Rule 1: 1. قَالَ 'to say' and its imperative قُلْ
قَالَ he said has the root ق و ل; its middle radical و turns into a long vowel or disappears. You will study this class of verb in Volume 3. For now learn the forms that occur in dialogue as fixed items: perfect قَالَ, قَالَتْ, قُلْتَ, قُلْتُ, قَالُوا, قُلْنَا; imperfect يَقُولُ, تَقُولُ, أَقُولُ, نَقُولُ, يَقُولُونَ; jussive لَمْ يَقُلْ; imperative قُلْ, قُولِي, قُولَا, قُولُوا, قُلْنَ. The rule behind them: when the ending begins with a consonant, or the form ends in sukūn, the long vowel shortens to u (قُلْتُ, قُلْ). What is said follows as direct speech after a colon, or as reported speech with إِنَّ (lesson 70).
قُلْ لِأَخِيكَ إِنَّ الْمُعَلِّمَ مَرِيضٌ الْيَوْمَ.
qul li-akhīka inna l-muʿallima marīḍuni l-yawma
Tell your brother that the teacher is ill today.
قُولِي لِي يَا فَاطِمَةُ، أَيْنَ تَعَلَّمْتِ الرَّسْمَ؟
qūlī lī yā fāṭimatu, ayna taʿallamti r-rasma
Tell me, Fāṭima, where did you learn drawing?
قُولُوا الْحَقَّ دَائِمًا وَلَا تَكْذِبُوا.
qūlu l-ḥaqqa dāʾiman wa-lā takdhibū
Always speak the truth and do not lie.
Before the article the ū of قُولُوا is pronounced short: qūlu l-ḥaqqa.
قَالَ الْمُدِيرُ لِلتَّلَامِيذِ: تَعَاوَنُوا وَلَا تَتَشَاجَرُوا.
qāla l-mudīru li-t-talāmīdhi: taʿāwanū wa-lā tatashājarū
The headmaster said to the pupils: help one another and do not quarrel.
لَمْ يَقُلْ حَامِدٌ شَيْئًا، وَلٰكِنَّ سَعِيدًا قَالَ: سَامِحْنِي.
lam yaqul ḥāmidun shayʾan, wa-lākinna saʿīdan qāla: sāmiḥnī
Ḥāmid said nothing, but Saʿīd said: forgive me.