Hi everyone!

Today we’re going to talk briefly about the imperative. This is formed differently in Syrian and fuS7a.

Conjugation

The imperatives of Form I sound verbs are a bit complicated. There is usually no prefix. Instead, the imperfective stem is used on its own. When there are no suffixes attached – that is, in the masculine form, with no pronouns attached – the stem vowel is lengthened. Note that the addition of suffixes triggers the merger of stressed u to i:

دروس
droos
study (m)

 درسي
dris-i
study (f)

درسو
dris-u
study (p)

مسيك
mseek
take (m)

 مسكي
msik-i
take (f)		 مسكو
msik-u
take (p)
فتاح
ftaa7
open (m)		 فتحي
fta7-i
open (f)

فتحو
fta7-u
open (p)

Adding a pronoun suffix to the masculine form reverses the lengthening:

درسو
dris-o
study (m) it		 فتحو
fta7-o
open (m) it

مسكو
msik-o
take (m) it

Note as well the similar forms for 2akhad ‘take’ and 2akal ‘eat’, which lose their initial consonant:

كول
kool
eat

 كلي
kil-i
eat (f)

كلو
kil-u
eat (m)

Otherwise the forms are more or less what we would expect from fuS7a. Defective verbs take a prefix 2i- (although a variant with lengthening like sound verbs also exists):

احكي
2i7ki
speak

 احكي
2i7k-i
speak		 احكو
2i7k-u
speak

All other types of verb use the imperfective stem on its own, with no prefix. This goes for all other kinds of Form I verb as well as all derived verbs:

قول
2uul
say (m)

 قولو
2uul-u
learn (p)

تعلم
t3allam
learn (m)

تعلمي
t3allam-i
learn (f)
اشتغل
shtighel
work (m)

اشتغلو
shtighl-u
work (p)

Note the irregular imperatives:

تعال
ta3aal
come (m)

 تعالي
ta3aal-i
come (f)		 تعالو
ta3aal-u
come [p]
هات
haat
hand (m) [it] over		 هاتي
haat-i
hand (f) [it] over

هاتو
haat-u
hand (p) [it] over

Using the imperative

The imperative is used to give orders:

تعال لعندي
ta3 la3indi
come here

عطيه مصاري
3aTii maSaari
give him some money

As we noted briefly in the post on the subjunctive, there is no third person imperative per se. Where a third person structure is used, the verb must be subjunctive:

ما حدا يحكي كلمة
maa 7ada yi7ki kilme
nobody say anything

khalli is also used for first-person imperatives:

خليني شوف
khalliini shuuf
let me see

خلينا نروح
khalliina nruu7
let’s go