«دَعْ جِدَالَكَ وَسَلْ عَمَّا بَدَا لَكَ»
Leave your disputation and ask what you wish.
Daʿ and sal are two sharp singular imperatives. The woman first ends a fruitless debate and then invites al-Ḥārith to state his actual question. She thereby controls both topic and conversational pace.
The matching endings of jidālaka / badā laka make the response memorable. Its main speech act, however, is procedural: end one exchange and authorize another. The artistry operates through conversational control.
Practice: Why are the commands not identical? One closes debate; the other opens questioning.
ImperativeIntended resultDaʿEnd the debateSalInvite the question