before taxes rose. (Formal SVO; feminine-plural agreement.)
In the last example, بِعْنَ means “they, all female, sold.” Without the explicit subject, context distinguishes it from the identically spelled imperative بِعْنَ “you women, sell!”
Indicative, subjunctive, and jussive
The indicative and subjunctive preserve long ī. The masculine-singular jussive shortens it:
| Environment | Form | Visible effect |
|---|---|---|
| indicative | يَبِيعُ | long ī + indicative ḍamma |
| subjunctive after لن | لَنْ يَبِيعَ | long ī + subjunctive fatḥa |
| jussive after لم | لَمْ يَبِعْ | short i + sukūn |
| prohibition | لَا تَبِعْ | short i + sukūn |
لن يبيع صاحب المتجر البضاعة التالفة
lan yabīʿa ṣāḥibu l-matjari l-biḍāʿata t-tālifa
The shop owner will not sell the damaged merchandise. (Formal; subjunctive after لن.)
لم يبع المزارع أرضه رغم العرض المغري
lam yabiʿi l-muzāriʿu ʾarḍahu raghma l-ʿarḍi l-mughrī
The farmer did not sell his land despite the attractive offer. (Formal; jussive after لم.)
In connected يَبِعِ المزارع, a linking i prevents a difficult consonant cluster. The citation form remains يَبِعْ, and the written target correctly has no extra letter.
Plural and dual members of the five verbs mark subjunctive and jussive through nūn deletion: يبيعونَ → لن يبيعوا / لم يبيعوا, تبيعانِ → لن تبيعا / لم تبيعا. Their long ī remains.
الموردون لم يبيعوا الأجهزة قبل فحصها
al-muwarridūna lam yabīʿū l-ʾajhizata qabla faḥṣihā
The suppliers did not sell the devices before inspecting them. (Formal SVO.)
Commands with بِعْ
The masculine-singular imperative comes from jussive تَبِعْ after removal of تـ: بِعْ. It starts with a vowelled consonant, so it takes no initial alif. Other addressees use بِيعَا، بِيعِي، بِيعُوا، بِعْنَ.
بع الأسهم الآن إذا كنت تحتاج إلى السيولة
biʿi l-ʾashuma l-ʾāna ʾidhā kunta taḥtāju ʾilā s-suyūla
Sell the shares now if you need liquidity. (One male addressee; formal.)
بيعي الهاتف للمشتري الذي قدم أفضل سعر
bīʿī l-hātifa lil-mushtarī lladhī qaddama ʾafḍala siʿr
Sell the phone to the buyer who offered the best price. (One female addressee; formal MSA.)
بيعوا المنتجات القديمة قبل وصول الشحنة الجديدة
bīʿū l-muntajāti l-qadīmata qabla wuṣūli sh-shuḥnati l-jadīda
Sell the old products before the new shipment arrives. (Male or mixed plural addressees; formal.)
Agreement still follows sentence order
Weakness affects the stem, not the syntax of agreement. Before an explicit human plural subject, neutral formal VSO normally uses a singular verb. A nonhuman plural subject takes feminine-singular agreement.
باع التجار بضائعهم قبل إغلاق السوق
bāʿa t-tujjāru baḍāʾiʿahum qabla ʾighlāqi s-sūq
The merchants sold their goods before the market closed. (Formal VSO.)
تباع هذه الكتب بسرعة في بداية الفصل
tubāʿu hādhihi l-kutubu bisurʿatin fī bidāyati l-faṣl
These books sell quickly at the beginning of the term. (Formal; passive, with nonhuman plural subject.)
The passive تُبَاعُ is a separate voice form, not the active تَبِيعُ with a different translation. Its subject is what is sold.
Common Mistakes
Using the long stem before ـت
❌ باعت سيارتي العام الماضي
Incorrect if the intended meaning is ‘I sold my car’—باعت means ‘she sold’; use بعتُ.
✅ بعت سيارتي العام الماضي
biʿtu sayyāratī l-ʿāma l-māḍī
I sold my car last year.
Retaining ي in the singular jussive
❌ لم يبيع المزارع أرضه
Incorrect—after لم, singular يبيع shortens to يبعْ.
✅ لم يبع المزارع أرضه
lam yabiʿi l-muzāriʿu ʾarḍah
The farmer did not sell his land.
Adding an alif to the command
❌ أبيع الجهاز القديم
Incorrect as a command—أبيع means ‘I sell’; the masculine-singular command is بعْ.
✅ بع الجهاز القديم بعد مسح بياناتك
biʿi l-jihāza l-qadīma baʿda masḥi bayānātik
Sell the old device after erasing your data.
Omitting the price preposition
❌ باعت المتجر الحاسوب ألف دولار
Incorrect—باعت also mismatches masculine متجر, and a sale price normally takes بـ.
✅ باع المتجر الحاسوب بألف دولار
bāʿa l-matjaru l-ḥāsūba biʾalfi dūlār
The store sold the computer for one thousand dollars.
Giving a postverbal plural subject full agreement
❌ باعوا التجار بضائعهم
Incorrect in neutral formal VSO—use singular باع before the explicit human plural subject.
✅ باع التجار بضائعهم بسعر عادل
bāʿa t-tujjāru baḍāʾiʿahum bisiʿrin ʿādil
The merchants sold their goods at a fair price.
Key Takeaways
- Learn بَاعَ / يَبِيعُ / بَيْعٌ as the principal parts of root ب-ي-ع.
- Short i appears in بِعْتُ، لَمْ يَبِعْ، بِعْ.
- Indicative يبيعُ and subjunctive لن يبيعَ retain long ī.
- Use a direct object for the item, لـ for a buyer, and commonly بـ for a price.
- Hollow stem changes never suspend gender, number, or VSO agreement rules.
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