Palestinian-Jordanian Levantine Arabic 6.7. Nouns of Instrument, Intensity, & Repetition

In this lesson, we will discuss different patterns to form nouns of instrument and nouns of intensity or repetition in Palestinian-Jordanian Levantine Arabic.

Table of Contents

• Nouns of Instrument
• Nouns of Intensity or Repetition
• Level VI – Advanced II (C2)

Nouns of Instrument

Nouns of instrument are special derived nouns that describe an instrument, machine, or tool used to perform a specific action. Most nouns of instrument follow one of these three patterns:

Here are some examples:

^† The MSA word مِـصْـعَـد (miṣ‘ad) is not the common choice in daily speech. Instead, people often use أَصَـــنْــصِــيـــر (’aṣanṣeyr), borrowed from the French ‘ascenseur.’

^* If the final root radical is weak—و (w) or ي (y)—Form II becomes مِــفْــعَــى (mif‘a).

Nouns of Intensity or Repetition

Nouns of intensity or repetition follow the pattern فَـــعَّــال (fa‘‘āl) for masculine nouns and فَـــعَّــالِـــة (fa‘‘āleh) for feminine nouns.

For example, the word for ‘liar’ in MSA is كَـــاذِب (kādhib), which follows the pattern فَــاعِــل (fā‘il). However, to describe someone who lies frequently, we use the word كَـــذَّاب (kadhdhāb), which follows the pattern فَـــعَّــال (fa‘‘āl) to indicate intensity and repetition of the action. In Levantine Arabic, كَـــاذِب (kādhib) is almost never used; instead, كَــذَّاب (kadhdhāb) is the common form.

Most derived nouns that emphasize intensity or repetition refer to either a profession or instrument.

Here are examples of nouns of intensity or repetition used as names of tools and instruments:

^† If the middle root radical is weak—و (w) or ي (y), the pattern فَـــعَّــال (fa‘‘āl) becomes فَـــوَّال (fawwāl) if the middle radical is و (w), or فَـــيَّــال (fayyāl) if the middle radical is ي (y).

^* If the final root radical is weak—و (w) or ي (y), the patterns فَـــعَّــال (fa‘‘āl) and فَـــعَّــالِــة (fa‘‘āleh) become فَـــعَّــاي (fa‘‘āy) and فَـــعَّــايِــة (fa‘‘āyeh), respectively.

As for workers in professions that use this pattern, here are some examples:

The feminine form of the above nouns is obtained by adding a ة (tā’ marbūṭah) ‘tied-t’ to the end of the word.

In many cases, the name of the profession itself often follows the pattern فْـــعَـــالِـــة (f‘āleh) or فِـــعَـــالِـــة (fi‘āleh). For example:

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Other lessons in Level VI: