فعّل

Form Two: Doubling the Middle Letter

Level 3

Form II (فَعَّلَ) is one of the most common verb patterns in Arabic. It typically transforms a basic action into a causative one (e.g., 'to study' becomes 'to teach') or adds intensity to the action.

How It Works

Form II, known in Arabic as الوزن الثاني فعّل, is an 'augmented' verb form. It is highly productive, meaning it is frequently used to create new words in Modern Standard Arabic.

1. Primary Functions:

Causative/Factitive: It increases the transitivity of a verb. It can make an intransitive verb transitive, or a transitive verb doubly transitive (taking two objects). For example, علِمَ (to know) becomes علّمَ (to teach), which takes two objects: علّمَ الأستاذُ الطالبَ الدرسَ (The teacher taught the student the lesson).
Intensive: It indicates the action is done repeatedly or with great force. For example, قطَعَ (to cut) becomes قطّعَ (to chop into many pieces).
Estimative/Declarative: It is used to attribute a quality to someone. For example, كذّبَ (to call someone a liar) from كذَبَ (to lie).
Denominative: It creates verbs from nouns. For example, صورة (a picture) becomes صوّرَ (to photograph).
Privative: It can mean to remove the root noun from something. For example, قشّرَ (to peel) from قشر (peel/skin).
Abbreviative: It creates verbs from common phrases. While the term النحت is strictly applied to quadriliteral verbs, Form II performs a similar function. For example, كبّرَ (to say 'Allahu Akbar').

2. Morphological Rules:

Past Tense: The citation pattern is فعّلَ. It features a shadda on the second radical. The passive past pattern is فُعِّلَ.
Present Tense: The prefix vowel is a damma. In the active voice, the stem vowel is a kasra (يُفعِّلُ). In the passive voice, it is a fatha (يُفعَّلُ).
Imperative: The command pattern is فعِّلْ.
Verbal Noun (Masdar): The standard pattern is تفعيل, such as تعليم. However, for defective verbs and verbs ending in a hamza, the obligatory pattern is تَفْعِلَة (e.g., تهنئة).
Participles: The Active Participle is مُفعِّل, and the Passive Participle is مُفعَّل.
Weak Roots: Unlike hollow verbs in Form I, roots with a 'waw' or 'ya' as the middle letter are treated as regular/sound verbs in Form II.

3. Nuance vs. Form IV:
While Form IV is also causative, Form II often implies a gradual process or repetitive action.

Examples (4)

دَرَّسَ الأستاذُ اللغةَ العربيةَ.
The professor taught the Arabic language.
Word by Word: Taught the professor the language the Arabic.
Here, the root د-ر-س (to study) is moved to Form II to mean 'to teach' (to make others study).
يُصَوِّرُ الصَّحَفِيُّ الأَحداثَ.
The journalist is photographing the events.
Word by Word: Is photographing the journalist the events.
This verb is derived from the noun صورة (picture). Note the damma on the present tense prefix 'yu-'.
قَطَّعَ الطَّبَّاخُ الخُضارَ.
The cook chopped the vegetables.
Word by Word: Chopped the cook the vegetables.
Form II here indicates intensity or repetition; instead of just 'cutting' (Form I), the cook is 'chopping' into many pieces.
سَمَّى الوالدانِ البنتَ مريمَ.
The parents named the girl Maryam.
Word by Word: Named the parents the girl Maryam.
This is a 'defective' root (ending in a weak letter). In Form II, it means 'to give a name to'.

Common Mistakes

Using a fatha instead of a damma on the present tense prefix.
يَدَرِّسُ الأستاذُ الطلابَ.
يُدَرِّسُ الأستاذُ الطلابَ.
All augmented verb forms where the past tense has four letters (like Form II) must start with a damma in the present tense.
Forgetting the shadda, which changes the verb back to Form I.
Different Meaningدَرَسَ الأستاذُ اللغةَ.
دَرَّسَ الأستاذُ اللغةَ.
Without the shadda, the sentence means 'The professor studied the language' instead of 'The professor taught the language'.

How It Connects

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فعّلLevel 3Form Two: Doubling the Middle Letter

Learn This First

To understand Form Two (fa'ala), you first need to understand the system of roots and patterns in Arabic. You must also be familiar with the Shadda, as it is the defining orthographic feature of this verb form. Finally, knowing the basic Form One verb provides the necessary context to understand how doubling the middle letter modifies the verb's meaning.