A distinctive feature of Levantine Arabic is the use of the pseudo-verb بِــدّ (bidd-) suffixed by an attached pronoun to express the meaning of ‘to want (to).’ A pseudo-verb is a word that functions like a verb in meaning but is not grammatically a verb.
Think of the pseudo-verb بِــدّ (bidd) as a noun meaning ‘desire,’ e.g., بِــدِّيْ (biddi) means ‘my desire (is)’ or ‘I want (to).’
Table of Contents
- Expressing Desire in the Present Tense
- Use of the Subjunctive Mood
- Expressing Desire in the Past Tense
- Other Expressed Meanings of بِــدّ (bidd-)
- Level III – Intermediate I (B1)
Expressing Desire in the Present Tense
The pseudo-verb بِــدّ (bidd-) is inflected as follows:
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st person (m/f) | أَنَــا بِــدِّيْ ’ana biddi I want (to) | إِحْــنَــا بِــدْنَــا † ’iḥna bidna We want (to) |
| 2nd person masculine | إِنْــتَ بِــدَّك ’inta biddak You want (to) | إِنْــتُــوْ بِــدْكُــم † ’intu bidkum You (all) want (to) |
| 2nd person feminine | إِنْــتِ بِــدِّك ’inti biddik You want (to) | إِنْـتِـنْ بِــدْكِــن † ’intin bidkin You (all) want (to) |
| 3rd person masculine | هُــوِّ بِــدُّه huwwe bidduh He wants (to) | هُــمِّ بِــدْهُــم † humme bid hum They want (to) |
| 3rd person feminine | هِــيِّ بِــدْهَــا † hiyye bid ha She wants (to) | هِــنِّ بِــدْهِــن † hinni bid hin They want (to) |
† The second د (d) in بِــدّ (bidd) is dropped to avoid a consonant cluster.
Here are some examples:
| .بِــدِّيْ صَـحْــن حُــمُّــص biddi ṣāḥ(i)n ḥummuṣ I want a hummus plate. | .بِـــدْنَـــا عَــصِــيْــر bidna ‘aṣīr We want juice. |
| .أَحْــمَــد بِـــدُّه اِلْــمِــفْــتَــاح ’aḥmad bidduh -l-miftāḥ Ahmad wants the key. | .اِلْاَوْلَاد بِـــدْهُـــم اِلْأَكْــل il-awlād bid hum il-’ak(i)l The boys want the food. |
Use of the Subjunctive Mood
The pseudo-verb بِــدّ (bidd), suffixed by an attached pronoun, can be followed by a noun or verb in the present tense. The following present verb must be in the subjunctive mood, which is conjugated slightly differently from the indicative mood discussed in Lesson 1 of this level.
To conjugate a verb in the present subjunctive, the appropriate prefix and suffix are added to the stem ــفْـعـلـ (-f‘xl-).
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st person (m/f) | أَنَـا أَفْــعــل ’ana ’af‘xl I do | إِحْــنَـا نــفْــعــل ’iḥna nxf‘xl We do |
| 2nd person masculine | إِنْــتَ تــفْــعــل ’inta txf‘xl You do | إِنْــتُــوْ تــفْـعـلُــوْ ’intu txf‘xlu You (all) do |
| 2nd person feminine | إِنْــتِ تــفْــعــلِــيْ ’inti txf‘xli You do | إنْــتِــنْ تــفْــعــلِـــن ’intin txf‘xlin You (all) do |
| 3rd person masculine | هُـــوِّ يــفْــعــل huwwe yxf‘xl He does | هُـــمِّ يــفْــعــلُــوْ humme yxf‘xlu They do |
| 3rd person feminine | هِـــيِّ تــفْــعــل hiyye txf‘xl She does | هِـــنِّ يــفْــعــلِـــن hinni yxf‘xlin They do |
Here are some examples:
| .بِــدِّيْ أَنَـــام biddi ’anām I want to sleep. | .بِــدْنَــا نْــسَــافِــر biddna nsāfir We want to travel. |
| .بِــدُّه يُـدْرُس bidduh yudrus He wants to study. | .بِــدْهُــم يِــلْــعَــبُــوْ bid hum yil‘abu They want to play. |
Note that the detached pronoun is not needed before the present verb in the subjunctive mood since the subject is indicated by the attached pronoun suffix of the pseudo-verb بِــدّ (bidd).
There are only a few cases in which the subjunctive mood is used in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic, most notably after some conjunctions and modal verbs.
Other conjunctions that require the use of the subjunctive include:
| عَــشَــان ‘ashān so that | قَــبْــل مَــا qabil mā before (that) | بَــعْــد مَــا ba‘id mā after (that) |
| كُــلّ مَــا kull mā every time (that) | عَــلَــى بِــيــن مَــا ‘ala beyn mā until (that) | قَـــدّ مَــا qadd mā as much as |
More on conjunctions will be discussed in Level IV, Lesson 6.
Examples of modal verbs that require the subjunctive include:
| مُــمْــكِــن mumkin perhaps | لَازِم lāzim must/should | ضَــرُوْرِيْ ḍarūri it is necessary (that) |
More on the use of modal verbs in Palestinian-Jordanian Arabic will be discussed in Level V, Lesson 7.
Expressing Desire in the Past Tense
Note that بِــدّ (bidd-) normally expresses desire in the present tense. To express the meaning of desire in the past tense, we add the verb كَــان (kān) ‘he was’ before the pseudo-verb.
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st person (m/f) | أَنَــا كَــان بِــدِّيْ ’ana kān biddi I wanted (to) | إِحْــنَــا كَــان بِــدْنَــا ’iḥna kān bidna We wanted (to) |
| 2nd person masculine | إِنْــتَ كَــان بِــدَّك ’inta kān biddak You wanted (to) | إِنْــتُــوْ كَــان بِــدْكُــم ’intu kān bidkum You (all) wanted (to) |
| 2nd person feminine | إِنْــتِ كَــان بِــدِّك ’inti kān biddik You wanted (to) | إِنْـتِـنْ كَــان بِــدْكِــن ’intin kān biddkin You (all) wanted (to) |
| 3rd person masculine | هُــوِّ كَــان بِــدُّه huwwe kān bidduh He wanted (to) | هُــمِّ كَــان بِــدْهُــم humme kān bid-hum They wanted (to) |
| 3rd person feminine | هِــيِّ كَــان بِــدْهَــا hiyye kān bid-ha She wanted (to) | هِــنِّ كَــان بِــدْهِــن hinni kān bid-hin They wanted (to) |
Note that in the above table, the verb كَــان (kān) remains invariable. Some speakers conjugate the verb كَــان (kān) according to the gender and number of the subject as follows:
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st person (m/f) | أَنَـا كُــنْــت ’ana kunt I was | إِحْــنَـا كُــنَّــا ’iḥna kunna We were |
| 2nd person masculine | إِنْــتَ كُــنْــت ’inta kunt You were | إِنْــتُــوْ كُــنْــتُــوْ ’intu kuntu You (all) were |
| 2nd person feminine | إِنْــتِ كُــنْــتِ ’inti kunti You were | إنْــتِــنْ كُــنْــتِــن ’intin kuntin You (all) were |
| 3rd person masculine | هُـــوِّ كَــان huwwe kān He was | هُـــمِّ كَــانُــوْ humme kānu They were |
| 3rd person feminine | هِـــيِّ كَــانَــت hiyye kānat She was | هِـــنِّ كَــانِـــن/كُــنِــن hinni kānin/kunin They were |
Similar irregular verbs like كَــان (kān) will be covered in more detail in Level VI, Lesson 2.
Other Expressed Meanings of بِــدّ (bidd-)
There are two other uses of the pseudo-verb بِــدّ (bidd):
Expressing Future Action
One way to express future actions is using the pseudo-verb بِــدّ (bidd) suffixed by an attached pronoun. For example:
| .بِــدِّيْ أَدْرُس بَــعْــد شْــوَيّ biddi ’adrus ba‘d (i) shwayy I want to study in a while. = I will study in a while. | .بِــدْهَــا تِــقْــرَا الِــكْــتَــاب بُــكْــرَة bid-ha tiqra li-ktāb bukrah She wants toread the book tomorrow. = She will read the book tomorrow. |
It is common to use بِــدّ (bidd) to express future actions in daily life, especially when referring to the near future.
More on the future tense will be covered in Level IV, Lesson 1.
Expressing Need or Requirement
The pseudo-verb بِــدّ (bidd-) is used to describe an object having a requirement or being in need of a certain action. For example:
| .اِلــتِّــلِــفُــون بِـــدُّه شَــحْــن it-tilifown bidduh shaḥ(i)n The phone needs charging. | .اِلــسَّــيَّــارَة بِــدْهَا بَــنْــزِيْــن is-sayyārah bid-ha banzīn The car needs gas. |
| .اِلْــبِــيــت بِـــدُّه تَــنْــظِــيْــف il-beyt bidduh tanẓīf The house needs cleaning. | .اِلْأَوَاعِــيْ بِــدْهُــم غَــسِــيْــل il-’awā‘i bid-hum ghasīl The clothes need washing. |
Next: Expressing Possession – “To Have”
Other lessons in Level III:
Level III – Intermediate I (B1)
2. Expressing Desire – “To Want”