فِعل الأمر في اللغة العربية
The imperative in Arabic
The imperative form in Arabic is quite easy. As once you know the present form of the verb, you can conclude the imperative on your own. The Imperative verb in MSA is conjugated with the second person/ one of these five pronouns:
You (masculine) | أنْتَ |
You (feminine) | أنتِ |
You (dual) | أنتُما |
You (plural masculine) | أنتُم |
You (plural feminine) | أنتُنَّ |
صياغة فعل الأمر
Forming the imperative verb
The imperative verbs are divided to two sections:
Verbs that begin with the letter “alif” (ا)
Verbs that don’t begin with “alif”
Let’s dive in and see the process of each one:
1- The first type is formed by removing the “present tense letter” “حرف المُضارعة” and replacing it with “alif” (ا). However, the first letter of the root must have “sukoon” (_ْ).
Example: يَذْهَب: اِذْهَب
In addition, the “alif” usually has “kasra” ( ِ ) unless the second letter of the root is with “damma” ( ُ ) then the “alif” would be also with “damma”.
Example: يَكْتُب: اُكْتُب
And if the second letter of the root is with “kasra” and the present letter is with “damma”, then the “alif” would be with “fatha” ( َ ).
Example: يُحْضِر: أحْضِر and it’s the only case when the imperative begins with “همزة قطع”
Important: the case of the imperative verb is “jussive”. Meaning: the ending of the
verb is either with “sukoon” or by removing the letter (ن) with أنتِ، أنتُما، أنتُم.
Note: if the verb ends with a vowel, it’ll be removed.
Examples:
فعل الأمرThe imperative verb | الفعل المضارعThe present verb | ||||
أنتُنَّ | أنتُم | أنتُما | أنتِ | أنتَ | |
اِقْرأْنَ | اِقْرؤوا | اِقْرآ | اِقْرأي | اِقْرأْ | يَقْرأ |
اِمْشِينَ | اِمشوا | اِمْشيا | اِمْشي | اِمْشِ | يَمْشِي |
اُطْبُخْنَ | اُطْبُخوا | اُطْبُخا | اُطْبُخي | اُطْبُخْ | يَطْبُخ |
أَرْسِلْنَ | أَرْسِلوا | أَرْسِلا | أَرْسِلي | أَرْسِلْ | يُرْسِل |
2- The second type of the imperative verb doesn’t have “sukoon” ( ْ ) on the first root letter and is formed simply by removing the (ي)
فِعل الأمرThe imperative verb | الفِعْل المُضارعThe present verb | ||||
أنتُنَّ | أنتُم | أنتُما | أَنْتِ | أنْتَ | |
سافِرْنَ | سافِروا | سافِرا | سافِري | سافِرْ | يُسَافِرُ |
تَكَلَّمْنَ | تَكَلَّموا | تَكَلَّما | تَكَلَّمي | تَكَلَّمْ | يَتَكَلَّمُ |
كُنَّ | كونوا | كونا | كونِي | كُنْ | يَكونُ |
Notice that in the last example the (و) is removed in the imperative verb conjugated with “you” masculine and plural feminine due to having a vowel next to “sukoon
Irregular verbs:
A few verbs don’t follow the rules like the verbs “eat” and “take”. Despite having “sukoon”, the imperative is formed by removing the first two letters:
كُلْنَ | كُلوا | كُلا | كُلي | كُلْ | يأكُلُ |
خُذْنَ | خُذوا | خُذا | خُذي | خُذْ |
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