The Jussive Mood and Hollow Verbs
When we use لم (did not) to negate a past action, it puts the following present-tense verb into the jussive mood. For regular verbs, this usually means replacing the final short vowel with a sukun (a silent stop indicating the absence of a vowel).
However, hollow verbs have a long middle vowel (like و or ي) which naturally acts as an unvoweled consonant. If the final consonant also gets a sukun, we end up with two unvoweled consonants in a row. Because Arabic phonetics forbid two consecutive unvoweled consonants, the long middle vowel must be dropped.
Dropping the Middle Yaa (ي)
For hollow verbs with a middle yaa (ي) in the present tense, the yaa simply disappears in the jussive mood. For example, يغيب (he is absent) loses its middle vowel to become يغب (he was not absent).
| He was not absent without an excuse. | هو لم يغب بدون عذر.huwa lam yaghib bidûni 'udhrin |
Dropping the Middle Waw (و)
The same shortening rule applies to hollow verbs with a middle waw (و). Let's look at the most common hollow verb of all: كان (to be). Its present tense يكون (he is) loses its waw in the jussive mood, becoming يكن.
| The student apologized but his excuse was not acceptable. | اعتذر الطالب لكن عذره لم يكن مقبولا.i'tadhara at-tâlibu lakin 'udhruhu lam yakun maqbûlan |
Similarly, يقول (he says) drops its waw to become يقل.
| The manager did not say that illness is an acceptable excuse. | المدير لم يقل إن المرض عذر مقبول.al-mudîru lam yaqul inna al-maraḍa 'udhrun maqbûl. |
Giving Excuses
This vowel-dropping rule happens across the different person prefixes (I, you, he, she, we). For example, أعود (I return) becomes أعد (I did not return), and يلوم (he blames) becomes يلم. You will use these shortened verbs often when giving excuses or explaining why things didn't go according to plan.
| I missed the train and did not return home early. | فاتني القطار ولم أعد إلى البيت مبكرا.fâtanî al-qitâru walam a'ud ilâ al-bayti mubakkiran |
| Illness is worse than delay, and he did not blame me. | المرض أسوأ من التأخير، وهو لم يلمني.al-maradu aswa'u mina at-ta'khîri, wa huwa lam yalumnî. |
To explain that an accident happened without bad intentions, you can use the word قصد (intention or purpose). Let's look at how this pairs with the jussive "I" form of قال (أقول becomes أقل).
| I did not say that on purpose. | أنا لم أقل ذلك عن قصد.ana lam aqul dhâlika 'an qasdin |
