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Causative and passive verbs

2 min read · 400 words

Causative

It's of the formula {C¹}a{C²}{C²}{a if C³ in [ħ,ĝ] else e}{C³}

CCVC group

C¹, C² and C³ figure in infinitive; C¹C²VC³

  1. Kber ("to grow")

  • Kabber ("to raise")

  1. Ĝmal ("to do")

  • Ĝammel ("to rely")

  1. Rqad ("to sleep")

  • Raqqed ("to help go asleep")

  1. Freq ("for something to make a difference")

  • Farreq ("to distinguish; to discriminate")

CCVV group

C¹ and C² come from infinitive C¹C²VV with no C³. Final vowel is determined through schwa rules ('a' if following {q,r,ḍ,ṣ,ṭ,ğ,ꝁ} else 'e'}

  1. Qraa ("to study")

  • Qarra ("to teach")

  1. Nsee ("to forget")

  • Nasse ("to make forget")

Exception:

  1. Klee ("to eat")

  • Wakkel ("to feed")

  1. Ꝁđee ("to take; to marry")

  • Waꝁꝁeđ ("to marry someone; to officiate (kinda)")

  1. Raa ("to look")

  • Warra ("to show")

CVCC group

They map perfectly C¹VC²C³

  1. Fadd ("to be fed up/bored")

  • Fadded ("to cause somebody to be fed up")

  1. Hadd ("to bulldoze, to demolish")

  • Hadded ("to threaten")

CVVC group

Only C¹ and C³ are covered; C¹VVC³

if (past ablaut, present ablaut)=(o,ou),(o,aa) then C² = w otherwise y

  1. Qaal ("to say")

  • Qawwel ("to cause someone say something [against their will]")

  1. Feet ("to outrun; to go way past a place, a date or a person")

  • Fawwet ("to miss something (on purpose)")

  1. Faaḍ ("to overflow")

  • Fayyeḍ ("to cause something to overflow; to spill")

  1. Ḍaaĝ ("to be lost")

  • Ḍayyeĝ ("to lost")

Other groups admit no grammatical causative. Many are usually causative themselves

Etymology: Arabic measure فَعَّلَ (Form II)

Passive

For passive, just prefix your verb with "t(e)-" where e is epenthetic only inserted if the verb starts with two or more consonants. The prefix is applicable for all groups (native or loan).

  1. Qraa ("to read")

  • Teqraa ("to be read")

  1. Klee ("to eat")

  • Teklee ("to be eaten")

  1. Gadd ("to take care of; to perfect")

  • Tgadd ("to be taken care of; to finalize")

  1. Şeef ("to see")

  • Tşeef ("to be seen")

  1. Zeed ("to add")

  • Tzeed ("to be added")

Etymology: Merger of Arabic measures تَفَعَّلَّ and تَفَاعَلَ (forms V and VI). Not of Berber origin as rumored.

In theory, every verb allows for a grammatical passive. It's left to contexually verify whether it truly does. An alternative passive expression is achieved through the construction jee + past participle

Tebṭaħ = Jee mabṭouħ ("he slipped and fell)

Demandative

st(a)+verb...