تَطَاوَلَto compete

Example sentences

• قَالَ أَنْ تَلِدَ الْأَمَةُ رَبَّتَهَا، وَأَنْ تَرَى الْحُفَاةَ الْعُرَاةَ الْعَالَةَ رِعَاءَ الشَّاءِ يَتَطَاوَلُونَ فِي الْبُنْيَانِ

  He said, 'That a slave woman will give birth to her mistress, and that you will see barefoot, unclothed, destitute shepherds competing in erecting tall buildings.'

  يَتَطَاوَلُونَ — they compete. A present-tense verb 'they vie/compete' whose -un ending carries the built-in 'they' subject, a masculine plural. It describes what those shepherds do, completing the scene. The plural is folded into the verb's ending, so no separate 'they' is written.

  From: When Gabriel Came to Teach →