Learn Arabic › A1 › قال
قال
to say /ˈqaː.la/
verbA1#37 most common
Also: to tell, to speak, to state
Example sentences
قالَ مرحبًا.
He said hello.
ماذا قالَ المعلّمُ؟
What did the teacher say?
قالَت أُمّي إنّها ستأتي غدًا.
My mother said she would come tomorrow.
قالَ الوزيرُ إنّ الحكومةَ ستُخفّضُ الضرائبَ العامَ المقبل.
The minister said the government would lower taxes next year.
كما قالَ الحكيمُ: الصمتُ أبلغُ من الكلامِ أحيانًا.
As the sage said, silence is sometimes more eloquent than speech.
لم يَقُلْ ما كان يجولُ في خاطرِه، بل اكتفى بابتسامةٍ غامضة.
He did not say what was running through his mind, but settled for an enigmatic smile.
Conjugation
| Present Active | Simple Past Active | Simple Future Active | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | أقولُ | قُلتُ | سأقولُ |
| 2sg | تقولُ | قُلتَ | ستقولُ |
| 3sg | يقولُ | قالَ | سيقولُ |
| 1pl | نقولُ | قُلنا | سنقولُ |
| 2pl | تقولونَ | قُلتُم | ستقولونَ |
| 3pl | يقولونَ | قالوا | سيقولونَ |
Word family
قَوْل (qawl)a saying, utterance, statement
يَقول (yaqūl)he says (imperfect)
قائِل (qāʾil)speaker, one who says
مَقالة (maqāla)article, essay
مَقولة (maqūla)maxim, adage, dictum
Etymology
قال derives from the Proto-Semitic triliteral root *q-w-l, associated with voice and speech. It is a 'hollow' verb: the weak middle radical و contracts to a long ā in the perfect (qawala → qāla, 'he said'). Across the Semitic family the root commonly surfaces with the sense of 'voice' or 'word' rather than the act of speaking.
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