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When the tickets are piling up during a chaotic dinner rush, there is no time for polite requests. You need your kitchen staff to act immediately. In Arabic, you can turn a standard instruction into an urgent, intensified command using the Heavy Emphatic Suffix.

### Urgent Commands (نون التوكيد الثقيلة)

In a previous lesson, you saw the heavy emphatic suffix (**ـنَّ**) used with present tense verbs to make absolute vows. You can also attach this exact same suffix directly to an imperative (command) verb. When you do, it intensifies the command, giving it a sense of urgency like "do it right now!" or "you must do this!"

To apply this to a basic singular masculine command, you change the final *sukun* (absence of a vowel) to a *fatha* and attach the **ـنَّ**. (Note that in unvoweled text, this simply looks like an attached **ـن**).

- **عجل** (hurry) becomes **عجلن** (hurry up!)
- **تبل** (season) becomes **تبلن** (season well/now!)

Here is what these urgent commands look like in the heat of the kitchen:

{{item:1159452}}

{{item:1159454}}

{{item:1159457}}

### Emphasizing Weak Verbs

Some verbs end in a weak letter (a vowel), like **غلّى** (to boil something, present **يغلّي**) or **حشا** (to stuff, present **يحشو**). Normally, when you turn these into a command, that final weak letter is dropped: "boil!" is **غلِّ** and "stuff!" is **احشُ**.

However, when you attach the heavy emphatic suffix, the dropped letter returns, so the suffix has something to connect to. It comes back as the letter the present tense ends in: **ي** for **يغلّي**, **و** for **يحشو**.

- **غلِّ** (boil) becomes **غلين** (boil right now!)
- **احشُ** (stuff) becomes **احشون** (stuff right now!)

Notice how the returned letter acts as a bridge for the emphatic suffix in these urgent orders:

{{item:1159468}}

{{item:1159469}}

### Seeing the endings

This course writes Arabic the way books and newspapers print it, without the short-vowel marks, so the ن of this ending is written, but its fatha and its doubling are something you hear in the audio and cannot see in the drills. Here are some of them with every vowel written out:

| as written | fully vocalized | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| عجلن! من الضروري أن ننهي هذه الطلبية. | عَجِّلَنَّ! مِنَ الضَّرُورِيِّ أَنْ نُنْهِيَ هَذِهِ الطَّلَبِيَّةَ. | Hurry up! It is necessary that we finish this order. |
| تبلن اللحم جيدا! | تَبِّلَنَّ اللَّحْمَ جَيِّدًا! | Season the meat well! |
| غلين الماء يا طارق وقشرن الجزر! | غَلِّيَنَّ المَاءَ يَا طَارِقُ وَقَشِّرَنَّ الجَزَرَ! | Boil the water, Tariq, and peel the carrots! |
| احشون الدجاج يا أيها الطاهي! | اُحْشُوَنَّ الدَّجَاجَ يَا أَيُّهَا الطَّاهِي! | Stuff the chicken, O chef! |

The command to one man ends in a fatha and a doubled ن: **عَجِّلَنَّ**, **تَبِّلَنَّ**, **وَقَشِّرَنَّ**. Unvoweled, it looks exactly like the command to a group of women, عَجِّلْنَ, which has a sukun and a single ن. On a verb ending in a weak letter, that letter comes back and carries the fatha: ي in **غَلِّيَنَّ** (غلّى يغلّي), و in **اُحْشُوَنَّ** (حشا يحشو).

Emphasizing commands (ـنَّ)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

interrogative

noun

numeral

particle

prefix

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

The definite article and locatives (الـ)

Basic noun gender (ة)

Sun and moon letters

Singular subject pronouns (أنا، أنت، هو، هي)

Indefinite nouns and nominal sentences (ـٌ)

Demonstrative pronouns for 'this' (هذا / هذه)

Separate prepositions (في، من، إلى، على)

Attributive adjectives

Predicative adjectives

Yes/No questions (هل، أ)

Basic questions (من، ما، أين)

Singular possessive pronouns (ـي، ـك، ـه، ـها)

Plural subject pronouns (نحن، أنتم، هم)

Plural possessive pronouns (ـنا، ـكم، ـهم)

Noun possession

Attached prepositions (بـ، لـ، كـ)

Pronouns with prepositions

Having and possessing (عند، لـ، مع)

Regular plural nouns (ـون، ـين، ـات)

Broken plurals

Dual nouns (ـان / ـين)

Plural and distant demonstratives (هؤلاء، ذلك، تلك)

Non-human plural agreement

Present tense singular verbs

Verbal sentences (VSO)

Present tense plural verbs

Topicalized sentences (SVO)

The indefinite accusative case (ـاً)

Verb object pronouns (-ني، -ك، -ه)

Present tense negation (لا)

Question words with verbs (متى، كيف...)

Adverbs of time and place

The future tense (سـ / سوف)

Intentions and desires (أن)

Negating states and possession (ليس)

Past tense singular suffixes

Past tense plural suffixes

Negating past events (ما)

Singular commands

Numbers 1 to 10

Number agreement for 1 and 2 (واحد، اثنان)

Asking how many (كم)

Numbers 3 to 10 (ثلاثة إلى عشرة)

Ordinal numbers 1 to 10 (الأول، الثاني)

Basic conjunctions (فـ، أو، لكن)

Ordering at a café (واحد، اثنان)

Food and drink with conjunctions (و، ف، أو، لكن)

There is and there are (هناك / ليس هناك)

Direct address (يا)

Giving reasons (لأنّ)

Relative pronouns (الذي / التي)

Quantifiers (كل / بعض)

The past tense of 'to be' (كان)

Past possession

Numbers 11 to 19 and tens to 80

Telling time (الساعة)

This book vs this is a book (هذا الكتاب، هذا كتاب)

Greetings (مرحبا، السلام عليكم)

How are you? and goodbye (كيف حالك، مع السلامة)

Nationalities (مصري، مصرية)

Roots and patterns (كتب، كتاب، مكتب)

Politeness (من فضلك، آسف)

Complex possession chains

Colors and traits (أفعل / فعلاء)

Plural colors and traits (فُعْل)

Comparative adjectives (أفعل من)

Superlative adjectives (أفعل)

Adverbs of manner (ـاً)

The nominative case (ـُ)

The genitive case (ـِ)

The accusative case (ـَ)

Dual noun cases (ـان / ـين)

Masculine plurals and 'the best of' (أفضل النجارين)

Emphasizing sentences (إنّ)

Connecting clauses (أنّ)

Reporting speech (قال إنّ)

Expressing contrast (لكنّ)

Comparison and probability (كأنّ, لعلّ)

Distant plural pointing (أولئك)

Plural relative pronouns (الذين, اللواتي)

Past habits (كان + present)

Ongoing actions (ما زال)

Masculine plurals online (مبرمجون، مؤثرون)

Perfective past (قد)

Probability (قد)

The subjunctive mood (أن)

Question	Answer
chef	طاهtâhin
order	طلبيةtalabiyyah
The chef began to prepare the orders.	بدأت الطاهية تجهز الطلبيات.bada'ati ttâhiyatu tujahhizu ttalabiyyât
to hurry	عجلajjil
Hurry up! It is necessary that we finish this order.	عجلن! من الضروري أن ننهي هذه الطلبية.'ajjilanna! mina ad-darûriyyi an nunhiya hâdhihi at-talabiyyata.
to season	تبلtabbala
Season the meat well!	تبلن اللحم جيدا!tabbilanna l-lahma jayyidan!
to peel	قشرqashara
pot	إناءinâ'
Peel the potatoes and use the pot!	قشرن البطاطس واستخدمن الإناء!qashshiranna albatâtisa wastakhdimanna al'inâ'a!
to boil	غلىghalâ
The water is boiling in the pot now.	يغلي الماء في الإناء الآن.yaghlî al-mâ'u fî al-inâ'i al-âna
to burn (intransitive)	احترقihtaraqa
Watch the soup! It is likely to burn.	راقبن الحساء! من المحتمل أن يحترق.râqibanna al-hasâ'a! mina al-muhtamali an yahtariqa.
to roast	حمصhammasa
The chef roasts the nuts for the dessert.	يحمص الطاهي المكسرات للحلوى.yuhammisu at-tâhî al-mukassarâti lilhalwâ
Roast the onions quickly, Ahmed, and hurry up!	حمصن البصل بسرعة يا أحمد وعجلن!hammisan il-basala bisur'a yâ ahmad wa ajjilan!
to stuff	حشاhashâ
I want to stuff the fish and season it.	أريد أن أحشو السمك وأتبله.ureedu an ahshuwa as-samaka wa-utabbilahu.
She grilled the meat, but it burned.	شوت اللحم لكنه احترق.shawati l-lahma lâkinnahu ihtaraqa.
Boil the water, Tariq, and peel the carrots!	غلين الماء يا طارق وقشرن الجزر!ghalliyanna al-mâ'a yâ târiqu waqashshiranna al-jazara!
Stuff the chicken, O chef!	احشون الدجاج يا أيها الطاهي!uhshuwanna ad-dajâja yâ ayyuhâ at-tâhî!

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