Lesson 88 – الدَّرْسُ الثَّامِنُ والثَّمانون
The Style of Request - أُسلوبُ الطَّلَبِ
The verb and the answer to the request– فِعْلُ الطَّلَبِ وجَوَابُه
- We are still in lesson eighty eight of our free Arabic language course. This Arabic course with images and audios will help you learn Arabic.
- The answer to the request is not an essential part in the request structure, i.e. in many Arabic sentences we may find the imperative or the negated imperative without being followed by the sentence of the answer, as in the following examples:
| Verb | English | Arabic |
| Take care of your health | ||
| Practice sport | ||
| And follow the diet regime (dietary) |
- In other request structures we may find the answer to the request as in the following example:
| English | Arabic |
| Practice sport, you will keep healthy |
- The sentence of answer (تُحافِظْ عَلَى صِحَّتِكَ) indicates the result of doing the action requested by the preceding imperative.
- You may notice that the answer to the request in the above mentioned structure is a present verb in the jussive case (i.e. signed originally with sukūn on its last letter).
- Therefore we clearly understand that in addition to the situations in which the present verb is in the jussive case, there is one more situation when it is an answer to the request. We studied some of the situations in which the present verb is in the jussive case in lessons: 36 – 49 – 87.
- And now let’s see more examples:
| Structure analysis | Example | |||
| The answer to the request | The type of request | The verb of request | English | Arabic |
| Imperative | Learn swimming, you will be saved of sinking | |||
| Imperative | Help your mother, you will win her satisfaction | |||
| Imperative | Be generous with people, they will love you | |||
| Imperative | Stick to truthfulness, you will be safe (saved) | |||
| Imperative verbal noun | Let’s practice sport | |||
| Imperative verbal noun | Leave (stop) lying, you will be beloved (by others) | |||
| Imperative verbal noun | Come on to us, you will find what you like | |||
| Negated imperative | Do not neglect your duties (home works) you will excel | |||
| Negated imperative | Do not insult your wife, she will love you | |||
| Negated imperative | Do not hit your sons, they will be near to you | |||
| Negated imperative | Do not eat the white meat, you will be thin | |||
- From the above mentioned examples we notice that the verb of request can be imperative verb, imperative verbal noun or negated imperative, but it cannot be a present verb which is preceded by the (lām) of the imperative لام الأمْر learnt earlier in this lesson as (لِتَكْتُبْ - لِتَشْرَبْ).
- You may also notice that the answer to the request is always a present verb in the jussive case.