# to have (imperative)



## Serafín33

What is(are) some way(s) to translate "to have" in the imperative? I mean, in the sense of ordering the listener to have something.

As in:
"Always have a dictionary with you."
or:
"Have a beautiful garden. Buy X fertilizer for your plants."

Looking at past threads, I found this one that suggests some translations of "to have" in the imperative in some contexts... But not in this context, as those there sound more like "I wish you a nice time", "I wish you lots of fun".


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## Egyptlover

Well, I think the translation may depend on the context. Here for example I'd suggest different words for the given examples:


> "Always have a dictionary with you."


I'd say: "ليكن معك/بحوزتك دائما قاموس"


> "Have a beautiful garden. Buy X fertilizer for your plants."


I'd say: "اتَّخِذ حديقةً جميلة. اشترِ سماد (..) لنباتاتك"
I'll also use "اتَّخِذ" if I want to say for example: "Have Ayman as a friend. He is a good person." and I'd translate it like: "اتَّخِذ أيمن صديقاً؛ إنه شخص صالح".

Hope this helps


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## elroy

Egyptlover said:


> "ليكن معك/بحوزتك دائما قاموس"


 I think I would say تأكد من أن يكون معك دائمًا قاموس.  Even in English you could say "Make sure to always have a dictionary with you."
"





> اتَّخِذ حديقةً جميلة. اشترِ سماد (..) لنباتاتك"


 I don't like اتَّخِذ in this context.  What do you think of تمتع بحديقة جميلة?


> I'll also use "اتَّخِذ" if I want to say for example: "Have Ayman as a friend. He is a good person." and I'd translate it like: "اتَّخِذ أيمن صديقاً؛ إنه شخص صالح".


 I like your Arabic sentence, but "Have Ayman as a friend" is not natural in English.  I would say "Make friends with Ayman."


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## nn.om

The second is commercial. We can be creative with it (maybe ازرع جنتك? =p) Anyway, I think we can say امتلك حديقةً جميلةً واشترِ كذا.


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## Egyptlover

Thanks for all the corrections and clarification 

So, if I want to say: "ليكن إيمانك بالله قوياً" or "ليكن لديك إيمان قوي بالله", is it all right to say: "Have a strong faith in God"?


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## elroy

Egyptlover said:


> So, if I want to say: "ليكن إيمانك بالله قوياً" or "ليكن لديك إيمان قوي بالله", is it all right to say: "Have a strong faith in God"?


 I would say "Let your faith in God be strong."


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## kifaru

I haven't encountered "ليكن " before. What is it?


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## Ghabi

kifaru said:


> I haven't encountered "ليكن " before. What is it?


It means "let ... be".


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## kifaru

Is it a verb or a particle?


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## AndyRoo

It's the jussive of كان with the prefix ل .
The vowels are:لِيَكُنْ liyakun and it means "may he be".

Going back to the original question: For "Have a beautiful garden", I think you could also say: احصل على حديقة جميلة


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## linguist786

kifaru said:


> I haven't encountered "ليكن " before. What is it?


 (As Andyroo explained). When it has the particle فـ before it, the laam becomes majzuum. i.e. فـَلـْيـَكـُنْ _(falyakun)_ - you may have seen this before. It comes many times in the Qur'aan.


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## Egyptlover

elroy said:


> I would say "Let your faith in God be strong."



Thanks, Elroy.


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## kifaru

linguist786 said:


> (As Andyroo explained). When it has the particle فـ before it, the laam becomes majzuum. i.e. فـَلـْيـَكـُنْ _(falyakun)_ - you may have seen this before. It comes many times in the Qur'aan.


You're right!!!


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## cherine

Hi,


elroy said:


> I think I would say تأكد من أن يكون معك دائمًا قاموس. Even in English you could say "Make sure to always have a dictionary with you."


I'd say تأكَّد دائمًا من أن معك قاموس or تأكّد دائمًا من أن قاموسك معك . But I also like Egyptlover's sentence ليكن معك دائمًا قاموس I think it has a natural Arabic sound, and is a correct structure.


linguist786 said:


> When it has the particle فـ before it, the laam becomes majzuum. i.e. فـَلـْيـَكـُنْ _(falyakun)_ - you may have seen this before. It comes many times in the Qur'aan.


Just a few comments:
- Even without the فـ the verb is majzuum.
- I think you made a typo, but just want to confirm that the laam does not become mazjuum, it's a حرف and الحروف مبنية (their i3raab doesn't change), it's the verb that is مجزوم .


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## Serafín33

Thanks a lot for your answers. Now I see that this matter of telling others to have something is not as easy as I thought it was, whether in Arabic or English (or Spanish). Using another verb in the imperative is often a better option.  

(Specially in Arabic where the closest thing to "to have" in the  imperative is something along the lines of "may sth. be with/to you": 
 ليكن لديك {شيء}‏ li-yakun laday-ka/ki {shay'un}...)



cherine said:


> Just a few comments:
> - Even without the فـ the verb is majzuum.
> - I think you made a typo, but just want to confirm that the laam does  not become mazjuum, it's a حرف and الحروف مبنية (their i3raab doesn't  change), it's the verb that is مجزوم .


I have two small questions about this, but I'd rather open a new thread about it:
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?p=9201046#post9201046


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## linguist786

cherine said:
			
		

> Just a few comments:
> - Even without the فـ the verb is majzuum.
> - I think you made a typo, but just want to confirm that the laam does not become mazjuum, it's a حرف and الحروف مبنية (their i3raab doesn't change), it's the verb that is مجزوم .


It wasn't a typo. Sorry I was under the impression that "majzuum" meant having a jazm on a letter (as well as a verb being majzuum, as you said). What do you call the round circle on top of a letter? (Like لـْ). Thanks for the correction.

What I meant was, ليكن is pronounced _liyakun_ (laam having a kasra), but putting a فـ before it would change it to _falyakun_ (فـَلـْيـَكـُنْ), would it not? Or is that wrong?


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## clevermizo

linguist786 said:


> It wasn't a typo. Sorry I was under the impression that "majzuum" meant having a jazm on a letter (as well as a verb being majzuum, as you said). What do you call the round circle on top of a letter? (Like لـْ). Thanks for the correction.



That's called a sukūn.



> What I meant was, ليكن is pronounced _liyakun_ (laam having a kasra), but putting a فـ before it would change it to _falyakun_ (فـَلـْيـَكـُنْ), would it not? Or is that wrong?



This is true, but it is the verb form يَكُنْ itself which is called majzūm, rather than يَكونَ or يَكونُ.


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## Xence

> What do you call the round circle on top of a letter? (Like لـْ)


This vowel marking is called سكون sukuun, as mentioned by clevermizo.



> What I meant was, ليكن is pronounced liyakun (laam having a kasra), but putting a فـ before it would change it to falyakun (فـَلـْيـَكـُنْ), would it not? Or is that wrong?



No, it's not wrong. The imperative _laam_ prefix لام الأمر has normally a kasra, but it's preferable to mark it with a sukuun when it's preceded by و  or فـ , just for euphonic reason.


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## إسكندراني

Let there be with you ~ فَلْتُبْقِي مَعَك / فَليَكُن مَعَك / فَلتَجْعَل مَعَك


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## linguist786

Thanks for the responses. I had a habit of calling it a "jazam". Although I did know about the sukuun, I hardly used that term.


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