Learn Arabic › B1 › أَفْعَل
أَفْعَل
the af'al pattern (the Arabic template for comparatives, superlatives, and colors) /ˈʔaf.ʕal/
nounB1#1443 most common
Also: elative pattern, the form 'af'al', comparative-superlative word-shape
Example sentences
هٰذا الوزن اسمُهُ أَفْعَل.
This pattern is called af'al.
تأتي الألوان على وزن أَفْعَل.
Colors come on the af'al pattern.
كلمة "أَحمَر" على وزن أَفْعَل.
The word "red" is on the af'al pattern.
اسمُ التفضيل غالبًا يكون على وزن أَفْعَل.
The elative noun is usually on the af'al pattern.
صيغة أَفْعَل تدلّ على التفضيل وعلى الألوان والعيوب.
The af'al form denotes the elative as well as colors and physical defects.
كثيرٌ من الأسماء الواردة على وزن أَفْعَل ممنوعٌ من الصرف للوصفيّة ووزن الفعل.
Many nouns on the af'al pattern are diptote, owing to their adjectival sense and verbal shape.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | أَفْعَلُ | أَفاعِلُ |
| Genitive | أَفْعَلَ | أَفاعِلَ |
| Accusative | أَفْعَلَ | أَفاعِلَ |
| Vocative | يا أَفْعَلُ | يا أَفاعِلُ |
Word family
فَعَلَto do, to make
فِعْلverb; deed, actionفاعِلdoer, agent; grammatical subjectمَفْعولobject; thing done
تَفْعيلform II verbal noun; metrical foot
Etymology
أفعل is not a content word but the name of a morphological template. Arab grammarians built their whole system of word-shapes on one placeholder root, ف-ع-ل, meaning "to do." أفعل labels the shape formed by a prefixed hamza and the vowels a-a, the mould for comparatives like أكبر and colors like أحمر. The root ف-ع-ل runs across the Semitic family, where the same three consonants carry the sense of doing or making.
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