Word of the Day, Issue #037

to follow = تَبِعَ

There are a number of derived verbs from the roots letters ت ب ع , which all roughly mean to follow, but each with its own nuance. So تَبِعَ (tabi’a) (imperfect: يَتْبَعُ , verbal noun تَبَعًا ) means to follow, in the sense of walking with someone or behind someone, e.g. مَرَّ بِيْ زَيْدٌ فَتَبِعْتُهُ Zaid passed by me and I followed him. The 4th form أَتْبَعَ (atba’a) can be used with the same meaning as تَبِعَ to follow, but can also be used to mean to catch up, overtake someone (i.e. after having followed or chased them), e.g. تَبِعْتُ زَيْدًا فَأَتْبَعْتُهُ I followed Zaid and I caught up with him. As is the norm with the 4th form, it can also be used to make the basic verb doubly transitive, e.g. أَتْبَعْتُ زَيْدًا عَمْرًوا I made Zaid follow Amr. Finally, the 8th Form اِتَّبَعَ (ittaba’a) is used to mean to follow in the sense of doing what someone else does, or tells you to do, e.g. كَانَ الْمُسْلِمُوْنَ يَتَّبِعُوْنَ الْقُرْآنَ Muslims used to follow the Quran.