# All dialects/MSA: Stand up (imperative)



## djara

In Tunisian Arabic, the imperative "stand up" is expressed in a wide variety of forms, depending on the region:
قوم (quum)
ثور (thuur)
فِزْ (fizz)
نوض (nuuD)
آقف (aaqif)
And I'm not sure I have them all. I'd be interested in knowing how this is expressed in other Arab countries. Thank you.


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## yasmeena

In Lebanon ( specifically beirut ) one would say :
قوم (oum) 
وقاف (w2aaf)


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## elroy

In Palestinian Arabic, we use the following:

وقف (_wa22ef_) - "stand up"
قوم (_uum_) - "get up" (more general)
فز (_fiz_) - hard to explain; sort of like "get off your butt*"; it can be used jokingly or angrily.

*or a more creative synonym


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## clevermizo

^
Do you also use _wa22ef_ to mean "stop!" ?


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## Abu Bishr

elroy said:


> فز (_fiz_) - hard to explain; sort of like "get off your butt*"; it can be used jokingly or angrily.


 
I suppose it comes from قفز (to jump). So the MSA Amr (imperative) form would be اقْفِزْ (iqfiz). Obviously, in the Levantine dialect the "q" changes to a glottal stop or hamzah which eventually gets dropped together with the hamzah al-waSl, and you're left with فز (fiz) only.


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## lcfatima

UAE: goom

Kuwaiti: goom


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## Ibn Monjur

Abu Bishr said:


> I suppose it comes from قفز (to jump). So the MSA Amr (imperative) form would be اقْفِزْ (iqfiz). Obviously, in the Levantine dialect the "q" changes to a glottal stop or hamzah which eventually gets dropped together with the hamzah al-waSl, and you're left with فز (fiz) only.



النحت at work!!! I like it!


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## clevermizo

This makes sense. This also occurs with the verb 2a3ad (قعد), "to sit." The imperative is اقعد which is normally pronounced _3ud_ or the way I learned it was with an elongated vowel _3uud, _but at any rate with the ق dropped entirely.


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## Josh_

Abu Bishr said:


> I suppose it comes from قفز (to jump). So the MSA Amr (imperative) form would be اقْفِزْ (iqfiz). Obviously, in the Levantine dialect the "q" changes to a glottal stop or hamzah which eventually gets dropped together with the hamzah al-waSl, and you're left with فز (fiz) only.



Since I have been into finding interesting connections between Arabic words I find this to be an intriguing theory.  While there may be some connection between these two words, I am not quite convinced that فز came from قفز . In might possibly be the other way around, however, in which قفز came from فز .  Allow me to explain.  

Firstly, as far as I am aware the root of فز is ف-ز-ز (f-z-z)  and the verb even occurs in MSA (fazza) (if we can believe the Hans Wehr, anyway).  That the imperative is pronounced as 'fiz' might just be do to the fact that sometimes, in colloquial, mushaddad consonants are pronounced without a shadda, when they occur at the end of a word and there is no following syllable (for instance, عم (uncle) is sometimes pronounced as 3am and not 3amm).

Secondly, in exploring the idea that there may have been two-letter roots in some proto-Arabic or proto-Semitic language I find some interesting connections between فز and other words that have these two letters in their roots -- فزر (fazar) _to burst_, and فزع (f-z-3) _to be frightened or startled_. In all these words -- فز، فزع، فزر، قفز -- there appears to be a general underlying idea among them -- they all refer to things that happen really quickly or suddenly.  So if we are to accept the premise that two-letter roots indeed existed at one time I would surmise that ف-ز was one of these roots and that it eventually gave rise to these other words with three-letter roots.  So in that respect it can be argued that قفز came from فز and not the other way around.

For more on my inquest into whether or not two-letter roots existed see this thread.



clevermizo said:


> This makes sense. This also occurs with the verb 2a3ad (قعد), "to sit." The imperative is اقعد which is normally pronounced _3ud_ or the way I learned it was with an elongated vowel _3uud, _but at any rate with the ق dropped entirely.


I can only speak for Egyptian. While it is true that the ق has been completely elided in the word قعد (and present tense forms such as تقعد and يقعد are pronounced as 'tu3ud' and 'yu3ud') as far as I have heard the prosthetic vowel associated with the imperative form has not been dropped. That is, I hear اقعد as 'u3ud' and not as 3ud or as a word similar in pronunciation to the musical instrument.


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## clevermizo

Josh_ said:


> I can only speak for Egyptian. While it is true that the ق has been completely elided in the word قعد (and present tense forms such as تقعد and يقعد are pronounced as 'tu3ud' and 'yu3ud') as far as I have heard the prosthetic vowel associated with the imperative has not been dropped in the imperative form. That is, I hear اقعد as 'u3ud' and not as 3ud or as the musical instrument.


In Levantine Arabic (at least what I know from Syrian/Lebanese), the first vowel is very often elided, sometimes (depending on dialect/region) with compensatory lengthening of the second vowel. I'm not sure if this is always the case in the south (Israel/Palestine, Jordan). For example:

_ruu7 sbi(i)t wjuudak  _("go, make an appearance!")

or, as we see earlier in this thread as mentioned by Yasmeena:
_w2aaf (_وقاف) or _w2af_ وْقَف ("stand (up)!" This comes from the verb _wi2ef, byuu2af_ وقف، بيوقف.

The lengthening of the second vowel probably occurs as a result of the stress position being moved to the second syllable (and not in your _u3ud_ which I assume is pronounced *u*_3ud _with stress on the first syllable).


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## WadiH

Abu Bishr said:


> I suppose it comes from قفز (to jump). So the MSA Amr (imperative) form would be اقْفِزْ (iqfiz). Obviously, in the Levantine dialect the "q" changes to a glottal stop or hamzah which eventually gets dropped together with the hamzah al-waSl, and you're left with فز (fiz) only.


 
I'm not convinced by this etymology because we also have the verb فزّ in the Peninsula and it occurs in our old vernacular poetry even though our _qaf_ has not become a glottal stop.

In bedouin and Najdi dialects:

قم (_gim_)
أوقف (_oogaff_)


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## Josh_

clevermizo said:


> In Levantine Arabic (at least what I know from Syrian/Lebanese), the first vowel is very often elided, sometimes (depending on dialect/region) with compensatory lengthening of the second vowel. I'm not sure if this is always the case in the south (Israel/Palestine, Jordan). For example:
> 
> _ruu7 sbi(i)t wjuudak  _("go, make an appearance!")
> 
> or, as we see earlier in this thread as mentioned by Yasmeena:
> _w2aaf (_وقاف) or _w2af_ وْقَف ("stand (up)!" This comes from the verb _wi2ef, byuu2af_ وقف، بيوقف.


Ahh, I see.  So the elision of the first vowel occurs in many, if not all, verbs in Syrian/Lebanese?



> The lengthening of the second vowel probably occurs as a result of the stress position being moved to the second syllable (and not in your _u3ud_ which I assume is pronounced *u*_3ud _with stress on the first syllable).


Yes, it is pronounced *u*_3ud _with the stress on the first syllable_._


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## elroy

clevermizo said:


> Do you also use _wa22ef_ to mean "stop!" ?


 Not usually. We would normally just say _bas!_ or _5alas!_. Of course, in other contexts _wa22ef_ can mean "stop" - for example, _wa22ef is-sayyaara_ ("stop the car"). Perhaps we avoid using _wa22ef_ as a standalone imperative because of the possible ambiguity due to the fact that we commonly use it to mean "stand up"? 





clevermizo said:


> This also occurs with the verb 2a3ad (قعد), "to sit." The imperative is اقعد which is normally pronounced _3ud_ or the way I learned it was with an elongated vowel _3uud, _but at any rate with the ق dropped entirely.


 I'll leave the etymological discussions to those more informed, but I just want to point out that in Palestinian Arabic there is no elision; in fact, we _add_ a consonant to facilitate pronunciation and say _*h*u23od_. 





Josh_ said:


> (for instance, عم (uncle) is sometimes pronounced as 3am and not 3amm).


 How would _3amm_ be pronounced? In my view, it's always _3am_ if there's no suffix or hamzet wasel.


clevermizo said:


> _ruu7 sbi(i)t wjuudak _("go, make an appearance!")


 Again, there's no elision in Palestinian Arabic: _ruu7 2ithbet iwjuudak _(zaghgharet il-i bas 3ashaanak ). The other version sounds very distinctly Syrian/Lebanese.


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## Josh_

elroy said:


> How would _3amm_ be pronounced? In my view, it's always _3am_ if there's no suffix or hamzet wasel.


Well, it might be pronounced _3am_ all the time for all I know. I only wrote the word 'sometimes' because I always try to leave some doubt in my comments, since talking in absolutes has gotten me in trouble in the past.


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## clevermizo

Josh_ said:


> Ahh, I see.  So the elision of the first vowel occurs in many, if not all, verbs in Syrian/Lebanese?



I'm pretty sure in imperatives of the form افعل, it always occurs,  however this may depend on the specific region.


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## kab

قوم (quum)
آقف (aaqif)

are widely used in egypt


فِزْ (fizz)
it's also widely used...but.. it's impolite... 
for example:
when a teacher in a classroom got angry from a student & wanna punish him ..he shout and say to the student : fizz


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## Abu Bishr

My question is how would be people in the Levantine say قفز in the imperative? If the qaaf is pronounced as a glottal stop then I would assume that it would be the same as verbs such as: أكل , أخذ and أمر , the imperatives of which are : كُلْ , خُذْ and مُرْ respectively.

Also, I checked on the net and found this on a Khaliji website:*فزّ*<<<يعني *قفز* ، لهجه بدويه

However, I found another explanation for the Khaliji فزّ (which even though it means قفز ) it is derived from نطّ which became فطّ which in turn became فعّ or فزّ through a process of ibdaal.

What seems to be a pint of agreement is that فز has the meaning of قفز . So while my previous explanation does not adequately account for the Khaliji فزّ it does for the Levantine. I'm still interested to know how people of the Levantine would pronounce قفز in the imperative.


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## Mahaodeh

I think that فِزّ is fus7a, it means 'to move quickly, to be startled' (my best translation. It's actually used in Iraq to means startle. The way I've heard it used in Palestinian Arabic is in the context of asking someone to get up and move quickly, examples:

يلا فز خلصني عاد
فز خلّي أبوك يقعد

Both the above requiring quick action.


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## elroy

I can only speak for Palestinian Arabic. Maybe speakers of other Levantine dialects can chime in as well. 





Abu Bishr said:


> My question is how would be people in the Levantine say قفز in the imperative?


 We do not use this verb. For "to jump" we use نَط, the imperative of which is ْنُط. 





> If the qaaf is pronounced as a glottal stop then I would assume that it would be the same as verbs such as: أكل , أخذ and أمر , the imperatives of which are : كُلْ , خُذْ and مُرْ respectively.


 In Palestinian Arabic, the imperative of أمر is not مُرْ but هؤمر ("hu2mor"; cf. "hu23od" above) - مُرْ is the imperative of مَر. You are right about the other two, although I should point out that in Jerusalem (and other areas) the vowel is lengthened so we say خود ("5ood") and كول ("kool").


> What seems to be a pint of agreement is that فز has the meaning of قفز .


 Not really. As I said above, we use نَط for قفز and فز for "get up quickly," more or less. 





Mahaodeh said:


> يلا فز خلصني عاد
> فز خلّي أبوك يقعد


 Great examples.


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## cherine

kab said:


> قوم (quum)


Do you mean uum? 


> آقف (aaqif)
> 
> are widely used in egypt


Where exactly in Egypt do people say aaqif? 

What I know, hear and use is "o2af".
Uum is also used.
Sometimes we say: uum o2af.


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## yasmeena

> Originally Posted by *Abu Bishr*
> My question is how would be people in the Levantine say قفز in the imperative?


 
I agree with elroy :


> We do not use this verb. For "to jump" we use نَط, the imperative of which is ْنُط.


 
But if I were to say قفز in the imperative in my Lebanese accent , it would be : 2fouz قفوز , like 2foul قفول from قفل .


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## Josh_

And in Egyptian it would be pronounced _i2fiz_.  I imagine in Palestinian it would be _hi2fez_, if I am understanding the formation of imperatives with initial qaafs correctly.

I wanted to relate another thought I had about the origin of فز .  I wonder if it started its life out as an onomatopoeic word that would say to goad an animal to move or as something one would say to startle someone else (like the English _boo_ or the Arabic (maybe only Egyptian Arabic) بخّ _bikhkh_. Saying _fizz_ forcefully or suddenly does sound like a word that could be used in that way.


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## elroy

Josh_ said:


> I imagine in Palestinian it would be _hi2fez_, if I am understanding the formation of imperatives with initial qaafs correctly.


 This is purely theoretical as we really do not use this verb at all, so it's hard for me to imagine what the imperative would be if we did. It would depend on the present-tense form. If "he jumps" were "bi2fez," then the imperative would be "hi2fez," as you said. But it could very well be "bu2foz," in which case the imperative would be "hu2foz."

By the way, adding an initial "h" does not occur with "q" as a first radical but "2." This is nicely shown by the two imperative forms we have for "read": "*iq*ra2" and "*hi2*ra." More examples: "iqne3,"* "iqtre7" ["q"]; ""hu2Tof," "hi2la3," "hu2tol" (MSA "q"; colloquial "2"); "hu2mor," "hi2zi ["2"].

*"hi2ne3" is also possible - cf. "read."


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## Abu Bishr

Hi all

All of the above, then, disproves my initial hypothesis. It also shows that a glottal stop derived from the qaaf does not necessarily behave like a pure glottal stop. This could because that the qaaf while pronounced as a glottal stop is still a qaaf, and since you don't just drop the qaaf you wouldn't just drop the glottal stop derived from it, while the opposite is true from the pure glotal stop. Also, the aforementioned shows that by introducing a [h] in place of an actual hamzah al-waSl for the imperative seems to be a way of preventing the meeting or juxtaposition of two hamzah sounds.

Anyway, I've been giving the issue some more thought, and I came across the following in the famous Taj al-Aruus that الفزَّة الوثبة بالانزعاج . Also, Ibn Faaris explains in his Mu'jam Maqaayiis al-Lughah that the stem of ف ز ز as going back to the meaning of الخفَّة (lightness). This combined with the meaning of الفزع (being frightened), and it often being used in the context of a deer (classically, that is) seems to suggest to me that it might be a reaction to being frightened, and in deer or other light moving animals it often involves a little jump away from the source of danger. This also agrees with the meaning of فزّ as عدله عن مكانه . It is known that heavy objects or animals do not move as fast as lighter objects or animals. Ibn Faaris also mentions that الفزّ is a baby cow (calf) and it is called such because of its lightness. The quick jump away from danger in the case of a deer for example seems to tie in with what al-Zabeedi mentions in the Taj al-Aruus الفزة الوثبة بالانزعاج and translated by Lane as [a leap with disquietude (or fright)]. This also ties in with some Khalijis explaining فزّ as meaning اقفز .

Here I also tend to agree with Josh that فزّ seems to e one of those onomatopoeic words whose sound mirrors its meaning, like هزّ (to shake, rattle), فرّ , كرّ the last two being used by Imru'ul-Qays' famous description of a horse where he says: مكرّ مفرّ مقبل مدبر معا * كجلمود صخر حطّه السيل من علِ .

This then is where my hypthesis is at a moment, and I've tried to make it as unified as possible so as to explain and unify most of the facts. At the end it's just a hypothesis with the hope that it will shed more light on what I think is an interesting discussion.


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## djara

Abu Bishr, thank you for this scholarly work. I was somewhat dubious about theقفز etymology as the qaf is never pronounced as a glottal stop or elided in Tunisia where we use فز all the same.


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## Abu Bishr

Yes, that was sort of my first hunch, but it soon became apparent that I was barking up the wrong tree after a good and healthy exchange of ideas. I had to know, though, how the imperative of قفز (even hypothetically) is formed so as to straighten out things in my own mind. My familiarity is more with classical Arabic than with the current Arabic dialects. I'm now convinced that the فزّ under discussion is not derived from قفز . This, however, does not rule out a distant connection between the two (based on some either/orالاشتقاق الأكبر or الاشتقاق الكبير relation) , but not one of etymology.


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## OudTabla

djara said:


> In Tunisian Arabic, the imperative "stand up" is expressed in a wide variety of forms, depending on the region:
> قوم (quum)
> ثور (thuur)
> فِزْ (fizz)
> نوض (nuuD)
> آقف (aaqif)
> And I'm not sure I have them all. I'd be interested in knowing how this is expressed in other Arab countries. Thank you.



Baghdadis have a tradition of changing the ق (qaf) into a گ (gaf), *but not all qafs become a gaf and you really have to just memorize which words carry the change.*  In this case, قوم (qoum) does become گوم (goum).  I use it with my children everyday.

The word اقف is also used, but again with the gaf change to اگف owgaf.  In Baghdad it is used as both "stand up," and "stop."


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## Hemza

To my knowledge, in Morocco:

نوض (nuuD)
قوم (quum, 2uum: urban/guum: rural and bedouin)
قيم (geyyim)
اوقف (uwqaf/uw2af in urban/owgaf in bedouin).
فز (but this sounds a bit aggressive).

 I've never understood why some also use تقعد (tga33ad) to say "stand up", how a verb supposed to mean "to stop" can be used to say "stand up"? But this is not the only illogical thing occuring in Morocco .


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## maddu

elroy said:


> In Palestinian Arabic, we use the following:
> 
> وقف (_wa22ef_) - "stand up"
> قوم (_uum_) - "get up" (more general)



I thought only Egyptians changed qaaf into hamzah!


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## Mahaodeh

maddu said:


> I thought only Egyptians changed qaaf into hamzah!



No, it's also used in urban dialects throughout the Levant (Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon).


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## maddu

Oh, I didn't know that.


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