Modern Standard Arabic can turn borrowed material into verbs, but it does so lexically, not by one rule that accepts every foreign word. Especially successful loans often enter the quadriliteral pattern فَعْلَلَ / يُفَعْلِلُ, as in بَرْمَجَ / يُبَرْمِجُ “program” and دَبْلَجَ / يُدَبْلِجُ “dub.” Once established, such a verb inflects for person, gender, number, voice, and mood like other Arabic verbs.
The central distinction is between morphological possibility and dictionary or community acceptance. A coined verb may be perfectly pronounceable and still sound like private jargon. Verify the actual stem, meaning, valency, and register; do not infer them from an English verb.
The quadriliteral route
The simple quadriliteral has four consonantal slots rather than the three of ordinary Form I. In the strong pattern, the perfect is فَعْلَلَ, the imperfect يُفَعْلِلُ, the verbal noun commonly فَعْلَلَة, and the active participle مُفَعْلِل. The passive participle has the same unvocalized shape but a different reading: مُفَعْلَل.
| Base/family | Perfect and imperfect | Verbal noun | Register and status |
|---|---|---|---|
| برنامج “program” | بَرْمَجَ / يُبَرْمِجُ | بَرْمَجَة | established technical and general MSA |
| تلفون “telephone” | تَلْفَنَ / يُتَلْفِنُ | تَلْفَنَة | dictionary-recorded; often replaced by اتصل in current neutral prose |
| دبلجة “dubbing” | دَبْلَجَ / يُدَبْلِجُ | دَبْلَجَة | established audiovisual terminology |
| أكسدة “oxidation” | أَكْسَدَ / يُؤَكْسِدُ | أَكْسَدَة | established scientific terminology |
The histories are not identical. برنامج itself is an old borrowing that now supports a broad Arabic family; أكسد is a planned scientific adaptation associated with أكسجين. Synchronically, however, both provide four consonantal positions for a usable verb.
برمجت المهندسة الأداة كي ترسل تنبيها كل ساعة.
barmajati l-muhandisatu l-ʾadāta kay tursila tanbīhan kulla sāʿa(h).
The engineer programmed the device to send an alert every hour.
دبلج الاستوديو المسلسل إلى العربية الفصحى.
dablaja l-istūdyū l-musalsala ʾilā l-ʿarabiyyati l-fuṣḥā.
The studio dubbed the series into Modern Standard Arabic.
يؤكسد الهواء الرطب سطح الحديد المكشوف.
yuʾaksidu l-hawāʾu r-raṭbu saṭḥa l-ḥadīdi l-makshūf.
Humid air oxidizes the surface of exposed iron.
تلفن المدير قبل وصوله إلى المكتب.
talfana l-mudīru qabla wuṣūlihi ʾilā l-maktab.
The director made a telephone call before arriving at the office. (dictionary-recorded; somewhat dated beside اتصل)
English uses program, dub, and oxidize without person marking. Arabic supplies all ordinary agreement: برمجت can mean “she programmed,” برمجوا “they programmed,” and تبرمجين “you [feminine singular] program.” The foreign origin remains in the lexicon, not in an exemption from Arabic syntax.
Stem changes and a full derivational family
Consider برمج. The established family does not preserve the internal ن ا of برنامج: its verb is built on the four-consonant sequence ب-ر-م-ج. This is a conventional lexical reanalysis, not a mechanical instruction to delete ن ا from other loans.
| Member | Vocalization | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| برنامج / برامج | بَرْنَامَج / بَرَامِج | program / programs; masculine noun with a broken plural |
| برمج / يبرمج | بَرْمَجَ / يُبَرْمِجُ | programs |
| برمجة | بَرْمَجَة | programming |
| مبرمج | مُبَرْمِج | programmer; active participle |
| مبرمج | مُبَرْمَج | programmed; passive participle |
| برمجيات | بَرْمَجِيَّات | software |
راجع المبرمج الشفرة بعد أن برمج النظام الجديد.
rājaʿa l-mubarmiju sh-shifrata baʿda ʾan barmaja n-niẓāma l-jadīd.
The programmer reviewed the code after programming the new system.
هذا الجهاز مبرمج على إيقاف المضخة عند ارتفاع الضغط.
hādhā l-jihāzu mubarmajun ʿalā ʾīqāfi l-miḍakhkhati ʿinda rtifāʿi ḍ-ḍaghṭ.
This device is programmed to stop the pump when the pressure rises.
The unvocalized مبرمج is ambiguous between mubarmij “programmer” and mubarmaj “programmed.” Agreement and context usually resolve it. That ambiguity is ordinary Arabic pattern morphology, not a defect in the loan.
Form II-like adaptation from a shorter base
A second route treats a short loan base as though it supplied three radicals and applies the geminated pattern فَعَّلَ / يُفَعِّلُ / تَفْعِيل. Technical usage, for example, has كَوَّدَ / يُكَوِّدُ / تَكْوِيد beside the noun كود “code.” The middle و occupies a root slot; the shadda marks the Form II-like doubling of that slot in the perfect.
كود الباحث الإجابات قبل تحليل البيانات.
kawwada l-bāḥithu l-ʾijābāti qabla taḥlīli l-bayānāt.
The researcher coded the responses before analyzing the data. (technical)
يوضح الدليل طريقة تكويد القيم المفقودة.
yuwaḍḍiḥu d-dalīlu ṭarīqata takwīdi l-qiyami l-mafqūda(h).
The manual explains how to code missing values. (technical)
This route is productive inside some professional communities, but less safely general than the established family برمج. In another field, رمّز / ترميز may be the conventional term, and code can mean source code, a classification value, a cipher, or a legal code. The English spelling alone does not choose the Arabic verb. Compare the broader competition among borrowed and derived forms on Arabicization of Loanwords.
Voice, agreement, and valency remain Arabic
Quadriliteral verbs have a regular internal passive: perfect فُعْلِلَ and imperfect يُفَعْلَلُ for a strong stem. Thus بُرْمِجَ النظام means “the system was programmed,” with the affected noun promoted to subject.
برمج النظام ليتحقق من هوية المستخدم تلقائيا.
burmija n-niẓāmu li-yataḥaqqaqa min huwiyyati l-mustakhdimi tilqāʾiyyan.
The system was programmed to verify the user’s identity automatically.
دبلجت الحلقتان في استوديوين مختلفين.
dublijati l-ḥalqatāni fī stūdyūyayni mukhtalifayn.
The two episodes were dubbed in different studios.
Do not copy English valency blindly. Arabic دبلج الفيلم إلى العربية uses a direct object plus إلى for the target language. Dictionary-recorded تلفن can simply mean “spoke by telephone,” while current اتصل بالمكتب uses بـ for the contacted party and is generally more neutral. A dictionary entry and real edited usage should settle the complement.
Acceptance and register
There are at least three useful statuses:
- Established general or technical MSA: برمج، دبلج، أكسد.
- Recorded but stylistically receding or regionally uneven: تلفن, often replaced by اتصل هاتفيا.
- Productive professional coinage requiring local verification: a newly extended family such as كوّد in a particular data workflow.
This is not a ladder from “bad loan” to “pure Arabic.” It is evidence about audience and stability. In a laboratory report, أكسد is more exact than a vague inherited paraphrase. In a public notice, اتصل is more immediately transparent than تلفن.
اتصلت الطبيبة بالمختبر لتسأل عن نتيجة الفحص.
ittaṣalati ṭ-ṭabībatu bi-l-mukhtabari li-tasʾala ʿan natījati l-faḥṣ.
The doctor called the laboratory to ask about the test result. (neutral contemporary MSA)
For each candidate, verify a fully vocalized dictionary headword, an official domain termbase, and edited field usage. Record the finite stem and verbal noun rather than copying a source sentence. A source proves existence; your own sentence proves that you understand its grammar.
Common Mistakes
1. Treating a loan verb as an inherited triliteral
❌ برمج على وزن فعل من الجذر ب ر ج.
Incorrect — بَرْمَجَ has four consonantal slots ب-ر-م-ج; م cannot be discarded.
✅ برمج فعل رباعي بسيط، ومصدره برمجة.
barmaja fiʿlun rubāʿiyyun basīṭun, wa-maṣdaruhu barmaja(h).
برمج is a simple quadriliteral verb, and its verbal noun is برمجة.
2. Assuming any plausible coinage is accepted
❌ صغت فعلا من اسم أجنبي، لذلك صار فصيحا.
Incorrect reasoning — a well-formed proposal still needs attestation, a stable meaning, and an appropriate register.
✅ تحققت من الفعل ومصدره واستعماله قبل نشر الدليل.
taḥaqqaqtu mina l-fiʿli wa-maṣdarihi wa-stiʿmālihi qabla nashri d-dalīl.
I verified the verb, its verbal noun, and its usage before publishing the guide.
3. Copying English complementation
❌ دبلج الاستوديو المسلسل العربية.
Incorrect — the target language is introduced with إلى here.
✅ دبلج الاستوديو المسلسل إلى العربية.
dablaja l-istūdyū l-musalsala ʾilā l-ʿarabiyya(h).
The studio dubbed the series into Arabic.
4. Choosing opacity merely to avoid a loan family
❌ استبدل المحرر بكلمة برمج وصفا غامضا من خمس كلمات.
Poor editing — برمج is an established, precise verb; a longer inherited paraphrase is not automatically clearer.
✅ برمج الفريق التطبيق ليرسل تحذيرا عند انقطاع الاتصال.
barmaja l-farīqu t-taṭbīqa li-yursila taḥdhīran ʿinda nqiṭāʿi l-ittiṣāl.
The team programmed the application to send a warning when the connection drops.
Key Takeaways
- Established loans often enter فَعْلَلَ / يُفَعْلِلُ / فَعْلَلَة, but acceptance is word-specific.
- A shorter loan base can support a Form II-like family, as in كوّد / تكويد, especially in technical registers.
- Once accepted, the verb takes ordinary Arabic agreement, voice, mood, and object marking.
- Learn the entire attested family and valency; never manufacture them from an English gloss alone.
- A transparent inherited equivalent and a loan-based verb may coexist because domains and audiences differ.
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- Derivation from Root and PatternA1 — Map an attested Arabic root through verbs, maṣdars, participles, place nouns, and instrument nouns while respecting lexical gaps.