Arabic word sheet
اِتَّبَعَ
To follow, to walk behind
- Type
- verb
- Root
- ت ب ع
Meaning and usage
To follow, to walk behind
Said of someone who goes behind a person or a thing in motion, or falls in with them as they pass.
اِتَّبَعَ الْوَلَدُ أَبَاهُ إِلَى السُّوقِ.
The boy followed his father to the market.
To follow an example or advice
By image, said of someone who does as another has done, or who keeps to a piece of advice, a rule or a method.
اِتَّبَعَتْ سَلْمَى نَصِيحَةَ الطَّبِيبِ.
Salma followed the doctor’s advice.
Word family
What the root means ت ب ع
The root means going behind someone or something. From it come the verbs for following, catching up, tracking step by step and keeping on after, as well as the word for one who follows.
to follow
تَبِعَ
to make follow; to catch up with
أَتْبَعَ
to follow step by step, to track
تَتَبَّعَ
to follow on, to keep on after
تَابَعَ
follower, one who follows
تَابِعٌ
to ask someone to follow
اِسْتَتْبَعَ
Synonyms
to follow in the tracks of
قَفَا
More literary, it says that one walks exactly in someone’s tracks.
to take as a model
اِقْتَدَى
It matches the figurative sense only: one imitates a person one looks up to; it is not said of walking.
Opposites
to go against
خَالَفَ
to go ahead
تَقَدَّمَ