Irregular Present-Tense Verbs with Internal Changes

Lesson objective

In this lesson, you will learn two verbs that change their internal structure in the present tense. The normal present-tense prefixes and suffixes are also added.

Example verb: “to eat” (kla)

English	Darija
I eat	kan-akul
You eat — masculine	kat-akul
You eat — feminine	kat-akuli
He eats	kay-akul
She eats	kat-akul
We eat	kan-aklu
You eat — plural	kat-aklu
They eat	kay-aklu

The u sound in these forms is pronounced quickly — say kan-akul, and do not make the u unnecessarily long.

Another verb with internal changes

xda (to take) follows a similar internal-change pattern.

Examples

kul jm3a kan-aklu ksksu. — Every Friday, we eat couscous.

kat-axud d-dwa qbl ma t-n3s. — She takes medicine before going to bed.

Activity exercise

Describe activities in pictures using: šnu kay-dir? / šnu kat-dir? / šnu kay-diru?