Rare Forms XI–XV as Recognition Grammar | Arabic (Modern Standard) Grammar

Forms XI–XV complete the traditional Western numbering of augmented triliteral verbs, but they do not extend the ordinary productive system of contemporary Modern Standard Arabic. They were uncommon even in Classical Arabic. A C1 learner needs them mainly to read fully vocalized dictionaries, traditional morphology manuals, poetry, and older prose—not to coin new verbs.

The safe method is lexical: identify an attested headword, record its perfect and imperfect together, and let the dictionary establish its meaning and valency. The pattern can help you parse a form, but it cannot tell you that a verb exists. This is the same principle introduced in the verb-system overview, applied here with much stricter limits.

The five recognition patterns

Form	Perfect	Imperfect indicative	Verbal noun	Typical domain
XI	اِفْعَالَّ	يَفْعَالُّ	اِفْعِيلَال	color or visible state; often a poetic alternative to IX
XII	اِفْعَوْعَلَ	يَفْعَوْعِلُ	اِفْعِيعَال	state, texture, bodily configuration, or repeated development
XIII	اِفْعَوَّلَ	يَفْعَوِّلُ	اِفْعِوَّال	motion or persistence in a state
XIV	اِفْعَنْلَلَ	يَفْعَنْلِلُ	اِفْعِنْلَال	intensive state or movement
XV	اِفْعَنْلَى	يَفْعَنْلِي	اِفْعِنْلَاء	bodily state, posture, or forceful action

All five perfect stems begin with hamzat al-waṣl, written as plain ا. It is pronounced when the word begins an utterance but elided after a preceding vowel. The imperfect replaces it with the ordinary person prefix. Forms XI and XIII contain structural length or gemination; Form XII repeats the second radical around و; Form XIV repeats the third radical after inserted ن; Form XV ends in a historically added weak segment and therefore contrasts perfect -ā with imperfect -ī.

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The long pattern is not a root. In اِخْشَوْشَنَ, the root is خ-ش-ن; the first ش, و, and the second ش belong to the Form XII template. Search a dictionary under خشن, not under an invented five-consonant root.

Form XI: an expanded color-state pattern

The secure model is اِحْمَارَّ — يَحْمَارُّ — اِحْمِيرَارًا “become red; redden,” root ح-م-ر. Form XI lengthens the vowel found after the second radical in Form IX اِحْمَرَّ. Traditional sources sometimes associate XI with greater intensity or poetic meter, but that is not a productive semantic rule. In contemporary prose, ordinary احمرّ is overwhelmingly the form to produce.

احمار لون الأفق قبل أن تغيب الشمس.

iḥmārra lawnu l-ʾufuqi qabla ʾan taghība sh-shams.

The color of the horizon deepened to red before the sun set. (Literary/Classical use.)

تحمار السماء في وصف الشاعر كلما اقترب المساء.

taḥmārru s-samāʾu fī waṣfi sh-shāʿiri kullamā qtaraba l-masāʾ.

In the poet's description, the sky reddens whenever evening approaches. (Literary.)

With a feminine subject, the perfect takes -تْ: اِحْمَارَّتْ. In the imperfect, لن governs the subjunctive. A geminate final stem then surfaces with final fatḥa: لن تحمارَّ, not indicative تحمارُّ.

لن تحمار السماء بهذا الوضوح إذا تكاثفت السحب.

lan taḥmārra s-samāʾu bihādhā l-wuḍūḥi ʾidhā takāthafati s-suḥub.

The sky will not redden this clearly if the clouds thicken. (Literary form; subjunctive after lan.)

Form XII: the most recognizable of the group

Form XII is still rare, but a few lexical items occur often enough in classical or elevated reading to deserve recognition. اِخْشَوْشَنَ — يَخْشَوْشِنُ — اِخْشِيشَانًا, root خ-ش-ن, means “become rough or coarse.” اِغْرَوْرَقَ — يَغْرَوْرِقُ — اِغْرِيرَاقًا, root غ-ر-ق, is used especially of eyes filling with tears. These are intransitive lexemes: the rough thing or tear-filled eyes are grammatical subjects, not objects.

اخشوشن جلد يدها من العمل في البرد.

ikhshawshana jildu yadihā mina l-ʿamali fī l-bard.

The skin of her hand became rough from working in the cold. (Elevated/Classical lexeme.)

يخشوشن القماش بعد غسله بماء شديد السخونة.

yakhshawshinu l-qumāshu baʿda ghaslihi bimāʾin shadīdi s-sukhūna.

The fabric becomes coarse after it is washed in very hot water. (Elevated.)

لم يخشوشن القماش بعد الاختبار.

lam yakhshawshini l-qumāshu baʿda l-ikhtibār.

The fabric did not become coarse after the test. (Jussive after lam; a linking kasra is heard before the article.)

The jussive stem ends underlyingly in sukūn, يَخْشَوْشِنْ. Before الـ, formal connected reading normally supplies a linking kasra, hence yakhshawshini l-qumāshu in the example. That vowel prevents an unpronounceable consonant cluster; it is not an indicative -u.

اغرورقت عيناها بالدموع حين قرأت الرسالة.

ighrawraqat ʿaynāhā bi-d-dumūʿi ḥīna qaraʾati r-risāla.

Her eyes filled with tears when she read the letter. (Literary.)

Here the verb precedes the dual subject عيناها, so neutral verb-first syntax uses feminine singular اغرورقت, not dual اغرورقتا. With a human plural placed first, full agreement appears normally:

الرحالة اخشوشنوا بعد أعوام من العيش في الصحراء.

ar-raḥḥālatu khshawshanū baʿda ʾaʿwāmin mina l-ʿayshi fī ṣ-ṣaḥrāʾ.

The travelers grew hardened after years of living in the desert. (Elevated/Classical wording.)

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Form XII is the only member of XI–XV that advanced readers encounter with any regularity, and even it is lexical. Memorize اخشوشن and اغرورق as whole dictionary families; do not use اِفْعَوْعَلَ as a machine for inventing expressive verbs.

Forms XIII–XV: dictionary and philological recognition

The remaining Forms are principally philological. A representative Form XIII entry is اِخْرَوَّطَ — يَخْرَوِّطُ — اِخْرِوَّاطًا, root خ-ر-ط, with older senses including moving swiftly or continuing for a long time. Form XIV اِسْحَنْكَكَ — يَسْحَنْكِكُ — اِسْحِنْكَاكًا, root س-ح-ك, means “become very dark or obscure.” Form XV اِحْبَنْطَى — يَحْبَنْطِي — اِحْبِنْطَاءً, root ح-ب-ط, can describe swelling or becoming inflated, including figuratively with rage.

اخروط الفرس في عدوه حتى غاب عن الركب.

ikhrawwaṭa l-farasu fī ʿadwihi ḥattā ghāba ʿani r-rakb.

The horse sped on in its gallop until it disappeared from the caravan. (Classical.)

اسحنكك الليل فلم يعد المسافر يرى معالم الطريق.

isḥankaka l-laylu falam yaʿudi l-musāfiru yarā maʿālima ṭ-ṭarīq.

Night became intensely dark, and the traveler could no longer see the landmarks of the road. (Classical.)

احبنطى الرجل من الغضب ثم سكت.

iḥbanṭā r-rajulu mina l-ghaḍabi thumma sakat.

The man swelled with rage and then fell silent. (Classical.)

For Form XV, do not regularize the perfect and imperfect into one final vowel: احبنطى has perfect -ā, while يحبنطي has imperfect -ī. This alternation belongs to the pattern, not to a root ي. Likewise, the repeated final consonant in Form XIV belongs to the template; اسحنكك does not prove a four-consonant root.

In present-day formal prose, replace these marked verbs with transparent ordinary expressions unless you are quoting, analyzing, or deliberately imitating an older register: اشتدّ سواد الليل “the darkness of the night intensified,” أسرع الفرس “the horse sped up,” or امتلأ غضبًا “he filled with anger.” Recognition gives access to a text; it does not oblige imitation.

Weak, hamzated, and geminate cautions

These Forms are too sparsely attested to support a useful learner-generated paradigm for every root class. A dictionary may list an unusual weak or hamzated lexeme, but you should not predict one by analogy. Even apparently transparent forms contain several added segments, so careless root extraction can misclassify an augment as a radical.

When a rare verb is inflected, ordinary person, number, gender, and mood rules still apply. The rarity lies in the lexical stem, not in a special set of endings. Keep a three-part note—perfect, imperfect, verbal noun—and check the exact written headword before interpreting a weak letter or shadda.

Common Mistakes

Confusing Form IX with Form XI

❌ احمر هو الوزن الحادي عشر.

Incorrect analysis—احمرّ iḥmarra is Form IX; Form XI is احمارّ iḥmārra with a long ā.

✅ احمر من الوزن التاسع، واحمار من الوزن الحادي عشر.

iḥmarra mina l-wazni t-tāsiʿi, wa-ḥmārra mina l-wazni l-ḥādī ʿashar.

احمرّ is Form IX, while احمارّ is Form XI. (Metalinguistic.)

Inventing a Form XII from an English expressive verb

❌ ابرودرد الجو في المساء.

Incorrect coinage—there is no license to manufacture a Form XII meaning ‘grow colder.’

✅ اشتد البرد في المساء، فانخفضت الحرارة بسرعة.

ishtadda l-bardu fī l-masāʾi, fankhafaḍati l-ḥarāratu bisurʿa.

The cold intensified in the evening, and the temperature fell quickly.

Giving a verb-first dual subject dual agreement

❌ اغرورقتا عيناها بالدموع.

Incorrect in neutral formal VSO—the preceding verb is feminine singular before the overt dual subject.

✅ اغرورقت عيناها بالدموع عند الوداع.

ighrawraqat ʿaynāhā bi-d-dumūʿi ʿinda l-wadāʿ.

Her eyes filled with tears at the farewell.

Keeping the perfect vowel in the Form XV imperfect

❌ هو يحبنطى من الغضب.

Incorrect regularization—the Form XV imperfect ends in ي: يحبنطي, not ى.

✅ يذكر المعجم أن الفعل يحبنطي في المضارع.

yadhkuru l-muʿjamu ʾanna l-fiʿla yaḥbanṭī fī l-muḍāriʿ.

The dictionary notes that the verb has the imperfect form يحبنطي. (Metalinguistic.)

Confusing a pattern consonant with a root consonant

❌ جذر اخشوشن هو خ-ش-و-ش-ن.

Incorrect analysis—the lexeme has the triliteral root خ-ش-ن; the repetition and و belong to Form XII.

✅ يرد اخشوشن في المعجم تحت الجذر خ-ش-ن.

yaridu khshawshana fī l-muʿjami taḥta l-jidhri kh-sh-n.

The entry اخشوشن appears in the dictionary under the root خ-ش-ن.

Key Takeaways

Forms XI–XV are recognition grammar for dictionaries, older prose, poetry, and morphology manuals; they are not productive contemporary MSA templates.
Learn a verified perfect–imperfect–verbal-noun set, such as احمارّ–يحمارّ–احميرار or اخشوشن–يخشوشن–اخشيشان.
Form, agreement, and mood are separate layers: a rare stem still takes ordinary feminine, dual, plural, subjunctive, and jussive marking.
Do not infer a root from every visible consonant, and do not coin a verb merely because its theoretical pattern exists.

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