Series

ʿIlm al-Ṣīghah

A working primer in Arabic morphological forms: the verb patterns, the rules of derivation, and the parsing exercises that bridge naḥw and ṣarf.

Contents

Lessons in this series

27 lessons

02Muʿtal Examples SummarisedA consolidated worksheet of all 25 ṣarf rules from the ilmus-sigha series, showing each transformation from underlying form to surface form.
031. Qāʿidat yaʿiduRule for dropping the wāw in muʿtal verbs of the يَعِدُ pattern when the sign of muḍāriʿ is maftūḥ and the ʿayn kalimah is maksūr.
042. Qāʿidat ʿidahRule for forming the maṣdar ʿidah from وَعْدٌ: drop the initial wāw, give the ʿayn al-kalimah a kasrah, and append tāʾ marbūṭah.
053. Qāʿidat mīʿād wa mūsir wa qūtilaMorphological rule: a sākin wāw after a kasrah, a sākin yāʾ after a ḍammah, or an alif after a ḍammah or kasrah shifts to match the preceding vowel.
064. Qāʿidat ittaqada wa ittasaraWhen the fāʾ of iftiʿāl is an original wāw or yāʾ, change it to tāʾ and assimilate with the tāʾ of iftiʿāl.
075. Qāʿidat ujūh wa ishāḥWhen a wāw carries ḍammah or kasrah at the start of a word, or ḍammah in the middle, it may be replaced by a hamzah.
086. Qāʿidat awāṣila wa uwayṣilWhen a word begins with two wāws, the first is replaced by hamzah.
097. Qāʿidat qāla wa bāʿaThe foundational rule for hollow (muʿtal-ʿayn) verbs: a fatḥah after a vocalised wāw or yāʾ converts the weak letter to alif.
108. Qāʿidat yaqūlu wa yabīʿuWhen a wāw or yāʾ is preceded by a sākin, swap their ḥarakāt; transformations, exceptions, and the alif-drop rule for verbs like yaqūlu and yabīʿu.
119. Qāʿidat qīla wa bīʿaForming the passive past (_māḍī majhūl_) of hollow verbs whose middle radical is _wāw_ or _yāʾ_, with the optional _ishmām_ pronunciation.
129b. Qāʿidat qulna wa ṭulna wa khifna wa biʿnaSub-rule of lesson 9 for the plural-feminine-absent and beyond in the _māḍī majhūl_ of hollow verbs like _qāla_, _ṭāla_, _khāfa_, and _bāʿa_.
1310. Qāʿidat yadʿū wa yarmīThree rules for the defective verb: dropping the ḥarakah of a final wāw or yāʾ, and elision when it meets a sākin sister letter.
1411. Qāʿidat duʿiya wa dāʿiyahWhen a wāw stands as the lām kalimah after a kasrah, it converts to a yāʾ, yielding forms like duʿiya and dāʿiyah.
1512. Qāʿidat nahuwaMorphological rule: a ي in the lām position after a ḍammah converts to a و.
1613. Qāʿidat qiyām wa ḥiyāḍWhen a wāw sits as the ʿayn kalimah of a maṣdar after a kasrah, or in a plural, it converts to a yāʾ if its verb takes the rules of taʿlīl.
1714. Qāʿidat sayyid wa marmiyyWhen wāw and yāʾ combine in one word under set conditions, the wāw becomes yāʾ and the two merge with tashdīd.
1815. Qāʿidat diliyyWhen two wāws meet at the end of the scale فُعُوْلٌ, both become a yāʾ with shaddah and the preceding ḍammah turns to a kasrah.
1916. Qāʿidat adlin wa aẓbinWhen a و or ي follows a ḍammah in the lām of an ism, the ḍammah shifts to a kasrah and the weak letter is dropped after the two sākins meet.
2017. Qāʿidat qāʾil wa bāʾiʿWhen a wāw or yāʾ falls in the ʿayn position of an active participle whose verb is muʿtal, it converts to hamzah.
2118. Qāʿidat sharāʾifOn the scale of mafāʿil, a non-root ḥarf ʿillah after the alif converts to a hamzah.
2219. Qāʿidat duʿāʾWhen wāw or yāʾ falls at the end of a word after an alif zāʾidah, it is converted to a hamzah.
2320. Qāʿidat yudʿāWhen wāw falls on the fourth letter or later and is not preceded by a ḍammah or wāw sākin, it is converted to yāʾ.
2421. Qāʿidat al-alif al-maqṣūrahRule for converting the final alif to yāʾ when an additional alif precedes the dual or sound feminine plural ending.
2522. Qāʿidat bīḍ wa ḥīkīWhen a plural on the scale of فُعْلٌ or فُعْلى has yāʾ as its ʿayn kalimah, the preceding letter takes a kasrah.
2623. Qāʿidat kaynūnahWhen a maṣdar of the pattern faʿlūlah has a wāw as its ʿayn kalimah, the wāw is changed to a yāʾ.
2724. Qāʿidat jawārinRule for nouns like jawārin on the scale of afāʿil, mafāʿil, or fāʿil with yāʾ as the lām kalimah, across the rafʿ, jarr, and naṣb states.
2825. Qāʿidat dunyā wa taqwāOn the scale of fuʿlā with a wāw lām, the wāw turns to yāʾ; on faʿlā with a yāʾ lām, the yāʾ turns to wāw.