4 letter roots in Arabic
As we’ve seen before, most verbs in Arabic have three-letter roots, but there are also some with four letters. Sometimes all four are different, and sometimes they are reduplicated.
In terms of derived forms, these roots have Forms 1–4, with Forms 1 and 2 being the most common.
Let’s go over each one and look at some examples of verbs.
Form 1
The pattern is: فَعْلَلَ – يُفَعْلِلُ …
…as you can see, some of the roots are duplicated. Let’s now take a look at the other patterns.
Verbal noun: فَعْلَلَة or فِعْلِلَة. It can also appear as: فَعْلال or فُعْلال or فِعْلال
Active participle: مُفَعْلِل
Passive participle: مُفَعْلَل
Here are some examples:
Form 2
The pattern is تَفَعْلَلَ – يَتَفَعْلَلُ, and its meaning is often reflexive, resultative, or passive of Form 1. Here are some examples:
Verbal noun: تَفَعْلُل
Active participle: مُتَفَعْلِل
Passive participle: مُتَفَعْلَل — this form is rare.
Form 3
This form is extremely rare in MSA.
Form 4
This form corresponds in meaning to Form 9 of triliteral verbs and follows the pattern: اِفْعَلَلَّ – يَفْعَلِلُّ. Here are some examples:
Verbal noun: اِفْعِلاّل
Active participle: مُفْعَلِلّ
The passive participle is rarely used in this form.
