Moroccan Arabic textbook 2011

Peace Corps / Morocco • 69
The Imperative
The imperative is used to give commands: Go to the store! Open the window! Study Arabic! The
positive imperative tells someone to do something, the negative imperative tells someone not to do
something.
The positive imperative is formed by dropping both the ka ( ) and the prefix t ( ) from the singular
and plural ―you‖ forms of the present tense. In the following table, all the examples are equal to the
English command, ―Write!‖
Present Tense
you (masc. sing.) kat-ktb ktb
you (fem. sing.) kat-ktbi ktbi
you (plur. sing.) kat-ktbu ktbu
Imperative
The negative imperative is formed by dropping the ka ( ) and using the negative form ma...š ( ).
In the following table, the first verb is gls, ―to sit,‖ and the negative imperatives are equivalent to the
English ―Don‘t sit!‖ The second verb is wqf, ―to stand / stop‖ and the negative imperatives are
equivalent to the English ―Don‘t stand up!‖
Present Tense Imperative Negative Imperative
you (masc. sing.) kat-gls gls ma-t-gls-š
you (fem. sing.) kat-glsi glsi ma-t-glsi-š
you (plur. sing.) kat-glsu glsu ma-t-glsu-š
you (masc. sing.) kat-wqf wqf ma-t-wqf-š
you (fem. sing.) kat-wqfi wqfi ma-t-wqfi-š
you (plur. sing.) kat-wqfu wqfu ma-t-wqfu-š
Some Irregular Imperatives
For the following three verbs, the positive imperative is not regular.
1. to go mša
sir
Go. siri
Don‟t go.
siru
2. to come ja
aji
Come. aji
Don‟t come.
ajiu
3. to give taع / ara
ara
Give me. aray
Don‟t give me.
arau
ma-t-mši-š
ma-t-mši-š
ma-t-mšiu-š
ma-t-ji-š
ma-t-ji-š
ma-t-jiu-š
ma-t-عtịni-š
ma-t-عtịni-š
ma-t-عtịuni-š