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round native windows. Shorbah (properly shorbat), a drink (Eng. "sherbet"), is another derivative from this root.[1]
The past participle of a verb is also regularly formed, and can be used like an adjective.
| Thus, from | katab,he wrote, | maktūb, written. |
| ,, | shagal, he worked, 'mashghūl, busy. | |
| ,, | fataḥ, he opened, | maftūḥ, opened. |
| ,, | fehem, he understood, | mafhūm, understood. |
The intransitive verb is made transitive by doubling the medial letter; thus, shaghal, he worked; shaghghal, he made to work.
The impersonal form is constantly used as it is in French, and is formed by prefixing the sound of yit. Yítfáteh, it is opened (compare Il s'ouvre in French); yitghísil, it is washed.
Auxiliary Verbs.
One is not troubled in Egyptian with many moods and tenses. One tense—the present—serves also for the future; the past tense is uniformly constructed from the root, and the auxiliary verbs to have and to be are represented by one form of auxiliary, which is here given and is typical of the inflections of all verbs:—
| PRESENT OR FUTURE | |||
| ana akūn, | I will be or become (German werde) | eḥna nekūn, | we, &c. |
| inta, tekūn, | thou, &c. | intum tekūnu, | you, &c. |
| huwa yekūn, | he, &c. | humma yekunu, | they, &c |
| PAST. | |||
| ana kunt, | I was or became. | ehna kunna, | we, &c. |
| inta kunt, | intum kuntu, | ||
| huwa kān, | humma kānu. | ||
- ↑ It is interesting to note the number of Arabic words that have been Imported into the English language, besides the above and the well-known forms generally beginning with al or el', alchemy, almanac, alembic, elixir, algebra—the last from an Arab mathematician with the appellation of Al Gebbār, the giant. Thus, many less distinctive words are found, such as admiral, arsenal, to drab, to booze, ghoul, zany, popinjay, bug (not indigenous to England). The introduction of these into our language is probably due to the Crusaders. The soldiers of later days are responsible for a great many Hindustani words in current use in our colloquial language, such as to crab (military term from Arabic root kharab), club, punch, bobbery, So long! and numerous others.
