Measure III


 There are two main shifts in meaning from Measure I to Measure III. Although, of all the measures, M3 probably has the haziest shift in meaning and is actually rather unpredictable. Therefore, the following categories are meant to be basic guidelines for understanding the meaning and are not as concrete as other measures.

Reciprocal- Indicates a mutual action between subject and object.

Attempting - Indicates an attempt to perform the action of the M1 meaning.

Students of Arabic often get frustrated trying to fit the meaning of M3 verbs into one of these shifts of meaning. It may be easier to just use them as a loose guideline for learning M3 verbs. Although the shift in meaning for M3 may not be predictable, the morphology is regular and predictable.

Conjugation

Let's first take a look at how to conjugate the Measure III verb.

We will use the measure III verb شَاهَدَ (to watch) as an example. All other M3 verbs are conjugated exactly the same way. The most noticeable characteristic is the alif inserted between the first and second root letter.


Perfect (Past) شَاهَدَ

Imperfect (Present) -يُشَاهِدُ


Look at the image below for a visual description (conjugated for singular male):






The chart below has full conjugations for both Perfect and Imperfect for Measure III. All of the verbs are conjugated in the Indicative.
The Subjunctive and Jussive are not shown.





Imperative

The imperative (الأمر) for Measure III is very easy to form and very regular.

You can use the same method to determine the M3 imperative as you did for Measure I.
Follow these simple steps:
This form of the imperative is used when talking to a single male. We add suffixes to this stem to indicate number and gender of who we are talking to.
Look at the following chart:





Passive



The formation of the measure III Passive is a little more complicated than Measure II, but it is still regular and predictable. For more information on using the passive, visit the Passive Voice page.

Perfect (Past) -

Imperfect (Present) -



**Note: The following information, which is written using Measure I verbs, applies to Passive verbs in ALL measures. It is a characteristic of the passive voice, not a characteristic of the measure. Therefore, apply it regularly.

When the verb is transitive, the verb is conjugated by gender and number according to the object of the verb.
كُتِبَ المقال - The article was written. مقال is masculine, so the verb is masculine.
كُتِبَتْ الجريدة - The newspaper was written. جريدة is feminine, so the verb is feminine.


Whenever the verb is intransitive (when the object of the verb is also the object of the preposition associated with that verb), then the verb is conjugated in the singular male.
بُحِثَ عن السيارة - The car was searched for.
Since the object ( السيارة ) is the object of a preposition عن, the verb is conjugated in the singular male.

عُزِمَ على القرارات - The decisions were determined/resolved.
Even though القرارات is plural and therefore feminine, it is the object of a preposition and the verb is conjugated in the singular male.

**Note: These may not be perfectly usable examples in Arabic, but they illustrate the point.


Verbal Noun



The Verbal Noun (المصدر) is basically the verb functioning as a noun. Another grammatical term that has the same meaning is gerund. However, this term is not used in Arabic grammar. The verbal noun carries the meaning of performing the action of the verb. In English, words such as eating, dancing, singing, sleeping, running, etc. are basic equivalents to the verbal noun in Arabic.

The Verbal Noun for Measure III is fairly regular. There are two variants, the first is more common than the other.

مُفَاعَلَةٌ
فِعَالٌ




Here are some common Measure III verbal nouns:



Warning: Do not confuse the Verbal Noun with the English progressive tense. You would not use the verbal noun to indicate an ongoing progressive action, such as "I am eating", "I am writing", "I am reading", etc. You might use a verbal noun to say things like "I like reading", "I hate writing", "Eating is fun", etc. In these three examples, the -ing words all function as nouns.



Active & Passive Participle



The Active Participle is the noun which is the "doer" of the verb or the person/thing that performs the action of the verb. Some examples in English are writer, runner, baker, teacher, student, etc. The active participle for measure I is fairly regular in Arabic.

The Passive Participle is the noun that receives the action of the verb. These words are often equivalent to English words that end with -ed or -en. Some examples are written, studied, eaten, covered, beaten, etc.

In Measure III, the active and passive participle are formed the same way except for a small difference in voweling. They are formed the exact same way as Measure II participles, with the exception of the stem alif between the first and second root letter, which is characteristic of Measure III.

شَاهَدَ \ يُشَاهِدُ (to watch, view, see)

Active Participle (Doer) - مُشَاهِدٌ - spectator, observer

Passive Participle - مُشَاهَدٌ - visible, perceptible

As you can see, the only difference between the Active and Passive is the vowel on the second root letter.




Note that many Measure III verbs may not have both an Active and Passive Participle. Many M3 verbs only have one or the other. Although they may exist in theory, they may not exist in practical usage.

Plurals

The plural for active and passive participles that denote a person is formed by suffixing ون for masculine and ات for feminine.

The plural for participles that denote inanimate objects use ات regardless of gender.





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