Meaning shades of Arabic Verbal Form VIII
This post is on The Meanings of Arabic Verb Form VIII اِفْتَعَلَ . Usually one or multiple (more than one) of the following meaning shades are applicable in a Form VIII verb and applicable meaning shades may differ from verb to verb.
Last edited on : 11-April-2016 and planned to be edited and improved further.
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1 . (w) Can be made from root by infixing augmentative letter ت after the ف of root and giving it pattern اِفْتَعَلَ . Can be made from Form I فَعَلَ by inserting تَ between ف and ع , due to which it becomes فْتَعَلَ because ف looses its vowel after insertion of this تَ . Then to facilitate its pronunciation اِ is added before it and resulting pattern is اِفْتَعَلَ .
2 . (t) The ت here basically indicates "himself". Form V and Form VI and Form X also have a ت before the ف of root , while Form VIII has this ت after the ف of root.
3 . (n) This form usually indicates someone
making himself
do something
by himself for himself
with intent + effort/striving + concern/carefulness
(Note: Some or all of the above mentioned qualities may hold and that can change from verb to verb and also depends on context)
4 . (k) Usually has the meaning shade of doing for oneself and doing with effort (and concern / carefulness.)
اِكْتَسَبَ الْمَالَ he acquired the wealth for himself with effort
اِكْتَالَ لَبَنًا he carefully weighed milk for himself.
5 . (k) Form VIII can also indicate getting something done for oneself via someone.
اِكْتَتَبَ كِتَابًا he got a book transcribed or written for himself.
6 . (t) This form is reflexive of form I. Like form VII, this form has two sub-meanings for the reflexive, the simple reflexive and the reflexive causative. However, contrary to form VII, this form will mostly have the reflexive causative meaning, and unlike form VII, this meaning here won't be related only to intransitive form I verbs.
Simple Reflexive : he did himself
Reflexive Causative: he made himself do
7 . (t) Unlike the ن affix, the ت affix in formal Arabic indicates a powerful reflexive action and cannot be reduced to a passive meaning "he was/became done." Although both share a related meaning that indicates an action directed towards the subject of the verb, the ت affix indicates a stronger role of the subject as a performer of the action, or it indicates more effort performed by the agent. This strong role of the subject further extends itself and turns into a reflexive causative meaning in many form VIII verbs. This happens especially with verbs that also have form VII versions.
فَعَلَ (Form I) he did
اِنْفَعَلَ (Form VII) he was or became done / he did himself
اِفْتَعَلَ (Form VIII) he made himself do (for himself with effort and intent and concern) / he did himself.
Both verbs originally had reflexive meanings, but in one of them i.e. Form VII it was too weak so it was almost reduced to a passive meaning, whereas in the other i.e. Form VIII it was too strong so it evolved into a reflexive causative meaning.
8 . (t) The simple reflexive meaning shade of form VII is usually used for roots denoting simple or basic actions like opening, closing, lowering, raising, cutting, breaking, writing, reading, understanding, knowing, etc. Whereas, in form VIII, it is used for basic actions as well as complicated ones.
When a reflexive form VIII is denoting a simple action like the ones denoted by form VII, it will have a meaning similar to form VII.
When a reflexive form VIII is denoting a complex action that cannot be expressed by form VII, it usually carries a meaning shade that indicates a strong role of the subject as a performer, or a meaning that indicates more effort of the subject.
9 . (w) The reflex object is either:
a. The direct object or accusative
فَرَقَ (Form I) he divided or made a separation or distinction (between things)
اِفْتَرَقَ (Form VIII) it divided, parted, separated.
b. The indirect object or dative, implying for oneself, for one's own advantage.
لَمَسَ (Form I) he touched
اِلْتَمَسَ (Form VIII) he felt for or sought for (a thing).
10 . (h)(t)(w) Form VIII اِفْتَعَلَ is also in some cases (simple actions OR non-physical actions OR in cases which don't have a form VII) quasi-passive مُطَاوِع of Form I, but this is mainly the quality of Form VII and is not so common in form VIII.
(a) . مُطَاوِع is a verb whose (grammatical) agent receives the effect of the action of the agent another verb.
(w) . The مُطَاوِع expresses the state into which the object of the action denoted by the verb of which it is مُطَاوِع is brought by that action, as its effect or result.
شَوَيْتُهُ فَاشْتَوَىٰ I roasted it so it became roasted. (1st verb is Form I and 2nd verb is Form VIII)
غَمَمْتُهُ فَاغْتَمَّ I grieved him so he became grieved. (1st verb is Form I and 2nd verb is Form VIII)
11 (h) . More explanation on cases which don't have a Form VII mentioned in above point.
For these cases original Form VIII meaning may hold or it may be used instead of Form VII having a similar meaning shade to Form VII.
For verbs in which the ف of root is ر or ل or م or ن or و ( or ي ) often in such cases, instead of using Form VII, Form VIII may be used. Now this Form VIII can then have its own meaning shade i.e. originally Form VIII or it may have meaning shade like Form VII i.e. used instead of Form VII, because these are the letters that the quiescent ن becomes incorporated into i.e. the ن also converts to the letter and then both the letters are joined together with shaddah . The ن of اِنْفَعَلَ is the sign of quasi-passivity, so its obliteration is disliked. So to avoid its obliteration, Form VIII may be used instead of form VII.
نَفَيْتُهُ فَانْتَفَىٰ (1st verb is Form I and 2nd verb is Form VIII) I removed it so it was removed.
12 . (n) Sometimes Form VIII is also used for mutual action or reciprocal signification. On a deeper analysis, one can understand that this does not make the meaning shade equal to Form VI, but is a different meaning shade retaining the qualities of form VIII also. When the action is such that it is done by more than 1 persons and is such an action that naturally involves participation by multiple persons, a shade of reciprocal signification or mutual action is natural.
اِقْتَتَلَ النَّاسُ (Form VIII) the people killed one another. (Note the context is such that the doers and recipients of the action are the people. In this group of people there are different persons each making himself kill some other persons for himself (to not get killed himself or to kill his enemies) and striving in this action with concern . )
13 (k) . The subject or فَاعِل making the thing indicated by the word from the same root, for himself.
اِجْتَحَرَ (Form VIII) he made a جُحْر hole for himself.
14 (k) . The subject or فَاعِل acquiring or taking the thing indicated by the word from the same root, for himself.
اِحْتَرَزَ (Form VIII) he took a حِرْز place of refuge/protection for himself.
15 (k) . The subject or فَاعِل making the object or مَفْعُول to become the thing indicated in the word from the same root, for himself.
اِغْتَذَىٰ سَعِيدٌ الشَّاةَ (Form VIII) Saeed made the sheep غِذَآء nutriment/nourishment for himself.
16 (k) . The subject or فَاعِل taking the object or مَفْعُول in the thing indicated in the word from the same root, for himself.
اِعْتَضَدَ نَدِيمٌ الْكِتَابَ (Form VIII) Nadeem placed the book under his عَضُد upper arm.
17 (k) . The subject or فَاعِل showing or disclosing or presenting the thing indicated in the word from the same root in front of someone, for himself.
اِعْتَذَرَ (Form VIII) he presented an عُذْر excuse (for himself) .
18 (k)(q) . Introducing new meaning in form VIII which is not present in form I.
root = خ ل ف
Form I = خَلَفَ he came or remained after.
Form VIII = اِخْتَلَفَ he differed.
19 (k) . Form VIII verb can also come for a root in which no Form I verb has come.
20 (k) . In few cases, Form VIII may also serve as مُطَاوِع of Form II.
21 . Conversion of ف of root or of the augmentative ت in Form VIII verbs usually occurs according to following rules (Note, for simplicity and ease of understanding I am giving hypothetical root just changing the ف of ف ع ل to explain the conversions) :
If ف of root is و or ي then ف of root is also converted to ت and then both ت joined together with shaddah.
اِوْتَعَلَ to اِتْتَعَلَ to اِتَّعَلَ .
If ف of root is ث then the augmentative ت of Form VIII is also converted to ث and then both ث joined together with shaddah.
اِثْتَعَلَ to اِثْثَعَلَ to اِثَّعَلَ .
If ف of root is د then the augmentative ت of Form VIII is converted to د and then both د joined together with shaddah.
اِدْتَعَلَ to اِدْدَعَلَ to اِدَّعَلَ .
If ف of root is ز then the augmentative ت of Form VIII is converted to د .
اِزْتَعَلَ to اِزْدَعَلَ .
If ف of root is ذ then the augmentative ت of Form VIII is converted to د and ف of root is also converted to د and then both د joined together with shaddah.
اِذْتَعَلَ to اِدْدَعَلَ to اِدَّعَلَ .
If ف of root is ط then the augmentative ط of Form VIII is converted to ط and then both ط joined together with shaddah.
اِطْتَعَلَ to اِطْطَعَلَ to اِطَّعَلَ
If ف of root is ظ then the augmentative ظ of Form VIII is converted to ظ and then both ظ joined together with shaddah.
اِظْتَعَلَ to اِظْظَعَلَ to اِظَّعَلَ
22 (w) . Table 1
23 (q) . Table 2
Important Note:
Best examples for analyzing and verifying the level of applicability or non-applicability of above mentioned meaning shades and for finding additional meaning shades is by studying all occurrences of the Form in The Qur'an and for that you can check relevant examples for this Form in Pattern Wise Concordance PDF by visiting the post:
Pattern wise, Root wise & Letter wise Concordance of The Qur'an
& downloading the concordance documents freely. You can check relevant examples of most of the patterns used in the Qur'an by using concordance documents.
References: When multiple references mentioned for a point, it means material selected from all quoted references more from some and less from others and all quoted references do not necessarily agree on everything. Material is not exactly copied but based on the reference quoted and I have made additions, editions & changes where required :
h = Howell Arabic Grammar English
w = Wright Arabic Grammar English
t = Arabic notes on tripod site by Hani Deek
k = Aasaan Khaasiyyaat e abwaab Urdu
q = Qawaid Zaban e Qur'an Urdu
n = new indication by me.
a = Derived from other tools like arabic almanac or some other book.
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فَعۡل فُعۡل فِعۡل فَعَل فُعُل فَعَال فِعَال فَعُل فُعُول فُعَل فِعَل فِعِل