Verbs that end in alif
You have met weak verbs whose last root letter is ي: نسي, مشى, بكى. A few common verbs end in an alif written ا, not ى: نجا (to survive), بدا (to appear), دعا(da'â) (to invite) and شكا(shakâ) (to complain). Their hidden third root letter is و, and it comes back as soon as an ending starts with a consonant. رجا(rajâ) (to hope, to ask kindly) works the same way; its present أرجو is a polite please.
| نجا | دعا | |
|---|---|---|
| I | نَجَوْتُ | دَعَوْتُ |
| you (m.) | نَجَوْتَ | دَعَوْتَ |
| we | نَجَوْنا | دَعَوْنا |
| you (pl.) | نَجَوْتُم | دَعَوْتُم |
| he | نَجا | دَعا |
| she | نَجَتْ | دَعَتْ |
| they | نَجَوْا | دَعَوْا |
| I invited my friend to the party. | دعوت صديقي إلى الحفلة.da'awtu sadîqî ilâ al-hafla. |
| I survived the accident. | نجوت من الحادث.najawtu mina l-ḥâdith |
She and they
With she and they the alif simply disappears: نجت, دعت, بدت; نجوا, دعوا, بدوا. The ending is short, so these forms are easy to misread as a different verb. Read the whole sentence.
| The boy survived, and his mother survived too. | نجا الولد، ونجت أمه أيضا.najâ al-waladu, wa najat ummuhu aydan. |
| The sky looked gray. | بدت السماء رمادية.badati s-samâ'u ramâdiyyatan. |
| They looked tired after the trip. | بدوا متعبين بعد الرحلة.badaw muta'abîn ba'da r-riḥla |
The present
In the present the و is a long vowel at the end: يدعو, ينجو, يبدو, يشكو.
| The professor invites the students to the library. | يدعو الأستاذ الطلاب إلى المكتبة.yad'oo al-ustâdhu at-tullâba ilâ al-maktabati |
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