You probably already know that participles are used more commonly in Levantine than they are in fuS7a. But pinning down exactly what they are used for is a source of great frustration for many learners. In this post, we’re going to look at just one of the many uses of the participle. But it is a very common use, and the only one which you absolutely cannot do without: those participles that correspond to English forms with the continuous (‘-ing’).
It’s easy to be misled (whether by terminology or just by reading incorrect resources) into thinking that all verbs’ participles can have this meaning. In fact, only some verbs’ participles correspond to English continuous forms. We’ll look at exactly what sort of verbs can do this in a minute. But first of all, we need to understand a distinction that Arabic makes but English doesn’t.
Dynamic action versus state
This is the distinction between ongoing dynamic action and an ongoing state or condition. Consider the following examples:
|
I’m taking a seat. |
I’m sitting on the chair. |
| He’s putting his shirt on. |
He’s wearing his shirt. |
|
She’s falling asleep. |
She’s sleeping. |
The events on the left involve action. The person is actively moving from standing to sitting, actively putting their arms and upper body into their shirt. In the third example, although the action is less deliberate, it’s still an action, a change of state. The events on the right, on the other hand, all describe someone mid-state. The person has taken a seat, now they are in the (largely effort and action-free) state of sitting; they have put on their shirt, now they are wearing it, etc.
In English, these ideas are expressed using the same form. But in Arabic, this is not the case. Compare the Arabic translations of the sentences above:
|
عم اقعد |
قاعد ع الكرسي 2aa3ed 3alkirsi I’m sitting on the chair. |
| عم يلبس قميصو 3am yilbes 2amiiSo He’s putting his shirt on. |
لابس قميصو |
|
عم تغفى |
نايمة |
While dynamic action is expressed using the 3am continuous, ongoing states are a matter for the participle. This is why I said at the beginning of this post that this is the use of the participle you can’t do without. There is no other way of translating (correctly, anyway) this use of English ‘-ing’.
Continuous participles
This gets us some of the way towards an understanding of how continuous participles work. Now that we know that they describe ongoing ‘states’, it makes sense that only verbs that describe a ‘state’ of this kind are able to form them. There are at least two very common categories of verb that tick this box. The first is motion verbs, i.e. verbs expressing a transition from one location to another (e.g. ‘go’, ‘come’, ‘go out’, ‘go down’, ‘leave’, ‘take’, ‘bring’ etc):
وين رايحين؟
ween raay7iin?
Where are you going?
فايتة ع الغرفة
faayte 3alghirfe
She’s going into (entering) the room.
The second is posture verbs, i.e. verbs expressing a specific posture or position of the body (e.g. ‘sit’, ‘stand’, ‘stand up’, ‘lie down’):
ليش واقف هون؟
leesh waa2ef hoon?
Why are you standing here?
متسطحة ع التخت
mitSaTT7a 3attakhet
She’s lying on the bed.
But there are many other verbs that this works for as well:
مين فايز؟
miin faayez?
Who’s winning?
ناطرينني بالسيارة
naaTriinni bissayyaara
They’re waiting in the car.
ساكن هون؟
saaken hoon?
do you live here?
There are, of course, some marginal cases. And as usual, there’s no replacement for exposure and noting the forms you actually encounter. But this should get you 95% of the way.
Next time we’ll talk about the other main use of participles, the ‘resultative’.