This is a short post about one (very useful) aspect of a much bigger phenomenon we’ve written about in detail elsewhere (specifically in this post and in more detail in this PDF), namely participles and their uses and abuses.
If you’re relatively new to spoken Arabic, you may well have encountered words like طولان Toolaan, نحفان na7faan or كتران katraan. You might be wondering how these words differ from their simpler and more familiar equivalents طويل, نحيف and كتير. And if you’re like I was a few years ago, you might be misusing them by mistaking them for more colloquial synonyms of the words you know from fuSHa. Well, wonder no longer!
As you probably know from fuSHa, Arabic has a huge number of verbs that in a single word express concepts we often need ‘become X’ or ‘get X’ to get across in English. Some have nice English equivalents and others don’t. Most are on the form I pattern fə3el/yəf3al (fi3el/yif3al in South Levantine – you can read i for every ə in the following forms if you’re learning Jordanian or Palestinian). Here are a few examples with their corresponding adjectives:
طول يطول Təwel yəTwal ‘get longer’ < طويل Tawiil ‘long, tall’
قصر, يقصر 2əSer, yi2Sar ‘get shorter’ < قصير 2Siir ‘short’
كتر يكتر kəter yəktar ‘increase (in number), become more numerous’ < كتير ktiir ‘many, a lot’
قل يقل 2all y2əll ‘decrease (in number), become less numerous’ < قليل 2aliil ‘few’
خف يخف khaff ykhəff ‘lighten, become lighter’ < خفيف khafiif ‘light‘
تقل, يتقل tə2el, yət2al ‘become heavier’ < تقيل t2iil ‘heavy‘
كبر, يكبر kəber, yəkbar ‘grow, get bigger, older’ < كبير kbiir ‘big, old, adult’
صغر, يصغر zəgher, yizghar ‘shrink, get smaller’ < صغير zghiir ‘small’
نحف, ينحف nə7ef, yən7af ‘get thin(ner)’ < نحيف n7iif ‘thin’
سمن, يسمن səmen, yəsman ‘get fat(ter)’ < سمين smiin ‘fat’
غلي, يغلى ghəli, yəghla ‘get (more) expensive’ < غالي ghaali ‘expensive’
رخص, يرخص rəkheS, yərkhaS ‘get cheap(er)’ < رخيص rkhiiS ‘cheap’
حلي يحلى 7əli, yə7la ‘get nicer, better looking’ < حلو 7əlw ‘nice, good-looking’
This is a fairly small selection from a very large class of verbs, although I’ve tried to pick out some of the most commonly used ones. But what do these have to do with the -aan forms we mentioned earlier, you might ask?
The answer is that those forms are the participles of these verbs. As I’ve gone into tedious detail about elsewhere, many verbs have participles whose meanings express the result of the action expressed by the verb, which can often be roughly translated using the present perfect in English. The -aan forms carry exactly this meaning. The difference between طويل and طولان is that while the former is a sort of absolute judgement – this is long, he is tall – the latter expresses a judgement relative to some previous state:
طولان Toolaan ‘having got long(er)/tall(er)’
قصران 2aSraan ‘having got short(er)’
كتران katraan ‘having got (more) numerous’ (for some reason قلّ has no participle)
تقلان ta2laan ‘having got heavy, heavier’
خافف khaafef ‘having got light(er)’ (this one isn’t -aan)
كبران kəbraan ‘having got big(ger)’
زغران zaghraan ‘having got small(er)’
نحفان na7faan ‘having got thin(ner)’
سمنان samnaan ”having got fat(ter)’
غليان ghalyaan ‘having got (more) expensive’
رخصان rakhSaan ‘having got cheap(er)’
حليان 7alyaan ‘having got nice(r), better/good-looking)
Here are some examples of these in use:
رخصان الليمون هلإيام بعد ما خلص موسمو
rakhSaan @llimoon hal2əyyaam ba3d ma khəleS maw@smo (S)
Lemons have got cheaper these days – [now] the season is over
الاسبوع الماضي اكتشفت اني طولانة سنتي بس نحفانة كيلو
@l2əsbuu3 @lmaaDi ktashaf@t 2ənni Toolaane santi bass na7faane kiilo (S)
Last week I discovered that I’ve got a centimetre taller but a kilogram thinner
حدا غيري حسّ انّو ابو فارس زغران شي ١٠ سنين
7ada ghayri 7ass 2ənno 2abu faaris zaghraan shi 10 @sniin? (L)
Does anyone else feel like Abu Fares has got about ten years younger?
كنت خايف تقللي سمنان
kunt khaayef @t2ulli samnaan! (P/J)
I was scared you were going to say I’d got fat
ياخي والله كترانة تفاهة الناس ولا ايش!
yakhi waLLa katraane tafaahet innaas willa 2eesh? (J)
Mate, have people got stupider than they used to be or what? [has the stupidity of people got more…]