Levantine Arabic

Levantine is spoken in the fertile strip on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean: from the Turkish coastal provinces of Adana, Hatay, and Mersin in the north[47] to the Negev, passing through Lebanon, the coastal regions of Syria (Latakia and Tartus governorates) as well as around Aleppo and Damascus,[4] the Hauran in Syria and Jordan,[48][49] the rest of western Jordan,[50] Palestine and Israel.[4] Other Arabic varieties border it: Mesopotamian and North Mesopotamian Arabic to the north and north-east; Najdi Arabic to the east and south-east; and Northwest Arabian Arabic to the south and south-west.[50][51]

The similarity among Levantine dialects transcends geographical location and political boundaries. The urban dialects of the main cities (such as Damascus, Beirut, and Jerusalem) have much more in common with each other than they do with the rural dialects of their respective countries. The sociolects of two different social or religious groups within the same country may also show more dissimilarity with each other than when compared with their counterparts in another country.[1]

The process of linguistic homogenization within each country of the Levant makes a classification of dialects by country possible today.[52][22] Linguist Kees Versteegh classifies Levantine into three groups: Lebanese/Central Syrian (including Beirut, Damascus, Druze Arabic, Cypriot Maronite[lower-alpha 4]), North Syrian (including Aleppo), and Palestinian/Jordanian.[48] He writes that distinctions between these groups are unclear, and isoglosses cannot determine the exact boundary.[55] Mutual intelligibility between these varieties is very high.[4]

The dialect of Aleppo shows Mesopotamian influence.[4] The prestige dialect of Damascus is the most documented Levantine dialect.[24] A "common Syrian Arabic" is emerging.[56] Similarly, a "Standard Lebanese Arabic" is emerging, combining features of Beiruti Arabic (which is not prestigious) and Jabale Arabic, the language of Mount Lebanon.[57][58] In Çukurova, Turkey, the local dialect is endangered.[59][60] Bedouin varieties are spoken in the Negev and the Sinai Peninsula, areas of transition between Levantine and Egyptian.[61][62][63] The dialect of Arish, Egypt, is classified by Linguasphere as Levantine.[17] The Amman dialect is emerging as an urban standard in Jordanian Arabic,[64][65] while other Jordanian and Palestinian Arabic dialects include Fellahi (rural) and Madani (urban).[4][66][67] The Gaza dialect contains features of both urban Palestinian and Bedouin Arabic.[68]

The Levant is characterized by ethnic diversity and religious pluralism.[69] Levantine dialects vary along sectarian lines.[24] Religious groups include Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims, Alawites, Christians, Druze, and Jews.[70][71] Differences between Muslim and Christian dialects are minimal, mainly involving some religious vocabulary.[72] A minority of features are perceived as typically associated with one group. For example, in Beirut, the exponent ‏تاع‎ tēʕ is only used by Muslims and never by Christians who use ‏تبع‎ tabaʕ.[73] Contrary to others, Druze and Alawite dialects retained the phoneme /q/.[24] MSA influences Sunni dialects more. Jewish dialects diverge more from Muslim dialects and often show influences from other towns due to trade networks and contacts with other Jewish communities.[74] For instance, the Jewish dialect of Hatay is very similar to the Aleppo dialect, particularly the dialect of the Jews of Aleppo. It shows traits otherwise not found in any dialect of Hatay.[74][59] Koineization in cities such as Damascus leads to a homogenization of the language among religious groups.[75] In contrast, the marginalization of Christians in Jordan intensifies linguistic differences between Christian Arabs and Muslims.[76]

Levantine is primarily spoken by Arabs. It is also spoken as a first or second language by several ethnic minorities.[3] In particular, it is spoken natively by Samaritans[77] and by most Circassians in Jordan,[78][79] Armenians in Jordan[80] and Israel,[81] Assyrians in Israel,[81] Turkmen in Syria[82] and Lebanon,[83] Kurds in Lebanon,[84][85] and Dom people in Jerusalem.[86][87] Most Christian and Muslim Lebanese people in Israel speak Lebanese Arabic.[88][lower-alpha 5] Syrian Jews,[71] Lebanese Jews,[90] and Turkish Jews from Çukurova are native Levantine speakers; however, most moved to Israel after 1948.[59] Levantine was spoken natively by most Jews in Jerusalem, but the community shifted to Modern Hebrew after the establishment of Israel.[91][92] Levantine is the second language of Dom people across the Levant,[93][4] Circassians in Israel,[4] Armenians in Lebanon,[94] Chechens in Jordan,[79][80] Assyrians in Syria[4] and Lebanon,[95][96] and most Kurds in Syria.[4][97]

In addition to the Levant, where it is indigenous, Levantine is spoken among diaspora communities from the region, especially among the Palestinian,[67] Lebanese, and Syrian diasporas.[98] The language has fallen into disuse among subsequent diaspora generations, such as the 7 million Lebanese Brazilians.[99][4]

Levantine speakers, Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)[lower-alpha 6]

Country	Total population	Levantine speakers[4]
Syria	18 million[100]	15 million
Jordan	10 million[101]	8 million
Lebanon	7 million[102]	7 million
Palestine	5 million[103]	4 million
Turkey	85 million[104]	4 million
Israel	9 million[105]	2 million
Saudi Arabia	36 million[106]	1 million
Qatar	3 million[107]	1 million
Germany	83 million[108]	800,000
Brazil	214 million[109]	700,000
United Arab Emirates	10 million[110]	700,000
United States	333 million[111]	600,000
Kuwait	4 million[112]	400,000
Indonesia	272 million[113]	300,000
Canada	39 million[114]	300,000
Egypt	104 million[115]	200,000
Australia	26 million[116]	200,000
Venezuela	30 million[117]	100,000

Starting in the 1st millennium BCE, Aramaic was the dominant spoken language and the language of writing and administration in the Levant.[118] Greek was the language of administration of the Seleucid Empire (in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE[119]) and was maintained by the Roman (64 BCE–475 CE[120][121]), then Byzantine (476–640[121][120]) empires.[119] From the early 1st millennium BCE until the 6th century CE, there was a continuum of Central Semitic languages in the Arabian Peninsula, and Central Arabia was home to languages quite distinct from Arabic.[122]

Because there are no written sources, the history of Levantine before the modern period is unknown.[123] Old Arabic was a dialect continuum stretching from the southern Levant (where Northern Old Arabic was spoken) to the northern Hijaz, in the Arabian Peninsula, where Old Hijazi was spoken.[124] In the early 1st century CE, a great variety of Arabic dialects were already spoken by various nomadic or semi-nomadic Arabic tribes in the Levant,[125][126][56] such as the Nabataeans[127]—who used Aramaic for official purposes,[128] the Tanukhids,[127] and the Ghassanids.[79] These dialects were local, coming from the Hauran—and not from the Arabian peninsula—[129] and related to later Classical Arabic.[127] Initially restricted to the steppe, Arabic-speaking nomads started to settle in cities and fertile areas after the Plague of Justinian in 542 CE.[129] These Arab communities stretched from the southern extremities of the Syrian Desert to central Syria, the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, and the Beqaa Valley.[130][131]

The Muslim conquest of the Levant (634–640[121][120]) brought Arabic speakers from the Arabian Peninsula who settled in the Levant.[132] Arabic became the language of trade and public life in cities, while Aramaic continued to be spoken at home and in the countryside.[131] Arabic gradually replaced Greek as the language of administration in 700 by order of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik.[133][134] The language shift from Aramaic to vernacular Arabic was a long process over several generations, with an extended period of bilingualism, especially among non-Muslims.[131][135] Christians continued to speak Syriac for about two centuries, and Syriac remained their literary language until the 14th century.[136][134] In its spoken form, Aramaic nearly disappeared, except for a few Aramaic-speaking villages,[134] but it has left substrate influences on Levantine.[135]

Different Peninsular Arabic dialects competed for prestige, including the Hijazi vernacular of the Umayyad elites. In the Levant, these Peninsular dialects mixed with ancient forms of Arabic, such as the northern Old Arabic dialect.[137] By the mid-6th century CE, the Petra papyri show that the onset of the article and its vowel seem to have weakened. The article is sometimes written as /el-/ or simply /l-/. A similar, but not identical, situation is found in the texts from the Islamic period. Unlike the pre-Islamic attestations, the coda of the article in 'conquest Arabic' assimilates to a following coronal consonant.[138] According to Pr. Simon Hopkins, this document shows that there is "a very impressive continuity in colloquial Arabic usage, and the roots of the modern vernaculars are thus seen to lie very deep".[139]

The Damascus Psalm Fragment, dated to the 9th century but possibly earlier, sheds light on the Damascus dialect of that period. Because its Arabic text is written in Greek characters, it reveals the pronunciation of the time;[140] it features many examples of imāla (the fronting and raising of /a/ toward /i/).[141] It also features a pre-grammarian standard of Arabic and the dialect from which it sprung, likely Old Hijazi.[142] Scholars disagree on the dates of phonological changes. The shift of interdental spirants to dental stops dates to the 9th to 10th centuries or earlier.[143] The shift from /q/ to a glottal stop is dated between the 11th and 15th centuries.[144] Imāla seems already important in pre-Islamic times.[141]

Swedish orientalist Carlo Landberg writes about the vulgarisms encountered in Damascene poet Usama ibn Munqidh's Memoirs: "All of them are found in today's spoken language of Syria and it is very interesting to note that that language is, on the whole, not very different from the language of ˀUsāma's days", in the 12th century.[139] Lucas Caballero's Compendio (1709) describes spoken Damascene Arabic in the early 1700s. It corresponds to modern Damascene in some respects, such as the allomorphic variation between -a/-e in the feminine suffix. On the contrary, the insertion and deletion of vowels differ from the modern dialect.[145]

From 1516 to 1918, the Ottoman Empire dominated the Levant. Many Western words entered Arabic through Ottoman Turkish as it was the main language for transmitting Western ideas into the Arab world.[146][147]

The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century reduced the use of Turkish words due to Arabization and the negative perception of the Ottoman era among Arabs.[148] With the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (1920–1946),[149] the British protectorate over Jordan (1921–1946), and the British Mandate for Palestine (1923–1948), French and English words gradually entered Levantine Arabic.[3][150] Similarly, Modern Hebrew has significantly influenced the Palestinian dialect of Arab Israelis since the establishment of Israel in 1948.[151] In the 1960s, Said Akl—inspired by the Maltese and Turkish alphabets—[152] designed a new Latin alphabet for Lebanese and promoted the official use of Lebanese instead of MSA,[153] but this movement was unsuccessful.[154][155]

Although Levantine dialects have remained stable over the past two centuries, in cities such as Amman[65] and Damascus, language standardization occurs through variant reduction and linguistic homogenization among the various religious groups and neighborhoods. Urbanization and the increasing proportion of youth[lower-alpha 7] constitute the causes of dialect change.[75][22] Urban forms are considered more prestigious,[157] and prestige dialects of the capitals are replacing the rural varieties.[48] With the emergence of social media, the amount of written Levantine has also significantly increased online.[158]

Levantine is not recognized in any state or territory.[159][23] MSA is the sole official language in Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria;[23] it has a "special status" in Israel under the Basic Law.[160] French is also recognized in Lebanon.[94] In Turkey, the only official language is Turkish.[59] Any variation from MSA is considered a "dialect" of Arabic.[161] As in the rest of the Arab world, this linguistic situation has been described as diglossia: MSA is nobody's first acquired language;[162] it is learned through formal instruction rather than transmission from parent to child.[162] This diglossia has been compared to the use of Latin as the sole written, official, liturgical, and literary language in Europe during the medieval period, while Romance languages were the spoken languages.[163][164] Levantine and MSA are mutually unintelligible.[165][166] They differ significantly in their phonology, morphology, lexicon and syntax.[2][46][167]

MSA is the language of literature, official documents, and formal written media (newspapers, instruction leaflets, school books).[162] In spoken form, MSA is mostly used when reading from a scripted text (e.g., news bulletins) and for prayer and sermons in the mosque or church.[162] In Israel, Hebrew is the language used in the public sphere, except internally among the Arab communities.[160][168] Levantine is the usual medium of communication in all other domains.[162]

Traditionally in the Arab world, colloquial varieties, such as Levantine, have been regarded as corrupt forms of MSA, less eloquent and not fit for literature, and thus looked upon with disdain.[169][170] Because the French and the British emphasized vernaculars when they colonized the Arab world, dialects were also seen as a tool of colonialism and imperialism.[171][172] Writing in the vernacular has been controversial because pan-Arab nationalists consider that this might divide the Arab people into different nations.[173][159] On the other hand, Classical Arabic is seen as "the language of the Quran" and revered by Muslims who form the majority of the population.[173] It is believed to be pure and everlasting, and Islamic religious ideology considers vernaculars to be inferior.[174][175] Until recently, the use of Levantine in formal settings or written form was often ideologically motivated, for instance in opposition to pan-Arabism.[175] Language attitudes are shifting, and using Levantine became de-ideologized for most speakers by the late 2010s.[175] Levantine is now regarded in a more positive light, and its use in informal modes of writing is acknowledged, thanks to its recent widespread use online in both written and spoken forms.[176][177]

Code-switching between Levantine, MSA, English, French (in Lebanon and among Arab Christians in Syria[56]), and Hebrew (in Israel[178][9]) is frequent among Levantine speakers, in both informal and formal settings (such as on television).[179] Gordon cites two Lebanese examples: "Bonjour, ya habibti, how are you?" ("Hello, my love, how are you?") and "Oui, but leish?" ("Yes, but why?").[180] Code-switching also happens in politics. For instance, not all politicians master MSA in Lebanon, so they rely on Lebanese. Many public and formal speeches and most political talk shows are in Lebanese instead of MSA.[57] In Israel, Arabic and Hebrew are allowed in the Knesset, but Arabic is rarely used.[181] MK Ahmad Tibi often adds Palestinian Arabic sentences to his Hebrew speech but only gives partial speeches in Arabic.[182]

In the Levant, MSA is the only variety authorized for use in schools,[162] although in practice, lessons are often taught in a mix of MSA and Levantine with, for instance, the lesson read out in MSA and explained in Levantine.[56][23] In Lebanon, about 50% of school students study in French.[183] In most Arab universities, the medium of instruction is MSA in social sciences and humanities, and English or French in the applied and medical sciences. In Syria, only MSA is used.[162][184][79] In Turkey, article 42.9 of the Constitution prohibits languages other than Turkish from being taught as a mother tongue and almost all Arabic speakers are illiterate in Arabic unless they have learned MSA for religious purposes.[70]

In Israel, MSA is the only language of instruction in Arab schools. Hebrew is studied as a second language by all Palestinian students from at least the second grade and English from the third grade.[185][168] In Jewish schools, in 2012, 23,000 pupils were studying spoken Palestinian in 800 elementary schools. Palestinian Arabic is compulsory in Jewish elementary schools in the Northern District; otherwise, Jewish schools teach MSA.[186] Junior high schools must teach all students MSA, but only two-thirds meet this obligation.[187] At all stages in 2012, 141,000 Jewish students were learning Arabic.[188] In 2020, 3.7% of Jewish students took the Bagrut exam in MSA.[187]

Most films and songs are in vernacular Arabic.[26] Egypt was the most influential center of Arab media productions (movies, drama, TV series) during the 20th century,[189] but Levantine is now competing with Egyptian.[190] As of 2013, about 40% of all music production in the Arab world was in Lebanese.[189] Lebanese television is the oldest and largest private Arab broadcast industry.[191] Most big-budget pan-Arab entertainment shows are filmed in the Lebanese dialect in the studios of Beirut. Moreover, the Syrian dialect dominates in Syrian TV series (such as Bab Al-Hara) and in the dubbing of Turkish television dramas (such as Noor), famous across the Arab world.[189][192]

As of 2009, most Arabic satellite television networks use colloquial varieties in their programs, except news bulletins in MSA. The use of vernacular in broadcasting started in Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War and expanded to the rest of the Arab world. In 2009, Al Jazeera used MSA only and Al Arabiya and Al-Manar used MSA or a hybrid between MSA and colloquial for talk shows.[179] On the popular Lebanese satellite channel Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (LBCI), Arab and international news bulletins are only in MSA, while the Lebanese national news broadcast is in a mix of MSA and Lebanese Arabic.[193]

Levantine is seldom written, except for some novels, plays, and humorous writings.[194][195] Most Arab critics do not acknowledge the literary dignity of prose in dialect.[196] Prose written in Lebanese goes back to at least 1892 when Tannus al-Hurr published Riwāyat aš-šābb as-sikkīr ʾay Qiṣṣat Naṣṣūr as-Sikrī, 'The tale of the drunken youth, or The story of Nassur the Drunkard'.[195] In the 1960s, Said Akl led a movement in Lebanon to replace MSA as the national and literary language, and a handful of writers wrote in Lebanese.[197][198][195] Foreign works, such as La Fontaine's Fables, were translated into Lebanese using Akl's alphabet.[199] The Gospel of Mark was published in Palestinian in 1940,[200] followed by the Gospel of Matthew and the Letter of James in 1946.[201][202] The four gospels were translated in Lebanese using Akl's alphabet in 1996 by Gilbert Khalifé. Muris 'Awwad translated the four gospels and The Little Prince in 2001 in Lebanese in Arabic script.[203][195] The Little Prince was also translated into Palestinian and published in two biscriptal editions (one Arabic/Hebrew script, one Arabic/Latin script).[204][205][206]

Newspapers usually use MSA and reserve Levantine for sarcastic commentaries and caricatures.[207] Headlines in Levantine are common. The letter to the editor section often includes entire paragraphs in Levantine. Many newspapers also regularly publish personal columns in Levantine, such as خرم إبرة xurm ʾibra, lit. '[through the] needle's eye' in the weekend edition of Al-Ayyam.[208] From 1983 to 1990, Said Akl's newspaper Lebnaan was published in Lebanese written in the Latin alphabet.[209] Levantine is also commonly used in zajal and other forms of oral poetry.[210][56] Zajal written in vernacular was published in Lebanese newspapers such as Al-Mashriq ("The Levant", from 1898) and Ad-Dabbur ("The Hornet", from 1925). In the 1940s, five reviews in Beirut were dedicated exclusively to poetry in Lebanese.[195] In a 2013 study, Abuhakema investigated 270 written commercial ads in two Jordanian (Al Ghad and Ad-Dustour) and two Palestinian (Al-Quds and Al-Ayyam) daily newspapers. The study concluded that MSA is still the most used variety in ads, although both varieties are acceptable and Levantine is increasingly used.[211][212]

Most comedies are written in Levantine.[213] In Syria, plays became more common and popular in the 1980s by using Levantine instead of Classical Arabic. Saadallah Wannous, the most renowned Syrian playwright, used Syrian Arabic in his later plays.[214] Comic books, like the Syrian comic strip Kūktīl, are often written in Levantine instead of MSA.[215] In novels and short stories, most authors, such as Arab Israelis Riyad Baydas and Odeh Bisharat, write the dialogues in their Levantine dialect, while the rest of the text is in MSA.[216][217][218][194] Lebanese authors Elias Khoury (especially in his recent works) and Kahlil Gibran wrote the main narrative in Levantine.[219][220] Some collections of short stories and anthologies of Palestinian folktales (turāṯ, 'heritage literature') display full texts in dialect.[221] On the other hand, Palestinian children's literature is almost exclusively written in MSA.[222][26]

Internet users in the Arab world communicate with their dialect language (such as Levantine) more than MSA on social media (such as Twitter, Facebook, or in the comments of online newspapers). According to one study, between 12% and 23% of all dialectal Arabic content online was written in Levantine depending on the platform.[223]

Nouns are either masculine or feminine and singular, dual or plural.[257][258] The dual is formed with the suffix ين- -ēn.[259][258] Most feminine singular nouns end with ـة tāʼ marbūṭah, pronounced as –a or -e depending on the preceding consonant: -a after guttural (ح خ ع غ ق ه ء) and emphatic consonants (ر ص ض ط ظ), -e after other consonants.[71] Unlike Classical Arabic, Levantine has no case marking.[258]

Levantine has a definite article, which marks common nouns (i.e. nouns that are not proper nouns) as definite. Its absence marks common nouns as indefinite. [260] The Arabic definite article ال il precedes the noun or adjective and has multiple pronunciations. Its vowel is dropped when the preceding word ends in a vowel. A helping vowel "e" is inserted if the following word begins with a consonant cluster.[238] It assimilates with "sun letters" (consonants that are pronounced with the tip of the tongue).[238] The letter Jeem (ج) is a sun letter for speakers pronouncing it as [ʒ] but not for those pronouncing it as [d͡ʒ].[260][261]

For nouns referring to humans, the regular (also called sound) masculine plural is formed with the suffix -īn. The regular feminine plural is formed with -āt.[71][262] The masculine plural is used to refer to a group with both genders.[263] There are many broken plurals (also called internal plurals), in which the consonantal root of the singular is changed.[258] These plural patterns are shared with other varieties of Arabic and may also be applied to foreign borrowings.[258] Several patterns of broken plurals exist, and it is impossible to predict them exactly.[264] One common pattern is for instance CvCvC => CuCaCa (e.g.: singular: ‏مدير‎ mudīr, 'manager'; plural: ‏مدرا‎ mudara, 'managers').[264] Inanimate objects take feminine singular agreement in the plural, for verbs, attached pronouns, and adjectives.[265]

The genitive is formed by putting the nouns next to each other[266] in a construct called iḍāfah, lit. 'addition'. The first noun is always indefinite. If an indefinite noun is added to a definite noun, it results in a new definite compound noun:[267][71][268] كتاب الإستاذ ktāb il-ʾistāz listen^ⓘ, 'the book of the teacher'.[269] Besides possessiveness, the iḍāfah can also specify or define the first term.[267] Although there is no limit to the number of nouns in an iḍāfah, it is rare to have three or more.[266] The first term must be in the construct state: if it ends in the feminine marker (/-ah/, or /-ih/), it changes to (/-at/, /-it/) in pronunciation (i.e. ة pronounced as /t/): مدينة نيويورك madīnet nyū-yōrk listen^ⓘ, 'New York City'.[267]

Adjectives typically have three forms: a masculine singular, a feminine singular, and a plural.[71] In most adjectives, the feminine is formed through the addition of -a/e.[270][228] Many adjectives have the pattern فعيل (fʕīl / CCīC or faʕīl / CaCīC), but other patterns exist.[71] Adjectives derived from nouns using the suffix ـي -i are called nisba adjectives. Their feminine form ends in ـية -iyye and their plural in ـيين -iyyīn.[271] Nouns in dual have adjectives in plural.[71] The plural of adjectives is either regular ending in ـين -īn or is an irregular "broken" plural. It is used with nouns referring to people. For non-human, inanimate, or abstract nouns, adjectives use either the plural or the singular feminine form regardless of gender.[71][272][265]

Adjectives follow the noun they modify and agree with it in definiteness. Adjectives without an article after a definite noun express a clause with the invisible copula "to be":[273]

• بيت كبير bēt kbīr listen^ⓘ, 'a big house'
• البيت الكبير il-bēt le-kbīr listen^ⓘ, 'the big house'
• البيت كبير il-bēt kbīr listen^ⓘ, 'the house is big'

The elative is used for comparison, instead of separate comparative and superlative forms.[274] The elative is formed by adding a hamza at the beginning of the adjective and replacing the vowels by "a" (pattern: أفعل ʾafʕal / aCCaC, e.g.: ‏كبير‎ kbīr, 'big'; ‏أكبر‎ ʾakbar, 'bigger/biggest').[71] Adjective endings in ‏ي‎ (i) and ‏و‎ (u) are changed into ‏ی‎ (a). If the second and third consonant in the root are the same, they are geminated (pattern: أفلّ ʾafall / ʾaCaCC).[275] When an elative modifies a noun, it precedes the noun, and no definite article is used.[276]

Levantine does not distinguish between adverbs and adjectives in adverbial function. Almost any adjective can be used as an adverb: ‏منيح‎ mnīḥ, 'good' vs. نمتي منيح؟ nimti mnīḥ? listen^ⓘ, 'Did you sleep well?'. MSA adverbs, with the suffix -an, are often used, e.g., ‏أبدا‎ ʾabadan, 'at all'.[255] Adverbs often appear after the verb or the adjective. ‏كتير‎ ktīr, 'very' can be positioned after or before the adjective.[255] Adverbs of manner can usually be formed using bi- followed by the nominal form: ‏بسرعة‎ b-sirʿa, 'fast, quickly', lit. 'with speed'.[58]

‏مش‎ miš or in Syrian Arabic ‏مو‎ mū negate adjectives (including active participles), demonstratives, and nominal phrases:[277][278]

• أنا مش فلسطيني. ʾana miš falasṭīni. listen^ⓘ, 'I'm not Palestinian.'
• مش عارفة. miš ʕārfe. listen^ⓘ, 'She doesn't know.'
• هادا مش منيح. hāda miš mnīḥ. listen^ⓘ / هاد مو منيح. hād mū mnīḥ., 'That's not good.'

Levantine has eight persons and eight pronouns. Contrary to MSA, dual pronouns do not exist in Levantine; the plural is used instead. Because conjugated verbs indicate the subject with a prefix or a suffix, independent subject pronouns are usually unnecessary and mainly used for emphasis.[279][280] Feminine plural forms modifying human females are found primarily in rural and Bedouin areas. They are not mentioned below.[281]

Direct object pronouns are indicated by suffixes attached to the conjugated verb. Their form depends on whether the verb ends with a consonant or a vowel. Suffixed to nouns, these pronouns express possessive.[282][280] Levantine does not have the verb "to have". Instead, possession is expressed using the prepositions ‏عند‎ ʕind, lit. 'at' (meaning "to possess") and ‏مع‎ maʕ, lit. 'with' (meaning "to have on oneself"), followed by personal pronoun suffixes.[283][284]

Indirect object pronouns (dative) are suffixed to the conjugated verb. They are formed by adding an ل (-l) and then the possessive suffix to the verb.[281] They precede object pronouns if present:[281]

• جاب الجريدة لأبوي jāb il-jarīde la-ʔabūy listen^ⓘ, 'he brought the newspaper to my father',
• جابها لأبوي jāb-ha la-ʔabūy listen^ⓘ, 'he brought it to my father',
• جابله الجريدة jab-lo il-jarīde listen^ⓘ, 'he brought him the newspaper',
• جابله ياها jab-lo yyā-ha listen^ⓘ, 'he brought it to him'.[285]

Demonstrative pronouns have three referential types: immediate, proximal, and distal. The distinction between proximal and distal demonstratives is of physical, temporal, or metaphorical distance. The genderless and numberless immediate demonstrative article ‏ها‎ ha is translated by "this/the", to designate something immediately visible or accessible.[286]

Most Levantine verbs are based on a triliteral root (also called radical or Semitic root) made of three consonants. The set of consonants communicates the basic meaning of a verb, e.g. ‏ك ت ب‎ k-t-b ('write'), ‏ق ر ء‎ q-r-ʼ ('read'), ‏ء ك ل‎ ʼ-k-l ('eat'). Changes to the vowels in between the consonants, along with prefixes or suffixes, specify grammatical functions such as tense, person, and number, in addition to changes in the meaning of the verb that embody grammatical concepts such as mood (e.g., indicative, subjunctive, imperative), voice (active or passive), and functions such as causative, intensive, or reflexive.[289] Quadriliteral roots are less common but often used to coin new vocabulary or Arabicize foreign words.[290][291] The base form is the third-person masculine singular of the perfect (also called past) tense.[292]

Almost all Levantine verbs belong to one of ten verb forms (also called verb measures,[293] stems,[294] patterns,[295] or types[296]). Form I, the most common one, serves as a base for the other nine forms. Each form carries a different verbal idea relative to the meaning of its root. Technically, ten verbs can be constructed from any given triconsonantal root, although not all of these forms are used.[289] After Form I, Forms II, V, VII, and X are the most common.[294] Some irregular verbs do not fit into any of the verb forms.[293]

In addition to its form, each verb has a "quality":

• Sound (or regular): 3 distinct radicals, neither the second nor the third is 'w' or 'y',
• Verbs containing the radicals 'w' or 'y' are called weak. They are either:
  • Hollow: verbs with 'w' or 'y' as the second radical, which becomes a long 'a' in some forms, or
  • Defective: verbs with 'w' or 'y' as the third radical, treated as a vowel,
• Geminate (or doubled): the second and third radicals are identical, remaining together as a double consonant.[293]

The Levantine verb has only two tenses: past (perfect) and present (also called imperfect, b-imperfect, or bi-imperfect). The present tense is formed by adding the prefix b- or m- to the verb root. The future tense is an extension of the present tense. The negative imperative is the same as the negative present with helping verb (imperfect). Various prefixes and suffixes designate the grammatical person and number as well as the mood. The following table shows the paradigm of a sound Form I verb, ‏كتب‎ katab, 'to write'.[289] There is no copula in the present tense in Levantine. In other tenses, the verb ‏كان‎ kān is used. Its present tense form is used in the future tense.[297]

The b-imperfect is usually used for the indicative mood (non-past present, habitual/general present, narrative present, planned future actions, or potential). The prefix b- is deleted in the subjunctive mood, usually after modal verbs, auxiliary verbs, pseudo-verbs, prepositions, and particles.[71][91][58][225] The future can also be expressed by the imperfect preceded by the particle ‏رح‎ raḥ or by the prefixed particle ‏حـ‎ ḥa-.[298] The present continuous is formed with the progressive particle ‏عم‎ ʕam followed by the imperfect, with or without the initial b/m depending on the speaker.[299]

The active participle, also called present participle, is grammatically an adjective derived from a verb. Depending on the context, it can express the present or present continuous (with verbs of motion, location, or mental state), the near future, or the present perfect (past action with a present result).[300] It can also serve as a noun or an adjective.[301] The passive participle, also called past participle,[14] has a similar meaning as in English (i.e., sent, written). It is mainly used as an adjective and sometimes as a noun. It is inflected from the verb based on its verb form.[302] However, passive participles are largely limited to verb forms I (CvCvC) and II (CvCCvC), becoming maCCūC for the former and mCaCCaC for the latter.[255]

The verb ‏كان‎ kān, followed by another verb, forms compound tenses. Both verbs are conjugated with their subject.[305]

Form I verbs often correspond to an equivalent passive form VII verb, with the prefix n-. Form II and form III verbs usually correspond to an equivalent passive in forms V and VI, respectively, with the prefix t-.[293] While the verb forms V, VI and VII are common in the simple past and compound tenses, the passive participle (past participle) is preferred in the present tense.[307]

Verbs and prepositional phrases are negated by the particle ‏ما‎ mā / ma either on its own or, in the south, together with the suffix ‏ـش‎ -iš at the end of the verb or prepositional phrase. In Palestinian, it is also common to negate verbs by the suffix ‏ـش‎ -iš only.[278]