Basic Positive Commands

The Arabic imperative (فعل الأمر) gives a positive command directly to one or more addressees. Because an addressee is always second person, the imperative has five cells: masculine singular, feminine singular, dual, masculine/mixed plural, and feminine plural. From كَتَبَ / يَكْتُبُ “write,” they are اكتب، اكتبي، اكتبا، اكتبوا، اكتبن.

These forms are not shortened infinitives. They are built systematically from the corresponding second-person jussive imperfect: remove the second-person prefix تـ, preserve the jussive ending, and supply an initial helping vowel when the remaining stem begins with two consonants. That relationship explains both the endings and the initial hamzat al-waṣl in Form-I اكتب.

Derive the five cells from the jussive

Use regular strong Form-I كَتَبَ / يَكْتُبُ (root ك ت ب). The middle column shows the jussive after لم only to make the stem visible; لم itself is not part of a command.

The indicative nūn of تكتبين، تكتبان، تكتبون disappears in the jussive and stays absent in the imperative. Feminine-plural ـنَ does not disappear: it is the person-number suffix, not indicative mood nūn.

The sequence contrasts indicative تكتبُ, jussive تكتبْ, and imperative اكتبْ from one verified stem.

Use the ending that matches the addressee

English has one command write for every addressee. MSA distinguishes all five categories.

The command's underlying final sukūn receives a linking kasra before اسمك because hamzat al-waṣl elides and would otherwise leave a difficult consonant cluster.

The feminine-plural command is fully standard (formal) but less frequent in everyday exposure than masculine/mixed plural اكتبوا, simply because many public instructions address a mixed audience.

Why اكتب begins with hamzat al-waṣl

Remove تـ from jussive تكتبْ and the remaining stem begins كْتُـ, two consonants without an initial vowel. Arabic supplies a helping alif with hamzat al-waṣl. For a basic Form-I imperative, its starting vowel is usually u when the imperfect's middle radical has u, as in يَكْتُبُ → اُكْتُبْ. Otherwise it is normally i:

Hamzat al-waṣl is written as ordinary ا, not أ. It is pronounced at the beginning of an utterance but elides after a preceding vowel.

Initial اجلس pronounces its helping vowel. After وَ, the alif of افتح and اكتب remains in spelling but its hamza and vowel are not pronounced: wa-ftaḥ, wa-ktub.

Root hamza is different from helping hamza

Form-I قَرَأَ / يَقْرَأُ “read” has root ق ر أ. Its command اِقْرَأْ contains initial hamzat al-waṣl supplied by the imperative and final radical hamza أ. The two have different jobs and spellings.

After ثمَّ, command اكتب loses its initial helping vowel in connected speech. Final hamza in اقرأ remains a root consonant.

Weak and geminate verbs do not take a mechanical shortcut

Hollow Form-I قَالَ / يَقُولُ “say” has root ق و ل. Its jussive is لم تقلْ, with the long vowel shortened. Removing تـ gives command قُلْ; no helping alif is needed because the remaining form already begins with pronounceable qu-.

Final-weak دَعَا / يَدْعُو “invite; call” (root د ع و) has jussive لم تدعُ and masculine-singular imperative اُدْعُ. The final written wāw disappears in these forms, but its ḍamma remains in careful connected pronunciation.

Geminate مَدَّ / يَمُدُّ “extend” (root م د د) has the common command مُدَّ, whose shadda represents the second and third radicals.

Here يكملَ is subjunctive after purpose حتى. The command itself has no indicative ending.

Commands, requests, and politeness

The imperative marks grammar, not social tone. A bare command can sound efficient in instructions and abrupt in a personal request. من فضلك “please” or a reason can soften it. Formal notices also use impersonal يُرجى “it is requested / please” (formal/administrative), but that is not an imperative paradigm.

Form-IV أَرْسَلَ / يُرْسِلُ “send” (root ر س ل) gives أَرْسِلْ with initial hamzat al-qaṭʿ, written أ. Not every imperative-initial vowel is hamzat al-waṣl; the verb Form and principal parts decide.

Negative commands use لا الناهية plus a jussive imperfect, not the positive imperative. They are treated separately on the negative commands page.

Common Mistakes

Keeping the second-person prefix in a positive command

Writing hamzat al-waṣl as أ

Giving every helping alif the vowel u

Losing feminine or dual agreement

Regularizing a hollow command

Key Takeaways

• Derive a positive command from the matching second-person jussive by removing تـ.
• Use distinct masculine singular, feminine singular, dual, masculine/mixed plural, and feminine plural endings.
• Form-I commands add hamzat al-waṣl only when the remaining stem needs a helping initial vowel; its vowel follows the verified imperfect stem.
• Hamzat al-waṣl elides after a preceding vowel, while a root or Form-IV hamzat al-qaṭʿ remains.
• Weak and geminate commands such as قل، ادع، مدّ must be derived from their real jussive forms, not a regular strong template.