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LESSON 60Two-Letter Verbs in the Past Tense
Third irregular category
These verbs contain two letters in Arabic script. The second letter has a shedda, so it appears doubled in transcription — for example нll. Although it appears to contain three transcription characters, the final two characters represent one doubled consonant.
Conjugation rule
Add a long i before the normal ending in these forms (I, you singular, we, you plural). The he, she, and they forms follow the regular pattern.
Example verb: “to open” (нll)
| English | Darija |
|---|---|
| I opened | нllit |
| You opened — masculine | нlliti |
| You opened — feminine | нlliti |
| He opened | нll |
| She opened | нllat |
| We opened | нllina |
| You opened — plural | нllitu |
| They opened | нllu |
Common two-letter verbs
- sdd — to close
- šmm — to smell
- mdd — to hand
- rdd — to answer / return
- kbb — to pour
- нss — to feel
- нṭṭ — to put
- qdd — to be able
- hzz — to pick up
- ḍnn — to think
- mll — to become bored
- šdd — to take / catch
- jrr — to pull / drag
Examples
нllit s-srjm u sddit l-bab. — I opened the window and closed the door.
нssit b l-brd. — I felt cold.
Exercise
Put the verbs in parentheses into the correct past-tense form:
- l-barн f ṣ-ṣbaн, Mary (rdd) l-ktab l l-xizana.
- mlli kan l-3jaj, ana (sdd) s-srajm.
- нna (нṭṭ) l-нwayj f l-makina d ṣ-ṣabun.
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