Learn Arabic › B2 › قَلَّل
قَلَّل
to reduce, to lessen (something) /ˈqal.la.la/
verbB2#3274 most common
Also: to decrease (something), to minimize, to downplay
Example sentences
قَلَّلَ أَحْمَدُ مِنْ أَكْلِ السُّكَّرِ.
Ahmad cut down on eating sugar.
يَجِبُ أَنْ تُقَلِّلَ مِنِ اسْتِخْدَامِ هَاتِفِكَ.
You should reduce your phone use.
قَلَّلَتِ الشَّرِكَةُ عَدَدَ المُوَظَّفِينَ هَذَا العَامَ.
The company reduced the number of employees this year.
يُحَاوِلُ الأَطِبَّاءُ أَنْ يُقَلِّلُوا مِنَ التَّوَتُّرِ لَدَى المَرْضَى.
Doctors try to reduce stress among patients.
قَلَّلَتِ الحُكُومَةُ مِنْ أَهَمِّيَّةِ الأَزْمَةِ الاقْتِصَادِيَّةِ فِي تَصْرِيحَاتِهَا الرَّسْمِيَّةِ.
The government downplayed the importance of the economic crisis in its official statements.
عَلَى الرَّغْمِ مِنَ الإِصْلاحَاتِ، لَمْ تُقَلِّلِ الحُكُومَةُ مِنْ حِدَّةِ التَّفَاوُتِ الاقْتِصَادِيِّ بَيْنَ الطَّبَقَاتِ الاجْتِمَاعِيَّةِ.
Despite the reforms, the government did not reduce the severity of economic inequality between social classes.
Conjugation
| Present Active | Simple Past Active | Simple Future Active | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | أُقَلِّلُ | قَلَّلْتُ | سَأُقَلِّلُ |
| 2sg | تُقَلِّلُ | قَلَّلْتَ | سَتُقَلِّلُ |
| 3sg | يُقَلِّلُ | قَلَّلَ | سَيُقَلِّلُ |
| 1pl | نُقَلِّلُ | قَلَّلْنَا | سَنُقَلِّلُ |
| 2pl | تُقَلِّلُونَ | قَلَّلْتُمْ | سَتُقَلِّلُونَ |
| 3pl | يُقَلِّلُونَ | قَلَّلُوا | سَيُقَلِّلُونَ |
Word family
قَلِيلfew, little
قِلَّةscarcity, shortage
أَقَلّless, fewer, leastتَقْلِيلreduction, the act of reducingمُقَلِّلreducer; reducing
Etymology
قَلَّل comes from the triliteral Arabic root ق-ل-ل, which carries the basic sense of smallness or fewness in quantity, the same sense behind قَلِيل, 'few, little'. The verb is built on the Form II pattern, which doubles the middle root consonant and turns a plain quality into a causative action: 'to be few' becomes 'to make few, to reduce'. This root is old and shared across the Semitic languages, always tied to lightness, smallness, or scantiness. It has no Indo-European link, since Arabic sits in a separate language family from English.
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