Elementary Arabic Morphology 1

The Division of Verbs into Perfect, Sound and Unsound

  1. What is a perfect verb?

  2. What is a sound verb?

  3. What is an unsound verb?

  4. A perfect verb is a verb that does not have any weak letters, glottal stops or doubled letters in its root. For example: ضَرَبَ قَتَلَ شَنَقَ ( he hung, he killed, he hit)

  5. A sound verb is a verb that either has a glottal stop or a doubled letter in its root. For example: ﺃکَلَ مَدّ (he extended, he ate)

  6. An unsound verb is a verb that has a weak letter (alif, wāw or yā') in its root. For example: وَثَبَ نَامَ رَضِیَ (he became satisfied, he slept, he jumped)