Template:ar-conj/documentation

This template generates formatted conjugation tables for Arabic verbs using Module:ar-verb. It must be used under the level 4 header conjugation (conjugation header is level 5 when there are multiple etymologies for a single word).

Arguments
Arguments are as follows (only the first numbered argument is mandatory):
 * 1: Mandatory. Conjugation type, usually just e.g.  or  ; see below.
 * 2 through 6: Radicals and (for form I) past and non-past vowels; see below. Radicals are normally omitted, and will be inferred from the headword. Past and non-past vowels are used only in form I.
 * I, II, III, IV: Alternative way of specifying radicals using named rather than numbered arguments. Radicals normally do not need to be given, and will be inferred from the headword.
 * vn: Specify the verbal noun(s). Separate multiple verbal nouns by commas or by the Arabic comma . Verbal nouns are required for form I, but need not be specified for other forms except in the rare cases where such a verb has an irregular verbal noun.
 * passive: If, verb has impersonal passive (only 3rd singular masculine parts); if  , verb has only passive parts, no active; if  , verb has only impersonal passive parts (only 3rd singular masculine passive parts, no others and no active parts); otherwise, if should be  ,  ,   or   (verb has a passive) or  ,  ,   or   (verb has no possive). If omitted, default is normally yes, but default is no for forms VII, IX, XI - XV, IIq - IVq, and form I with past vowel u (except for hollow verbs), and default is impersonal passive for form VI.
 * intrans: Rarely needs to be specified. Should be,  ,   or   (verb is intransitive) or  ,  ,   or   (verb is transitive). If omitted, default comes from the value of passive: If no, impers or only-impers then intransitive, otherwise transitive.
 * variant: Only used with the verb or  "to live". Value is   (produces ),   (produces ),   (produces both forms).
 * noimp: Suppresses imperatives with.

The meaning of arguments 2 through 6 depends on the form.

Form I

 * 2: past (aka perfect) vowel (,  or  ).
 * 3: non-past (aka imperfect) vowel (,  or  ).
 * 4 or I: First radical.
 * 5 or II: Second radical.
 * 6 or III: Third radical.

Past and non-past vowels should normally be included, although they have sensible defaults that work in many cases, especially with final-weak verbs (see below). Radicals are usually omitted and will be inferred from the headword and (in some cases) the past/non-past vowels. In a very few cases, radicals must be included (in particular, with form I hollow verbs with a non-past vowel of a), and an error will be thrown if they are omitted.

Multiple past and/or non-past vowels can be given, separated by commas. This is useful when a verb has alternative conjugations involving different vowels. See the example below of or  "to be single". (Not all alternative conjugations can be specified this way; an example would be a verb that takes either the past/non-past vowels a/u or i/a. There would in any case be no clear way of indicating such an alternation in a single conjugation table. The solution is to include more than one conjugation table.)

Other triliteral augmented forms (form II through XV)

 * 2 or I: First radical.
 * 3 or II: Second radical.
 * 4 or III: Third radical.

Radicals can be omitted in all cases. In some cases there is an ambiguity in choice of radical (e.g. in hollow and final-weak verbs, and some form VIII sound verbs), but in these cases all choices produce identical conjugations.

Quadriliteral forms (form Iq, IIq, IIIq or IVq)

 * 2 or I: First radical.
 * 3 or II: Second radical.
 * 4 or III: Third radical.
 * 5 or IV: Fourth radical.

Radicals can be omitted in all cases, as above.

Further comments
The conjugation type is normally just the form (e.g. I, II, III, IV, etc.), and the weakness (sound, assimilated, hollow, final-weak, geminated, assimilated+final-weak) is automatically determined from the radicals. However, the weakness can be explicitly specified in the conjugation type, e.g. I-sound or IV-hollow. The main use of this is to force a verb to be sound that would normally be interpreted otherwise in cases where a weak radical unexpectedly appears in a non-weak conjugation, e.g. Form I wajuha yawjuhu "to be distinguished". Only verbs like this (apparently form-I assimilated, but actually sound) are problematic; would-be hollow verbs that are actually sound are handled correctly by default (e.g. Form I ʻawiza yaʻwazu "to be poor", Form I layisa yalyasu "to be courageous", Form IV ’aḥwaja yuḥwiju "to need", Form VIII izdawaja yazdawiju "to be in pairs", Form X istajwaba yastajwibu "to interrogate").

Normally, all radicals are omitted, and the radicals are inferred automatically from the headword. More specifically: If some or all of the radicals are omitted, the missing ones will be automatically inferred from the headword and conjugation form, and the past/non-past vowels if given (it is an error in such a case if the headword is malformed given the conjugation form). This works properly in almost all cases, but will run into problems in one particular situation: In form I hollow verbs where the non-past vowel is omitted or is a, the radical cannot be determined but is necessary to conjugate the passive participle. For example, "to fear" with middle radical  has passive participle  whereas  with middle radical  has passive participle  despite both having the same past and non-past vowels. In this particular situation, an error will be thrown if the middle radical is not given.

In the following situations, the radical is ambiguous, but the exact choice of radical doesn't matter because all choices produce the same conjugation:
 * In augmented (non-form-I) hollow verbs, where the middle radical is assumed to be but might be.
 * In augmented (non-form-I) final-weak verbs, where the last radical is assumed to be but might be.
 * In form VIII verbs beginning with, where the first radical is assumed to be but might be  or  (or  in the specific case of the verb ).

For form I sound, assimilated and geminate verbs, if the past-tense vowel is omitted, it defaults to a. If the non-past vowel is omitted, it is computed from the past vowel: A past vowel of a maps to a if the second or third radical is guttural, else u; a past vowel of i maps to a; a past vowel of u maps to u. For final-weak verbs, and for hollow verbs if the radicals are specified, the past and/or non-past vowels rarely need to be given, as they will be derived automatically from the nature of the weak vowel. (Specifically, for hollow verbs both past and non-past vowel default to the short vowel version of the middle radical, whereas for final-weak verbs, the past vowel defaults to a and the default non-past vowel is computed from the past vowel as follows: a maps to either i or u depending on the nature of the third radical, i maps to a, u maps to u.)

How to derive the past and non-past vowels
To derive the past vowel, look at the (usually) short vowel appearing before the last radical of the verb in the first-person (not third-person) singular past (aka perfect). For hollow verbs, this is usually i or u. For other verbs, this is usually a, sometimes i and rarely u. For final-weak verbs, you may see a long ī (or very occasionally ū) replacing the third radical; the corresponding past vowel is i (or u if appropriate). Meanwhile, the non-past vowel is the short vowel with the same quality as the vowel (which may be long or short) appearing before the last radical of the verb in the first-person (or third-person masculine) singular non-past (aka imperfect) indicative. This is most commonly i or u, but a is reasonably common, especially when the past vowel is "i" or the second or third radical is a guttural consonant:, , , or. For final-weak verbs the last radical merges into the vowel to produce a long vowel; the corresponding short vowel is the non-past vowel.

Form I example
If the headword is, produces

Form I final-weak example with inferred past/non-past vowels and multiple verbal nouns
Past and non-past vowels can be omitted, and will be guessed. For form I final weak verbs, the guess is based on the last letter of the headword (either or ), and is usually correct. More than one verbal noun can be specified to the vn arg, separated by commas or by Arabic commas.

If the headword is, produces

Form I example with multiple past vowels and uncertain passive status
More than one past or non-past vowel can be given when multiple possibilities exist in the conjugation, and a ? can be added to the passive or vn args to indicate uncertainty, which places the headword in, respectively, Category:Arabic verbs needing passive checked and Category:Arabic verbs needing verbal noun checked). Note that the value of passive has reasonable defaults; in this case, it would default to n anyway due to one of the past vowels being u, but it is a good idea to specify it explicitly to indicate that this has been verified with a dictionary or native speaker.

If the headword is, produces

Form IV hollow example
If the headword is, produces