Geminate Form I verbs contract their identical second and third radicals through most of the imperfect: يَمُدُّ “he extends,” يَرُدُّ “he returns,” and يَمُرُّ “he passes.” The masculine-singular jussive and imperative are more revealing. Formal Arabic permits both an expanded shape, such as لَمْ يَمْدُدْ / اُمْدُدْ, and a contracted shape, لَمْ يَمُدَّ / مُدَّ.
The two jussive variants express the same mood. The final fatḥa of contracted لَمْ يَمُدَّ prevents an impermissible consonant cluster; it does not turn the verb into a subjunctive. That distinction matters because subjunctive لَنْ يَمُدَّ happens to sound the same. The governor determines the analysis.
The contracted indicative paradigm
Use Form I مَدَّ / يَمُدُّ / مَدٌّ, root م-د-د. Indicative singulars and most dual/plural forms retain contraction. Feminine-plural ـنَ begins with a consonant and selects the unfolded stem يَمْدُدْنَ / تَمْدُدْنَ.
| Person | Indicative | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| أنا | أَمُدُّ | I extend |
| نحن | نَمُدُّ | we extend |
| أنتَ | تَمُدُّ | you (m.sg.) extend |
| أنتِ | تَمُدِّينَ | you (f.sg.) extend |
| أنتما | تَمُدَّانِ | you two extend |
| أنتم | تَمُدُّونَ | you (m.pl.) extend |
| أنتن | تَمْدُدْنَ | you (f.pl.) extend |
| هو | يَمُدُّ | he extends |
| هي | تَمُدُّ | she extends |
| هما (m.) | يَمُدَّانِ | they two extend |
| هما (f.) | تَمُدَّانِ | they two (f.) extend |
| هم | يَمُدُّونَ | they (m.) extend |
| هن | يَمْدُدْنَ | they (f.) extend |
يمد الفريق فترة التجربة أسبوعا آخر
yamuddu l-farīqu fatrata t-tajribati ʾusbūʿan ʾākhar
The team is extending the trial period by another week. (Formal.)
تمدان الشريط على الطاولة ثم تقيسانه
tamuddāni sh-sharīṭa ʿalā ṭ-ṭāwilati thumma taqīsānih
You two stretch the tape on the table and then measure it. (Formal instruction.)
الممرضات يمددن المرضى بالأدوية اللازمة
al-mumarriḍātu yamdudna l-marḍā bil-ʾadwiyati l-lāzima
The nurses supply the patients with the necessary medicines. (Formal SVO; feminine-plural agreement.)
The lexical imperfect vowel must still be learned. مَدَّ / يَمُدُّ, رَدَّ / يَرُدُّ, and مَرَّ / يَمُرُّ have u, but a citation form with shadda does not itself predict every verb’s imperfect. The geminate perfect page likewise shows why hidden perfect stem vowels require verification.
Subjunctive: contraction plus ordinary mood government
After لن، أن، كي and other subjunctive governors, sound singular geminate forms take fatḥa: لَنْ يَمُدَّ. Dual, masculine-plural, and second-person feminine-singular forms belong to the five verbs and delete ن: لَنْ يَمُدَّا، لَنْ يَمُدُّوا، لَنْ تَمُدِّي. Feminine-plural يَمْدُدْنَ is built on sukūn and does not display a separate subjunctive ending.
لن تمد الشركة العقد ما لم تنخفض الكلفة
lan tamudda sh-sharikatu l-ʿaqda mā lam tankhafiḍi l-kulfa
The company will not extend the contract unless the cost falls. (Formal.)
طلبت المديرة من الموظفتين أن تمدا فترة الاستشارة
ṭalabati l-mudīratu mina l-muwaẓẓafatayni ʾan tamuddā fatrata l-istishāra
The director asked the two employees to extend the consultation period. (Formal; dual subjunctive without nūn.)
من الأفضل ألا تمدوا الأسلاك قرب مصدر الحرارة
mina l-ʾafḍali ʾallā tamuddū l-ʾaslāka qurba maṣdari l-ḥarāra
It is better not to run the wires near a heat source. (Formal advice to a group.)
The shape يمدَّ is therefore genuinely subjunctive after لن or أن. The identical shape after لم has a different derivation and function.
Jussive: expanded and contracted alternatives
For a masculine singular with no suffix, formal Arabic allows two standard jussive realizations:
- لَمْ يَمْدُدْ: the two radicals are separated, and the final one bears jussive sukūn.
- لَمْ يَمُدَّ: the radicals remain contracted; final fatḥa breaks the cluster resulting from two underlying sukūns.
Both mean “he did not extend.” Expanded forms make the root structure transparent and occur in careful formal usage; contracted forms are compact and common. Individual lexemes and textual styles can favor one, so a learner should recognize both rather than declare one “colloquial” or “incorrect.”
Traditional grammars also record contracted لَمْ يَمُدِّ with kasra and, for this u-stem verb, لَمْ يَمُدُّ with a vowel matching the preceding u. These are legitimate (Classical/literary) resolutions of the same two-sukūn problem, not indicative forms after لم. In contemporary pedagogical and edited usage, expanded لَمْ يَمْدُدْ and contracted لَمْ يَمُدَّ are the clearest production models; advanced readers should recognize all three contracted vocalizations in older or highly vocalized texts.
لم يردد المتحدث على السؤال، بل تجاهله تماما
lam yardudi l-mutaḥaddithu ʿalā s-suʾāli, bal tajāhalahu tamāman
The speaker did not answer the question; he ignored it completely. (Formal; expanded jussive of ردّ ‘reply.’)
لم يرد المدير على الرسالتين حتى الآن
lam yarudda l-mudīru ʿalā r-risālatayni ḥattā l-ʾān
The director has not replied to the two messages yet. (Formal; contracted jussive of ردّ.)
لم يمدد المجلس المهلة بعد الاعتراضات
lam yamdudi l-majlisu l-muhlata baʿda l-iʿtirāḍāt
The council did not extend the deadline after the objections. (Formal; expanded jussive.)
لم يمد المجلس المهلة بعد الاعتراضات
lam yamudda l-majlisu l-muhlata baʿda l-iʿtirāḍāt
The council did not extend the deadline after the objections. (Formal; contracted jussive.)
In the expanded examples, connected speech may supply a short linking i before the following article: يَمْدُدِ الْمَجْلِسُ. This vowel prevents adjacent sukūns across the word boundary. It is not an indicative ending: the underlying jussive remains يَمْدُدْ.
Dual and masculine-plural jussives do not create this choice because the five-verb endings handle mood by nūn deletion: لَمْ يَمُدَّا، لَمْ يَمُدُّوا. Second-person feminine singular likewise gives لَمْ تَمُدِّي; feminine plural stays لَمْ يَمْدُدْنَ.
Imperative: the same contraction choice
The masculine-singular command can be expanded اُمْدُدْ or contracted مُدَّ. Expanded اُمْدُدْ has initial hamzat al-waṣl because the bare consonant cluster needs a support vowel at the beginning of an utterance. Contracted مُدَّ begins directly with m and therefore has no initial alif.
For رَدَّ / يَرُدُّ, the parallel forms are اُرْدُدْ / رُدَّ “return; reply.” The exact complement matters: رُدَّ الكتابَ “return the book,” but رُدَّ على الرسالة “reply to the message.”
مد الحبل ببطء حتى يصل إلى العلامة الحمراء
mudda l-ḥabla bibuṭʾin ḥattā yaṣila ʾilā l-ʿalāmati l-ḥamrāʾ
Extend the rope slowly until it reaches the red mark. (Formal instruction to one man.)
امدد ذراعك ولا تحبس أنفاسك
umdud dhirāʿaka walā taḥbis ʾanfāsak
Extend your arm and do not hold your breath. (Formal instruction to one man; expanded imperative.)
ردي على العميل قبل نهاية الدوام
ruddī ʿalā l-ʿamīli qabla nihāyati d-dawām
Reply to the client before the end of the workday. (Formal instruction to one woman.)
ردوا المعدات إلى المخزن بعد فحصها
ruddū l-muʿaddāti ʾilā l-makhzani baʿda faḥṣihā
Return the equipment to the storeroom after inspecting it. (Formal instruction to a group.)
ارددن النماذج الناقصة إلى أصحابها
urdudna n-namādhija n-nāqiṣata ʾilā ʾaṣḥābihā
Return the incomplete forms to their owners. (Formal instruction to a group of women.)
Feminine singular مُدِّي, dual مُدَّا, and masculine plural مُدُّوا keep contraction. Feminine-plural اُمْدُدْنَ unfolds. These are agreement forms, not interchangeable stylistic variants.
Common Mistakes
Treating contracted jussive fatḥa as subjunctive
❌ لم يمد فعل منصوب لأن آخره مفتوح
Incorrect—لم governs jussive. Contracted يمدَّ ends in fatḥa to resolve gemination, not because it is subjunctive.
✅ لم يمد المدير العقد
lam yamudda l-mudīru l-ʿaqd
The director did not extend the contract. (Contracted jussive.)
Keeping indicative nūn after a mood governor
❌ لن يمدون الشبكة هذا الشهر
Incorrect—the five verbs delete nūn after لن: يمدّوا.
✅ لن يمدوا الشبكة قبل صدور الترخيص
lan yamuddū sh-shabakata qabla ṣudūri t-tarkhīṣ
They will not extend the network before the permit is issued.
Using the contracted singular with feminine-plural ـنَ
❌ هن يمدن الحبال
Incorrect in fully vocalized MSA if read *yamudna*—the feminine-plural stem is يمددنَ.
✅ هن يمددن الحبال على الأرض
hunna yamdudna l-ḥibāla ʿalā l-ʾarḍ
They (f.) lay the ropes out on the ground.
Adding hamzat al-qaṭʿ to the expanded command
❌ أمدد ذراعك
Incorrect for the Form I imperative ‘extend!’—the support alif carries hamzat al-waṣl and is written plain: امدد.
✅ امدد ذراعك أمامك
umdud dhirāʿaka ʾamāmak
Extend your arm in front of you.
Giving a preverbal form full plural agreement
❌ يمدون الفنيون الأسلاك تحت الأرض
Incorrect in neutral formal VSO—use singular يمدّ before an overt plural subject.
✅ يمد الفنيون الأسلاك تحت الأرض
yamuddu l-fanniyyūna l-ʾaslāka taḥta l-ʾarḍ
The technicians run the wires underground.
Key Takeaways
- The indicative contracts: يَمُدُّ، يَمُدَّانِ، يَمُدُّونَ; feminine plural unfolds to يَمْدُدْنَ.
- The subjunctive uses لَنْ يَمُدَّ and nūn deletion in the five verbs.
- Masculine-singular jussive allows expanded لَمْ يَمْدُدْ and contracted لَمْ يَمُدَّ.
- Classical and literary vocalization may instead show contracted لَمْ يَمُدِّ or لَمْ يَمُدُّ; لم still makes them jussive.
- Masculine-singular imperative likewise allows اُمْدُدْ and مُدَّ.
- Governors determine mood; anti-cluster fatḥa and linking vowels do not change the jussive analysis.
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Start learning Arabic →Related Topics
- Geminate Perfect with Suffixed SubjectsB1 — Conjugate geminate verbs in the perfect by choosing the contracted stem before vowel-led endings and the unfolded stem before consonant-led endings.
- Geminate Roots in Derived FormsB1 — Track doubled roots through Forms II, V, VII, VIII, and X without confusing root gemination with a derived-form consonant or inventing triple-letter stems.
- The Jussive ImperfectB1 — Form the jussive with sukūn, weak-letter deletion, or nūn deletion after past negation, prohibitions, commands, and conditional governors.
- Deriving the Imperative from the JussiveA2 — Derive positive second-person imperatives by removing the imperfect prefix and supplying the correct initial vowel or hamza.
- The Arabic Verb SystemA1 — See how Arabic verb stems, agreement, mood, voice, and derived Forms work together in complete sentences.