Learn Arabic › B1 › طال
طال
to become long (of time, distance, or physical length) /ˈtˤaː.la/
verbB1#2757 most common
Also: to last a long time, to drag on, to grow tall
Example sentences
طالَ النهارُ.
The day grew long.
شعرُها طالَ كثيرًا.
Her hair has grown very long.
طالَ انتظارُنا في المطار.
Our wait at the airport grew long.
لا تدعِ الاجتماعَ يطولُ أكثرَ من اللازم.
Don't let the meeting run longer than necessary.
كلما طالَ غيابُهُ عن البيت، ازدادَ قلقُ أمِّه.
The longer his absence from home grew, the more his mother's worry increased.
مهما طالَ الزمنُ فإنَّ الحقيقةَ لا بدَّ أن تظهرَ.
However long time passes, the truth is bound to emerge.
Conjugation
| Present Active | Simple Past Active | Simple Future Active | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | أطولُ | طُلتُ | سأطولُ |
| 2sg | تطولُ | طُلتَ | ستطولُ |
| 3sg | يطولُ | طالَ | سيطولُ |
| 1pl | نطولُ | طُلنا | سنطولُ |
| 2pl | تطولونَ | طُلتم | ستطولونَ |
| 3pl | يطولونَ | طالوا | سيطولونَ |
Word family
طويلlong, tall
طولlength, height
أطالَto prolong, lengthen something (causative Form IV)
استطالَto stretch out, become elongated (Form X)
طالماas long as; often (a lexicalized fusion of طال and ما)
Etymology
طال comes from the Arabic triliteral root ط-و-ل (ṭ-w-l), which carries the core sense of length or extension, whether in space or time. It is a hollow, middle-weak Form I verb: the middle radical و surfaces as a long ā in the past tense (طالَ) and as ū in the present (يَطُولُ). The same root produces the everyday adjective طويل ('long, tall') and the noun طول ('length'). Arabic is a Semitic language, not an Indo-European one, so no Proto-Indo-European root or Indo-European cognates apply here.
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