# All dialects: Transitive verbs with understood objects



## elroy

In Palestinian Arabic, there are a number of everyday verbs that are transitive but are used without explicit objects because the objects are understood:

بَحْضَر = I'm watching TV.
بَغَسِّل = I'm washing my hands.
بَغْسِل = I'm washing clothes (doing laundry).
بَجْلي = I'm washing the dishes.

In discussing this with a Saudi and an Iraqi, they both said that their dialects don't do this with these particular verbs (or their equivalents). 

Does your dialect do this, with these verbs (or their equivalents) or any others?


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## tounsi51

mmmm not many examples in TA but one came in my mind

صّيق = to mop the floor


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## Hemza

Same in Morocco. Never thought it exists elsewhere .

@elroy  As for غسل, we would use this verb in the three cases you gave but we add what we're "ghasal-ing".


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## Aloulu

"i am watching tv" as in present continuous would be in Tunisian " قاعد نتفرج عل تلفزة" 

The verb "قاعد" is used in our dialect in front of a verb to say "i am watching" instead of "i watch tv" نتفرج عل تلفزة


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## elroy

What does صيّق literally mean?  “Mop”?  If so, I don’t think that counts, because realistically what else would you mop?  In English, too, you can just say “I’m mopping.”

That does remind me, though, that in Palestinian Arabic we say بَمْسَح, literally “I’m wiping,” but if it’s used without an object it’s understood to mean “I’m mopping (the floor(s)).

We also say بَقُش for “I’m squeejeeing the floor(s).”


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## tounsi51

elroy said:


> What does صيّق literally mean?  “Mop”?  If so, I don’t think that counts, because realistically what else would you mop?  In English, too, you can just say “I’m mopping.”



Without object people understood that we صيّق the floor. We understand it's the house/floor/balcony etc and that there is a use of water.

In English "to mop" is a transitive verb so only "I am mopping" is grammatically not correct


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## elroy

tounsi51 said:


> Without object people understood that we صيّق the floor. We understand it's the house/floor/balcony etc and that there is a use of water.


 You didn't answer my question.  What does صيّق literally mean?


> "I am mopping" is grammatically not correct


 Wrong.  It is grammatically correct.


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## tounsi51

I found many sources mentioning the verb as transitive verb, hence my reply.

صيّق as mentioned above is to mop the floor, the house, the balcony, etc with a mop, use water, remove the water with a squeegee like this one Cdiscount.com


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## elroy

tounsi51 said:


> I found many sources mentioning the verb as transitive verb


 It's a transitive verb, but it can be used without an object.  That's the whole point of this thread.  Another example is "drink"; it's transitive, but you can say "he drinks" meaning "he drinks alcohol" (بشرب is used the same way in Palestinian Arabic). 


tounsi51 said:


> صيّق as mentioned above is to mop the floor, the house, the balcony, etc with a mop, use water, remove the water with a squeegee like this one Cdiscount.com


 Is it a transitive verb used without an object, or simply a single word with the meaning "squeegee and mop a surface"?  Can you say صيّق الأرض (or whatever word you use for "floor")?


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## tounsi51

Yes I know, we also say بشرب to mean a person drinks alcohol

it's a single verb with the meaning "squeegee and mop a surface"


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## Hemza

elroy said:


> Is it a transitive verb used without an object, or simply a single word with the meaning "squeegee and mop a surface"?  Can you say صيّق الأرض (or whatever word you use for "floor")?



You can say نصيّق الارض but usually, people merely say نصيّق and it is implicitly embedded in the sentence that it is the ground which is being moped.


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## barkoosh

This happens a lot in Arabic. elroy's examples work in Lebanese too:
حاجي تسألني! مش شايفني عم بحضر؟
عم غسّل (إيديّي أو الغسيل)
عم بجلي

The object is dropped sometimes when it's very obvious, when your main focus is on the verb, or when you want to generalize. For example:
كول واشرب وانبسط
الله بيعطي وبياخد
"بيّي علاّ، بيّي عمّر، حارب وانتصر بعنجر" ("بيّي راح مع العسكر" لفيروز)‏
شي بيضحّك
شي بيبكّي
شي بيخوّف
ما بصدّق إلا لشوف
فلان بيحلّ وبيربط
التدخين بيضرّ
عم بسقي/ عم نضّف/ عم باكل/ عم دخّن/ عم سوق


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## elroy

Thanks, barkoosh!

I was actually thinking of established meanings that are clear even without surrounding context.

Let's say someone asks you, "What is the first thing you do when you get home?" so it could be pretty much anything.  In Palestinian, if you say بَحضَر, that means "I watch TV" even though nothing about the context makes that clear.  If you say بَمسَح, it means "I mop," etc.

I did realize after starting this thread that بَغَسِّل doesn't have to be "I wash my hands"; it can also be "I wash up" (generally), but the predominant meaning is "I wash my hands."  But بَغْسِل is always "I wash clothes / do laundry."  We don't use بَغَسِّل for laundry.


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## be.010

It's similar in Syrian as well (apart from بحضر, which is not common for TV). I can add نشر، كوي، شطف، مسح، طبخ... But seems like it greatly depends on the context of being everyday verbs.
Many other examples are there but they're hard to spot unless someone is translating.


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## Ectab

In Iraqi dialect, we can use only the second verb "to wash hands" with no need to object,
what about: يقرأ to read (to study)
يحضر to prepare (to do\prepare homework)
يسمع (this is rare) to listen (to music)


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## Hemza

Ectab said:


> In Iraqi dialect, we can use only the second verb "to wash hands" with no need to object,
> what about: يقرأ to read (to study)



Same in the Maghreb (yigra/el graaya= to study/studies).


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## Mahaodeh

elroy said:


> In discussing this with a Saudi and an Iraqi, they both said that their dialects don't do this with these particular verbs



This is surprising to me. In Iraqi Arabic they definitely do use أغسّل without an object, although this usually means washing hands or face in particular. Also, when they say اغسل they don't use an object and mean washing oneself (as having a bath or a shower). They don't use احضر or اجلي at all.

Other than that, using a transitive verb without the object occurs quite a lot, example:
 دا اقرا = I'm reading [a book] / I'm studying
دا اطبخ = I'm cooking [a meal]
دا امسح = I'm mopping the floor
دا انظّف = I'm cleaning the house
دا اسوق = I'm driving [a vehicle]
دا اكل = I'm eating [food]
دا اشرب = I'm drinking alcohol. This one refers to alcohol in particular, if you don't mean alcohol you need specify what you are drinking

This is from the top of my head.


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