ضَرَبَ زَيْدٌ عَمْرًا — Zayd struck ʿAmr.
ضُرِبَ عَمْرٌ — ʿAmr was struck.
The first sentence uses an active verb: Zayd performs the action and ʿAmr receives it. In the second, the verb is passive: the event is reported as affecting ʿAmr, without naming the striker.
Therefore ضُرِبَ cannot be translated simply as “he struck.” The changed vowels indicate a change in grammatical voice, not a new lexical root.
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What active and passive actually mean
Complete Past-Tense Paradigm: Active, Passive, Affirmative and Negative
ضَرَبَ زَيْدٌ عَمْرًا — Zayd struck ʿAmr.
ضُرِبَ عَمْرٌ — ʿAmr was struck.
The first sentence uses an active verb: Zayd performs the action and ʿAmr receives it. In the second, the verb is passive: the event is reported as affecting ʿAmr, without naming the striker.
Therefore ضُرِبَ cannot be translated simply as “he struck.” The changed vowels indicate a change in grammatical voice, not a new lexical root.