169. Hollow Roots in general. By this point, we have reviewed virtually all the essential features of Arabic grammar; most of what the student now requires for further progress can be gained from prolonged and repeated “exposure” to real Arabic, with occasional reference, on specific problems of language, to any of the accepted grammatical manuals (see Postscript). However, we still need to examine in a minimum of detail the phonetic, and sometimes scriptorial, changes undergone by roots with w or y in second or third place, when such roots are fitted into the various patterns so far encountered in the Standard Verb. Roots with middle w or y are called Hollow; those with final w or y we shall call Weak. The vital key to understanding virtually all the changes involved is a sound grasp of a principle we have already stated more than once since para. 49 (a): Arabic cannot tolerate a syllable that is both long and closed (nor, incidentally, one that is short but closed twice).

170. Hollow Roots: Māḍī I. In the māḍī of Form I we have to distinguish two broad categories of Hollow Verb (with a third minor category): those with w and those with y. Both categories, in those situations where the third consonant is vowelled (3 m.s., 3 f.s., 3 m.p. etc.), have a central long ā vowel: thus, qāla, “to say” (from QWL) or “to take a nap” (from QYL); kānat, “she was” (from KWN); sārū, “they went” (from SYR); qālā, “they (two) said”, “they (two) took a nap”; and so on.