Copulae

the Stative Copula

In Arabic, a null copula is used to define the state of a subject; this is the stative copula. Since the stative copula is not an overt verb, these sentences are usually referred to as nominal sentences, in contrast to verbal sentences. Because the null copula doesn't convey information about the grammatical person of the subject, an overt subject is required.

However, because a stative copula may be modified by auxiliaries, copulae may actually be present in what appear to be verbal sentences. It is therefore better to distinguish all sentences with copulae as copular sentences; so-called nominal sentences are simply copular sentences that happen to be unmodified.

As in the foregoing sentence, the stative copula may be modified by an aspectual verb to indicate the stability of a state over time. While the unmarked كان (kān) indicates a static state, terms like صار (ṣār) & بطّل (baṭṭal) indicate the beginning & end of a state, respectively; other aspectual verbs exist as well. As usual, verbal auxiliaries agree with the subject.

Negation always acts upon the first overt word in a verbal phrase, whether it be a verbal auxiliary or a verbal complement (see the Existential Copula) — skipping over the null copula if possible. If the verbal phrase only contains a null copula, the negative particle مش (miš) is produced.

the Existential Copula

An existential copula that indicates the existence of something may be formed by following a null copula with a copular complement, namely a preposition with a definite, cliticized referent.

In Palestinian Arabic, the default copular complement is the expletive فيه (fīh), a frozen particle that is never inflected. Etymologically meaning "in-it", its function is similar to "there" in the English "there is".

While the use of the expletive is not too dissimilar from English, a handful of true prepositions may act as copular complements as well, providing an existential meaning without the need for an expletive.

If the same prepositional phrase were to appear after the noun, however, it would not be a copular complement; the expletive would be necessary to create the existential meaning.

As mentioned above, a copular complement must have a cliticized referent; it cannot be a standalone noun.

When a copular complement other than the expletive is used, the topic may be definite. This, however, rules out purely existential interpretations in favor of possessive ones.

In theory, there is no limit to the amount of copular complements in an existential copula, although in most cases having multiple referents would be nonsensical. However, the expletive فيه (fīh) — being unspecific about its referent — may always be used in conjunction with other copular complements. While it does not add any meaning, it underlines the indefiniteness of the topic; indeed, it may only be used if the topic is indefinite.

Because an existential copula is fundamentally an impersonal verb that has no subject but rather a referent that is necessarily undefined, verbal auxiliaries that modify it are never inflected.

Aside from فيه (fīh), the remaining copular complements convey more or less possessive meanings by situating the existence of something at the possessor's location.

Additional idiomatic verbs may be built from these copular complements.

Sometimes, the existential copula may be preceded by what appears to be a subject: the semantic possessor. However, the subject is actually undefined; the preceding noun is a topic. We see this, firstly, in that this false subject may never succeed the verb — contrary to the norm in an SVO language like Arabic.

Secondly, in that verbal auxiliaries are never inflected according to this false subject.

When true prepositions act as copular complements — especially without the expletive — they function very similarly to true pseudo-verbs. Because copular complements must have a definite referent in the form of a clitic, they appear as though always conjugated. Negation may act upon them. Moreover, their possessive meanings make them semantically like transitive verbs. Although these copular complements are categorized in the Dictionary as pseudo-verbs for the sake of practicality, they are a distinct category of terms.

Negation always acts upon the first — & only the first — overt word in a verbal phrase, whether it be a verbal auxiliary or a verbal complement. When the particle فيه (fīh) is negated, it undergoes a sound change that shortens its phonemically long final vowel. Likewise, إله (ʔilo) loses its initial glottal stop.

pseudo-verbs

Alongside etymological verbs, a few other terms in Palestinian Arabic have been grammaticalized as verbs. What these pseudo-verbs have in common is that — unlike etymological verbs — they are conjugated using clitic pronouns rather than by way of inflectional morphology.

It should be noted that verbal prepositions are categorized here as pseudo-verbs. However, at heart they are prepositions used to form possessive copulae, which are only reanalyzed as pseudo-verbs when all other elements of the underlying structure are null; they are therefore subject to major restrictions as pseudo-verbs, including the fact that they cannot be directly modified by auxiliaries.

In general, the grammaticalization of pseudo-verbs is visible in that they may be modified by auxiliaries that agree with the semantic agent rather than with the pseudo-verb itself.

Having said that, the fact that auxiliaries may be used uninflected is a testament to the origin of pseudo-verbs & evidence of their incomplete grammaticalization.

Similarly, verbal prepositions must be modified by an uninflected auxiliary due to the underlying syntax of the possessive copula; here, they are not pseudo-verbs.

With the single exception of شكله (šiklo), all pseudo-verbs may be directly negated. However, verbal prepositions in the possessive copula are not; instead, negation attaches to the head of the highest verbal phrase.

With regard to بدّه (biddo), it is a transitive verb that requires an object. Note that the interference of the clitic pronoun always forces the direct object onto the ايّا (yyā-) affix.

With regard to شكله (šiklo "to seem"), it is a raising verb that raises a constituent to the subject position; if clause-initial, it may refer to a null subject as well.

In the case of the null-subject construction, the tense of the predicate is flexible. However, the tense of شكله (šiklo) itself applies to the entire subordinate clause, so the double-marking of tense would be perceived as either redundant or semantically confusing.

auxiliaries

In Arabic, many intransitive verbs have causative counterparts. However, the causative auxiliary خلّى (xalla) may be used analytically in cases where causative forms don't exist.