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intermediate · grammar

راح ونام

Weak and hollow verbs

Why رحت isn't راحت, and what happens to verbs ending in ى

Some verbs don't take the endings cleanly, and they are among the commonest verbs in the language — go, sleep, say, speak. There are two groups and each does one predictable thing.

Hollow verbs — the long vowel collapses

"راح" and "نام" have a long vowel in the middle. It stays long when there's no ending, and shortens the moment one arrives.

Keywords

  • verb
  • verb

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