Ultimate Arabic

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته,

Today we’re looking at the 8th of the 15 types of nouns in نَصْب, which is اسْمُ لا (the noun that is negated by لا).  There are several scenarios here, so you’ll have to pay attention to this one!

Negation using لا

اعْلَمْ أَنّ “لا” تَنْصِبُ النَّكِراتِ بِغَيْرِ تَنْوِيْنٍ إذا باشَرَتِ النَّكِرَةَ وَلَمْ تَتَكَرَّرْ “لا” نَحْوُ: لا رَجُلَ فِي الدّارِ

Know that لا nasb-izes indefinite nouns without tanwin if it is immediately before the indefinite noun and is not repeated, as in لا رَجُلَ فِي الدّارِ (“there is no man in the house”).

The categorical لا (used for negating the information in the khabar for an entire category) has the same effect as the إنّ family on a sentence (i.e. it nasb-izes a noun and makes it its ism and leaves the khabar in raf’).  It is different from a لا that simply negates the truthfulness of the sentence.  If these four conditions are present, it’s mandatory for this لا to have this effect.

1. The ism (noun) has to be indefinite – if it’s definite, then we’re no longer talking about a category and it makes no sense to use لا this way
2. لا has to be immediately before it (nothing can come between them, not even the khabar)
3. The khabar of the sentence must also be indefinite
4. The word لا is not repeated

اِسْمُ لا (The ism of لا)

The ism of لا can be:

1. مُفْرَد (A single word) – Whatever is not a mudhaaf or something that resembles a mudhaaf.  It will be in nasb using fathah or another indicator.  It can be a singular noun, dual, broken plural, sound masculine plural or sound feminine plural.  We’ll see this again when we do the مُنادى (the one who is called or addressed)
   • لا رَجُلَ فِي الدّارِ (“There’s no man in the house”) – Using fathah for singular nouns and broken plurals
   • لا رَجُلَيْنِ فِي الدّارِ (“There are not two men in the house”) – Using ي for duals and sound masculine plurals
   • لا صالِحاتِ الْيَوْمَ (“There are not good women today”) – Using kasrah for sound feminine plurals
2. Mudhaaf (added) to an indefinite noun – It will be in nasb using fathah or another indicator, as in لا طالِبَ عِلْمٍ مَمْقُوْتٌ (“There’s no student of knowledge who is loathed”)
3. الشَبِيْهُ بِالْمُضاف – Resembles a mudhaaf.  Something that completes the meaning of it will connect to it.  It has the same rule as the mudhaaf.  For example: لا مُسْتَقِيْماً حالُهُ بَيْنَ الناسِ (“There is no one whose condition is straight among the people”)

Dropping one of the conditions of obligating nasb

If we drop one of the four conditions above that make nasb mandatory for the word after لا, then nasb can become optional or even forbidden.

فَإن لَمْ تُباشِرْها وَجَبَ الرَّفْعُ وَوَجَبَ تَكْرارُ “لا” نَحْوُ: لا فِي الدّارِ رَجُلٌ وَلا امْرَأةٌ

If it (لا) does not immediately precede it (the noun), then raf’ and the repetition of لا are mandatory, as in لا فِي الدّارِ رَجُلٌ وَلا امْرَأةٌ (“There is not in the house a man, nor a woman”). [Read more…] about اسْمُ لا (The noun negated by لا)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله,

Today we’re going to do the 7th of the 15 types of nouns in نَصْب, which is الاسْتِثْناء (the exception).

Words used to make exceptions

حُرُوْفُ الاسْتِثْناءِ ثَمانِيَةٌ، وَهِيَ: إِلاّ، وَغَيْرٌ، وَسِوَى، وَسُوَى، وَسَواءٌ، وَخَلا، وَعَدَا، وَحَاشَا

The particles of exception are eight in number, and they are إِلاّ (illaa), غَيْرٌ (ghayr), سِوًى (siwan)، سُوًى (suwan), سَواءٌ (sawaa’un), خَلا (khalaa), عَدَا (‘adaa) and حَاشَا (haashaa)

الاسْتِثْناء (the exception) means إخراج (“to take something out”) and in grammar it mean to take something out (using إلا or another tool) that would otherwise have been part of what’s before the tool.

Note: I’m using the word “tool” here because not all of these eight are actually “particles” (حُرُوْف).  As you’ll see later, some of them are actually nouns, so we can refer to this mixed bag of nouns and particles as أدَوات (instruments/tools).

An example to consider: نَجَحَ التّلامِيْذُ إلاّ عَامِراً (“The students passed except Amir”).  You used إلاّ (“except”) to remove one of the students (Amir), and if you hadn’t made this exception, Amir would have been included in the students who succeeded.

There are a lot of tools used to make exception.  Eight are mentioned in الآجُرُّوْمِيَّة, and they fall into three groups:

1. Always considered a particle (حَرْف) – This is إِلاّ (illaa)
2. Always a noun (اسم) – These are غَيْرٌ (ghayr), سِوًى (siwan)، سُوًى (suwan), and سَواءٌ (sawaa’un)
3. Sometimes a particle, sometimes a noun – خَلا (khalaa), عَدَا (‘adaa) and حَاشَا (haashaa)

We’ll look at how to do exceptions using each of these, starting with إلاّ.

The rule for إلاّ

فَالْمُسْتَثْنى بِإلاّ يُنْصَبُ إذا كانَ الكَلامُ تامّاً مُوْجَباً، نَحْوُ: “قامَ القَوْمُ إلاّ زَيْداً” وَ”خَرَجَ النّاسُ إلاّ عَمْراً” وَإنْ كانَ الكَلام ُمَنْفِيّاً تامّاً جازَ فِيْهِ البَدَلُ وَالنَّصْبُ عَلَى الاسْتِثْناءِ، نَحْوُ: “ما قامَ الْقَوْمُ إلاّ زَيْدٌ” وَ”إلاّ زَيْداً” وَإنْ كانَ الكَلامُ ناقِصاً كانَ عَلَى حَسْبِ العَوامِلِ، نَحْوُ: “ما قامَ إلا زَيدٌ” وَ”ما ضَرَبْتُ إلاّ زَيْداً” وَما مَرَرْتُ إلاّ بِزَيْدٍ

The word that is made an exception using إلاّ is nasb-ized if the sentence is affirmative and complete, like قامَ القَوْمُ إلاّ زَيْداً (“The people stood except Zayd”) and خَرَجَ النّاسُ إلاّ عَمْراً (“The people came out except Amr”).  

If the sentence is negative and complete, it’s permissible to make the exception in raf’ as a بَدَل (substitute) or in nasb (on the basis of it being an exception), like ما قامَ الْقَوْمُ إلاّ زَيْدٌ  and إلاّ زَيْداً (“The people did not stand, except Zayd”).  

If the sentence is incomplete, then the exception is based on the influences, like ما قامَ إلا زَيدٌ (“None stood except Zayd”), ما ضَرَبْتُ إلاّ زَيْداً (“I did not hit except Zayd”), and ما مَرَرْتُ إلاّ بِزَيْدٍ (“I did not pass except by Zayd”)

Some definitions first:

• تامَ (complete) = what you’re making an exception from is mentioned.  Another way to say it is the sentence has its essential parts (i.e. verbal sentence requires a verb and a doer, noun sentence requires a mubtada’ and khabar).  Its opposite is ناقِص (incomplete)
• مُوْجَب (affirmative) =  there’s no negation or anything that resembles one before it (like a prohibition or a question).  Its opposite is مَنْفِيّ (negative)

So, if we’re using إلا to make an exception, there are three possibilities for the sentence before the ّإلا part.  Before we look at them,

1. It is تامّ (complete) and مُوْجَب (affirmative).  The noun after إلا must be in nasb due to being an exception.  In the following two examples, Zayd and Amr are exceptions in nasb and the part before إلا is a complete sentence because what Zayd and Amr are exceptions from (القَوْمُ and الناسُ, respectively) is mentioned:
   • قامَ القَوْمُ إلاّ زَيْداً (“The people stood except Zayd”)
   • خَرَجَ النّاسُ إلاّ عَمْراً (“The people came out except Amr”)
2. It is تامّ (complete) and ّمَنْفِي (negative): You can make the noun after إلاّ a grammatical follower of what you are making an exception from (as a substitute), or it can be in nasb due to its being an exception:
   • ما قامَ الْقَوْمُ إلاّ زَيْدٌ and ما قامَ الْقَوْمُ إلاّ زَيْداً (“The people did not stand except Zayd”)
     • The part before the exception ما قامَ القَوْمُ (“The people did not stand”) is complete because it mentions what you’re making an exception from (القَوْمُ – the people) and is negative because of ما (“not”)
     • القَوْمُ is in raf’ because it’s the doer of قامَ (“stood”), so we can make زَيْدٌ follow it in raf’ using a dhammah, or:
     • we can simply put زَيْداً in nasb using a fathah, based on the fact that it’s an exception
3. It is ناقِص (incomplete, which will always be negative): What’s after إلاّ depends on what the influence before إلاّ calls for.  In each of these examples, the part before إلا is incomplete (i.e. does not mention what we made the exception from), so we’ll set the status of زَيْد accordingly
   •  ما قامَ إلا زَيدٌ (“None stood except Zayd”) – The verb قامَ demands that its doer should be in raf’
   • ما ضَرَبْتُ إلاّ زَيْداً (“I did not hit except Zayd”) – The verb ضَرَبْتُ (“I hit”) demands that its direct object be in nasb
   • ما مَرَرْتُ إلاّ بِزَيْدٍ (“I did not pass except by Zayd”) – The verb مَرَرْتُ (“I passed”) needs a particle of jarr and along with word in jarr after it

Note 1: When you have a choice between using it as a substitute or an exception, it’s more eloquent to use it as a substitute, based on the fact that the substitute is mentioned before the exception in the above quote from the Ajuroomiyyah and also closer to the style used in the Quran, as we’ll see for 4:66 in the examples from the Quran.

Note 2: If the exception is not of the same category of what you’re making an exception from, then it has to be in nasb (i.e. you must consider it as an exception, not a substitute).

In لَا يَذُوقُونَ فِيهَا بَرْدًا وَلَا شَرَابًا إِلَّا حَمِيمًا وَغَسَّاقًا (“They will not taste there in coolness or drink, except boiling water and pus” [78: 24-25]), the words حَمِيْماً (“boiling water”) and غَسّاقاً (“pus”) are not from the same category as بَرْداً (“coolness”) and شَراباً (“drink”).  They are in nasb because they are exceptions, not because they are substitutes for  بَرْداً and شَراباً.

The rule for ٌغَيْر and its siblings

وَالْمُسْتَثْنى بَغَيْرٍ، وسِوًى، وسُوًى، وسَواءٍ، مَجْرُوْرٌ لا غَيْرُ

The word that’s made an exception using  غَيْرٌ (ghayr), سِوًى (siwan)، سُوًى (suwan), سَواءٌ (sawaa’un) is in jarr and nothing else

[Read more…] about الاِسْتِثْناء (The exception)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله,

Today we’re going to do the 6th of the 15 types of nouns in نَصْب, the تَمْيِيْز (distinction):

التَّمْيِيْزُ هُوَ: الاسْمُ، الْمَنْصُوْبُ، المُفَسِّرُ لِما انْبَهَمَ مِنَ الذَّوَاتِ، نَحْوُ قَوْلِكَ: “تَصَبَّبَ زَيْدٌ عَرَقاً” وَ”تَفَقَّأَ بَكْرٌ شَحْماً” وَ”طابَ مُحَمَّدٌ نَفْساً” وَ”اشْتَرَيْتُ عِشْرِيْنَ كِتاباً” وَ”مَلَكْتُ تِسْعِيْنَ نَعْجَةً” و”زَيْدٌ أكْرَمُ مِنْكَ أباً” و”أجْمَلُ مِنْكَ وَجْهاً

The تَمْيِيْز (distinction) is a nasb-ized noun that clarifies what is vague about entities, like (your saying) تَصَبَّبَ زَيْدٌ عَرَقاً (“Zayd poured out sweat”), تَفَقَّأَ بَكْرٌ شَحْماً (“Bakr burst out in fat”), طابَ مُحَمَّدٌ نَفْساً (“Muhammad was content in spirit”),  اشْتَرَيْتُ عِشْرِيْنَ كِتاباً (“I bought 20 books”), مَلَكْتُ تِسْعِيْنَ نَعْجَة (“I owned 90 ewes”), and زَيْدٌ أكْرَمُ مِنْكَ أباً وَأجْمَلُ مِنْكَ وَجْهاً (“Zayd is nobler than you [in regard to his] father and more beautiful than you [in regard to his] face”)

The word تَمْيِيْز (tamyiz) has two meanings in the language: (1) explanation in the general sense and (2) to separate part of something from it.  مَيَّزْتُ القَوْمَ (“I distinguished the people”) would mean that I separated some of them from others.

From this we can understand how in grammar the tamyiz is:

1. a noun – it must be an اسم صرِيح (outright noun) – not a verb or a particle.  It also cannot be a sentence that is re-interpreted as a noun like how we saw when studying the حال (condition)
2. in nasb – it cannot be in raf’ or jarr
3. clarifies what is vague about entities – The حال clarifies the exact the situation of things, and the tamyiz clarifies what the things themselves are (i.e. it can answer “”What exactly?” and distinguishes between things).  It can come as:
   • تَمْيِيْز الْمُفْرَد (clarifies a word before it), which can be after:
     • a number, like إنِّي رَأَيْتُ أحَدَ عَشَرَ كَوْكَبًا (“I definitely saw 11 stars”) – It answers “You saw 11 what?”
     • measurements or units of weighed things, like اشْتَرَيْتُ رِطْلًا زَيْتًا (“I bought a rotl [of] olive“)
     •  weights, like اشْتَرَيْتُ إرْدَبًّا قَمْحًا (“I brought an ardab [of] wheat“)
     • areas, like اشْتَرَيْتُ فَدّانًا أرْضًا (“I bought an acre [of] land“)
   • تَمْيِيْز الجُمْلَة (clarifies a whole sentence before it), which is either:
     • transformed from the فاعِل (doer of an action), as in تَفَقَّأ بَكْرٌ شَحْمًا (“Bakr burst out in fat“)
       • What did Bakr burst out in?  Did he burst out in flames? When we add شَحْمًا (“fat”), it’s understood his fat is what burst out
       • It was originally تَفَقَّأ شَحْمُ بَكْرٍ (“The fat of Bakr burst out”), with the doer شَحْم (“fat”) being added to زَيْد to make a possessive phrase.  شَحْم was dropped and زَيْد took its raf’ (because it became the doer) and then شَحْم was re-added at the end as a tamyiz in nasb
     • transformed from the مَفْعُول (object of an action), as in 54:12 – وَفَجَّرْنا الأرْضَ عُيُوْنًا (“And we caused the earth to burst [with] springs“)
       • It was originally وَفَجَّرْنا عُيُوْنَ الأرْضِ (“And we caused the springs of the earth to burst”).  عُيُون (“springs”) was dropped (leaving الأرض as the direct object) and re-added as a tamyiz
     • transformed from the مُبْتَدَأ (subject or topic that begins a sentence), as in 18:34 – أنا أكْثَرُ مِنْكَ مالًا (“I am more than you [in] wealth“)
       • It was originally مالِيْ أكْثَرُ مِنْ مالِكَ (“My wealth is more than your wealth”), with مال and the pronoun يْ (“me”) making an idhaafah.  مال (“wealth”) was dropped (leaving the pronoun أنا “I” to start the sentence) and re-added as a tamyiz
     • not transformed from something else, as in امْتَلَأَ الْإناءُ ماءً (“The container filled up [with] water“)

Something about numbers

Because numbers are a big reason why a tamyiz will come, I want to take a few moments to go over the grammar of counting things.   [Read more…] about التَمْيِيْز (The distinction)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله,

The 5th of the 15 types of nouns in نَصْب is the حال (condition/situation).

الحالُ هُوَ: الاسْمُ، المَنْصُوْبُ، المُفَسِّرُ لِما انْبَهَمَ مِنَ الهَيْئاتِ، نَحْوُ قَوْلِكَ: “جاءَ زَيْدٌ راكِباً” وَ”رَكِبْتُ الفَرَسَ مُسْرَجاً” وَ”لَقِيْتُ عَبْدَ اللهِ رَاكِباً” وَما أشْبَهَ ذَلِكَ

The حال (condition) is a nasb-ized noun that clarifies what is vague about situations, like your saying: جاءَ زَيْدٌ راكِباً (“Zayd came riding”), رَكِبْتُ الفَرَسَ مُسْرَجًا (“I rode the horse, saddled”), لَقيْتُ عَبْدَ اللهِ راكِبًا (“I met Abdullah riding”) and what resembles that.

The word حال (haal) refers to what kind of state something is in, whether good or bad.  In grammar, it is

1. a noun
   • can be an outright noun  like  جاءَ مُحَمَّدٌ ضاحِكًا (“Muhammad came laughing”)
   • or it can be a sentence that’s re-interpreted to be a noun
     • جَاءَ مُحَمَّدٌ يَضْحَكُ (“Muhammad came laughing”) – the verb يَضْحَكُ (“he laughs”) could be understood as ضاحِكًا (“one who laughs”).
       • Remember: a verb by itself is a complete sentence (with an action and doer together in one), so this isn’t cheating.  If you replace the verb’s built-in doer by putting a doer after it, then it you can’t use it as a haal
     • جاءَ مُحَمَّدٌ مَعَهُ أخُوْهُ (“Muhammad came, with him his brother”) – مَعَهُ أخُوْهُ (“with him is his brother”) could be understood as مُصاحِبًا لِأخِيْهِ (“accompanying his brother”)
2.  in nasb  – it cannot be in raf’ or jarr
3.  clarifies what is vague about a situation – It explains what’s hidden or undisclosed regarding the traits, whether of intelligent beings or not
   • It can arise from the فاعِل (doer) of the action – In جاءَ زَيْدٌ راكِباً (“Zaid came riding”), راكِباً (“riding”) explains how Zayd came
   • It can arise from the مَفْعُوْل بِهِ (direct object) – In رَكِبْتُ الفَرَسَ مُسْرَجاً (“I rode the horse, saddled”), مُسْرَجًا (“saddled”) describes how the horse was as it was being ridden
   • It can arise from both together – In لَقيْتُ عَبْدَ اللهِ راكِبًا (“I met Abdullah riding”), راكِبًا (“riding”) describes how both the speaker (the one who met) and Abdullah (the one who was met) were when they met
   • It can arise from the khabar of a nominal sentence – In أنْتَ صَدِيْقِيْ مُخْلِصًا (“You are my friend, sincere”), مُخْلِصًا (“sincere”) describes what kind of friend you are
   • It can arise from a word that has been jarr-ized by one of the حُرُوْفُ الجَرّ (The particles of jarr) – In مَرَرْتُ بِهِنْدٍ راكِبَةً (“I passed by Hind, riding”), راكِبَةً describes the situation Hind was in when she was passed by
   • It can arise from a word that is in jarr because it is mudhaaf ilayh (if you’ve forgotten what that is, see here)  – In أَنِ اتَّبِعْ مِلََةَ إبراهِيْمَ حَنِيْفًا (“To follow the religion of Abraham, inclining to the truth” [16:123]), the word إبراهِيمَ is in jarr because مِلَّةَ (“religion”) was added to it,  with a fathah instead of a kasrah because it’s a non-Arab name.  حَنِيْفًا describes the circumstance of Ibrahim عليه السلام was in
   • The approximate way to explain the حال is that it answers the question كَيْفَ (“how?”), as in “How did Zayd come?”, “How was Abdullah’s situation as you met him?”, “How is my friendship with you?” and so on

شُرُوْطُ الحالِ وَشُرُوْطُ صاحِبِها (Pre-conditions for the haal and the word that it belongs to)

There are certain rules for that the حال and the word that it arises out of have to obey, as follows:

ًوَلا يَكُوْنُ الحالُ إلا نَكِرَةً، وَلا يَكُوْنُ إلا بَعْدَ تَمامِ الْكَلامِ، وَلا يَكُوْنُ صاحِبُها إلا مَعْرِفَة

The haal is always indefinite and is only after the completion of the speech, and the companion word to which it belongs is always definite

The haal must be indefinite.  If it comes in a phrase and looks like it’s a definite noun, you re-interpret it with an indefinite meaning.  If we say جاءَ الأمِيْرُ وَحْدَهُ (“The leader came by himself”), the word وَحْدَهُ is definite because it is mudhaaf to a definite noun but we’d re-interpret it as an indefinite noun with the same meaning (مُنْفَرِدًا – “individually”).

The original rule is that the حال comes after the sentence is complete (i.e. the verb has it doer and the mubtada’ of a nominal sentence has its khabar).  That means that if you were to remove the حال in all the example sentences above, you’d find that they’d still be valid and full sentences.

Sometimes, however, you have to put the حال at the beginning of the sentence like when it’s an اسم استفهام (question word), as in كَيْفَ قَدِمَ عَلِيٌ؟  (“How did Ali come as?”).  The word كَيْفَ (how) is a question word inquiring about Ali’s situation as he came, and it’s not allowed to defer a question word from the beginning of a sentence.

The صاحِب الحال (word that the conditions arises from) has to be a definite noun unless something comes that allows it to be an indefinite noun.

ِAn example of when it’s allowed for the صاحب الحال to be indefinite is when the حال comes before it.  In لِمَيَّةَ مُوْحِشًا طَلَلٌ يَلُوْحُ كأنََهُ خِلَلٌ (“Mayyah has ruins, desolate / that loom as if they were engraved skins”), مُوْحِشًا (gloomy/desolate) is a حال comes before the word ٌit belongs to, طَلَل (ruin/trace).

Something else that allows an indefinite صاحب الحال is when its [Read more…] about الحَال (The condition)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته,

The third and fourth of the 15 types of nouns in نَصْب, are the ظَرْفُ الزَّمانِ (frame of time) and ظَرْفُ الْمَكانِ (frame of space).  The word ظَرْف means “container” or “envelope” and in grammar it’s known as the مَفْعُوْل فِيْهِ (when/where an action was done).  There are two kinds of frames, one of time and one of space:

ظَرْفُ الزَّمانِ (The frame of time)

ظَرْفُ الزَّمانِ هُوَ: اسْمُ الزَّمانِ المَنْصُوْبُ بِتَقْدِيْرِ “فِيْ” نَحْوُ الْيَوْمَ، وَالَّليْلَةَ، وَغُدْوَةً، وَبُكْرَةً، وَسَحَراً، وَغَداً، وَعَتَمَةً، وَصَبَاحاً، وَمَسَاءً، وَأبَدًا، وَأَمَداً، وَحِيْناً، وَما أشْبَهَ ذَلِكَ

The frame of time: It is a noun of time that is in nasb with the implied meaning of فِيْ (“in”), like الْيَوْمَ (day), الَّليْلَةَ (tonight/nighttime), غُدْوَةً (early in the morning), بُكْرَةً (early in the day), سَحَراً (late night), غَداً (tomorrow), عَتَمَةً (early night), صَبَاحاً (morning), مَسَاءً (afternoon/evening), أبَدًا (infinite future), أَمَداً (future), حِيْناً (time/anytime) and whatever resembles that.

The “frame of time” is a nasb-ized noun that indicates time using a word that denotes the time period that an event happened in, noting the meaning of فِيْ (“in”) that indicates “in-ness”.

In صُمْتُ يَوْمَ الاثْنَيْنِ (“I fasted Monday”), يَوْمَ الاثْنَيْنِ (“the day of Monday”) is added to note that the action happened on that day or in that time (i.e. your fasting happened on Monday).

On the flip side, if you say يَخافُ الْكَسُوْلُ يَؤمَ الامْتَحانِ (“The lazy one fears the day of examination”), يَومَ الامْتِحانَ (“the day of examination”) is added, not to say that the action is happening on that day, but that the lazy person fears that day itself, not that they fear something that happens on that day (i.e. the day itself is what is being feared, not when the fear happens).

A time period can be either:

1. restricted (specific and bounded) like شَهْر (month), سَنَة (year), يَوْم (day), عام (year) or أُسبُوْع (week)
2. vague (non-specific or unbounded), like لَحْظَة (instant), وَقْت (time period), زمان (time) or حِيْن (moment)

Both of these can be nasb-ized to give a frame of time.

Here we’ve mentioned 12 words that can be used for time periods.  Below are their meanings:

1. الْيَوْمَ (day) – from Fajr (dawn) till Maghrib (sunset)
2. الَّليْلَةَ (tonight/nighttime) – from sunset till dawn
3. غُدْوَةً (early in the morning) – between dawn and sunrise
4. بُكْرَةً (early in the day) – after dawn or sunrise
5. سَحَراً (late night) – last part of the night before dawn
6. غَداً (tomorrow) – tomorrow
7. عَتَمَةً (early night) – first third of the night
8. صَبَاحاً (morning) – from midnight to noon
9. مَسَاءً (afternoon/evening) – from noon to midnight
10. أبَدًا (infinite future) – into the  endless future
11. أَمَداً (future) – into the endless future
12. حِيْناً (time/anytime) – a vague period, neither its beginning or ending is defined

Any other word that indicates a period of time can fall in this group as well, like ضُحَى (after sunrise when the ground starts to heat up), ساعَة (moment/hour), and بُرْهَة (a brief moment).

ظَرْف الْمَكانِ (The frame of space)

وَظَرْفُ الْمَكانِ هُوَ: اسْمُ الْمَكانِ المَنْصُوْبُ بِتَقْدِيْرِ “في” نَحْوُ: أمامَ، وَخَلْفَ، وَقُدَّامَ، وَوَرَاءَ، وَفَوْقَ، وَتَحْتَ، وَعِنْدَ، وَإزَاءَ، وَحِذاءَ، وَتِلْقاءَ، وَثَمَّ، وَهُنا، وَما أشْبَهَ ذَلِكَ

The frame of space: It is a noun of time that is in nasb with the implied meaning of فِيْ (“in”), like أمامَ (“in front/before”), خَلْفَ (“behind”), قُدَّامَ (“in front”), وَرَاءَ (“behind”), فَوْقَ (“above/on top of”), تَحْتَ (“below/underneath”), عِنْدَ (“at/with/by”), إزَاءَ (“opposite to”), حِذاءَ (“near/close to”), تِلْقاءَ (“opposite to”), ثَمَّ (“there”), هُنا (“here”) and whatever resembles that

The “frame of space” is like the frame of time, except that it denotes where an event happened in.

Like the frame of time, the frame of space can also be restricted (defined and bounded), like الْمَسْجِد  (“the mosque”) or الدّار (“the home”), or  it can be vague (undefined or unbounded area), like وَراء (“behind”) or أمامَ (“in front”).  For the frame of space, only the vague can be nasb-ized.

The restricted frame of time will be in jarr and will have one of the حُرُوْفُ الجَرّ (The particles of jarr) before it that gives the desired meaning, like اعْتَكَفْتُ فِيْ المَسْجِدِ (“I stayed in the mosque”) and زُرْتُ عَلِيًّا فِي دارِهِ (“I visited Ali at his home”).  As in the previous paragraph, the vague frame of time can come in nasb, but it can also come with a particle of jarr before it, like مِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ (“from behind them”) or مِنْ فَوْقِهِمْ (“from above them”) and so on.

Here are 13 words that can be used to denote space, with examples:

1. أمامَ (“in front/before”) – جَلَسْتُ أمامَ الأُسْتَاذِ مُؤَدَّبًا (“I sat in front of the teacher politely”)
2. خَلْفَ (“behind”) – سارَ الْمُشاةُ خَلْفَ الرُّكبانِ (“The infantry traveled behind the cavalry”)
3. قُدَّامَ (“in front”) – مَشى الشُّرْطِيُّ قُدّامَ الأمِيْرِ (“The cop walked in front of the prince”)
4. وَرَاءَ (“behind”) – وَقَفَ الْمُصَلُّوْنَ بَعْضُهُمْ وَراءَ بَعْضٍ (“The worshippers stood, some behind others”)
5. فَوْقَ (“above/on top of”) – جَلَسْتُ فَوْقَ الْكُرْسِّ (“I sat on the chair”)
6. تَحْتَ (“below/underneath”) – وَقَفَ الْقِطُّ تَحْتَ الْمائدَةِ (“The cat stood under the table”)
7. عِنْدَ (“at/with/by”) – لِمُحَمَّدٍ مَنْزِلَةٌ عِنْدَ الْأُسْتاذِ (“Muhammad has a position with the teacher”)
8. مَعَ (“with”) – سارَ سُلِيْمانُ مَعَ أخِيْهِ (“Sulayman traveled with his brother”)
9. إزَاءَ (“opposite to”) – لَنا دارٌ إزاءَ النِّيْلِ (“We have a home opposite the Nile”)
10. حِذاءَ (“near/close to”) – جَلَسَ أخِيْ حِذاءَ أخِيْكَ (“My brother sat close to your brother”)
11. تِلْقاءَ (“opposite to”) – جَلَسَ أخِيْ تِلْقاءَ دارِ أخِيْكَ (“My brother sat opposite your brother’s home”)
12. ثَمَّ (“there”) – وَأزْلَفْنا ثَمَّ الآخَرِيْنَ (“And we drew forward the others there”) [Quran 26:64]
13. هُنا (“here”) – جَلَسَ مُحَمَّدٌ هُنا لَحْظَةً (“Muhammad sat here for a moment”)

Note: A frame of time or space does not necessarily have to be associated with a verb for it to be in nasb.  Basically any kind of word that represents time or space with the meaning of “in” will be in nasb, and if you want an example, look at what we gave for إزاء.  There’s no verb in there, but simply mentioning where someone’s home is.  The example we gave for عِندَ also does not have a verb in it.

From the Quran

• لَبِثْتُ يَوْمًا أَوْ بَعْضَ يَوْمٍ (“I stayed for a day, or part of a day”) – 2:259
• دَعَوْتُ قَوْمِي لَيْلًا وَنَهَارًا (“I invited my people night and day“) – 71:5
• إِنِّي تُبْتُ الْآنَ (“Indeed I repent now“) – 4:18
• وَكَانَ وَرَاءَهُم مَّلِكٌ يَأْخُذُ كُلَّ سَفِينَةٍ غَصْبًا (“And there was after them a king who seized every boat by force”) – 18:79
• فَبَدَأَ بِأَوْعِيَتِهِمْ قَبْلَ وِعَاءِ أَخِيهِ (“So he began with their bags before the bag of his brother”) – 12:76
• يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ (“He knows that which is before them (literally “between their hands”) and and that which is behind them“) – 2:255

Questions

1. What is meant by the word ظَرْف, and how many kinds are there?
2. What is the “frame of time”, and how many kinds are there?
3. Can the frame of time always be in nasb?
4. What is the “frame of space”, and how many kinds are there?
5. Can the frame of space always be in nasb?

Until next time, السلام عليكم

– Mustafa

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السلام عليكم and welcome back!

We’re doing the second of the 15 types of nouns in نَصْب, which is the مَصْدَر (infinitive) when it comes as the مَفْعُوْل مُطْلَق (the absolute object) of a verb.  Read on for more!

The infinitive

المَصْدَرُ هُوَ: الاسْمُ، المَنْصُوْبُ، الّذِيْ يَجِيْءُ ثالِثاً فِيْ تَصْرِيْفِ الْفِعْلِ، نَحْوُ: ضَرَبَ يَضربُ ضَرْباً

The masdar (infinitive) is the noun in nasb that comes third in the conjugation of the verb, like ضَرَبَ (“he hit”), يَضْرِبُ (“he hits”), ضَرْبًا (“hitting”)

What’s meant by the masdar being “third in the conjugation” is that if someone tells you to conjugate the verb ضَرَبَ (“he hit”), you would first give the past tense as ضَرَبَ (“he hit”), followed by the present tense as يَضْرِبُ (“he hits”), then the masdar as ضَرْبًا (“hitting”).  It kind of makes sense to translate the masdar as the “infinitive” because it is a noun and is not tied to a finite period of time (past, present or future) like verbs are.

This conjugation (past/present/infinitive) is something that should be memorized for any new verb you encounter, but I won’t go further into that because that’s a morphology issue and this series is focusing on grammar.

When we’re discussing the masdar as one of the nouns that will be in nasb, we actually mean when the masdar is working as a مَفْعُوْل مُطْلَق (absolute object).  The absolute object is defined as ما لَيْسَ خَبَرًا مِمّا دَلَّ عَلى تَوْكِيْدِ عامِلِهِ أو نَوْعِهِ أو عَدَدِهِ (“Whatever is not a khabar from what indicates emphasis, type or number of its influence”).

“Whatever is not a khabar…” excludes when a masdar is working as khabar.  We saw earlier that one of the reasons why a noun will be in raf’ is when it’s a khabar of a nominal sentence, so we have to exclude that scenario.  In the sentence فَهْمُكَ فَهْمٌ دَقِيْقٌ (“Your understanding is a precise understanding”), the word فَهْمُ (“understanding”) is the infinitive of فَهِمَ (“he understood”), but it’s in raf’ because it’s the khabar of فَهْمُكَ (“Your understanding”).

“… from what indicates emphasis, type or number of its influence” means that there are three scenarios when the masdar will work as an an absolute object (and thus be in nasb):

1. Emphasis that the action occurred – In حَفِظْتُ الدَّرْسَ حِفْظًا (“I memorized the lesson a memorization” i.e. “I memorized the lesson definitely”), the word حِفْظًا (“memorization”) was added to emphasize that the lesson was memorized
2. Type of the action – In أحْبَبْتُ أسْتاذِيْ حُبَّ الْوَلَدِ أباهُ (“I loved my teacher the way a child loves his father”), حُبَّ الْوَلَدِ أباهُ (“the love of a child for his father”) has been added to qualify what kind of love it was
3. Number of the action – In ضَرَبْتُ الْكَسُوْلَ ضَرْبَتَيْنِ (“I hit the lazy one twice”) and ضَرَبْتُهُ ثَلاثَ ضَرْباتٍ (“I hit him thrice”), you add ضَرْبَتَيْنِ (“two hits”) or ثَلاثَ ضَرْباتٍ (“three hits”) to indicate how many times the action was done.

Kinds of the absolute object

وَهُوَ قِسْمانِ: لَفْظِيٌّ وَمَعْنَوِيٌ فَإنْ وَافَقَ لَفْظُهُ لَفْظَ فِعْلِهِ فَهُوَ لَفْظِيٌّ، نَحْوُ: قَتَلْتُهُ قَتْلاً وَإنْ وَافَقَ مَعْنَى فِعْلِهِ دُوْنَ لَفْظِهِ فَهُوَ مَعْنَوِيٌّ، نَحْوُ: جَلَسْتُ قُعُوْداً، وَقُمْتُ وُقُوْفاً، وَمَا أشْبَهَ ذَلِكَ

And it (the infinitive) is two kinds, لَفْظِيّ (by way of pronunciation) or مَعْنَوِيّ (by way of meaning).  

If it matches its verb in pronunciation, then it is لَفْظِيّ, like قَتَلْتُهُ قَتْلًا (“I killed him a killing” i.e. “I killed him definitely”).  

If it matches its verb in meaning and not in pronunciation then it is مَعْنَوِيّ, like جَلَسْتُ قُعُوْدً (“I sat a sitting” i.e.  “I sat definitely”) and قُمْتُ وُقُوْفًا (“I stood a standing” i.e. “I stood definitely”) and whatever resembles that.

There are two kinds of masdars that come as absolute objects in nasb:

1. لَفْظِيّ (by way of pronunciation) – Agrees with the verb that it’s associated with in pronunciation (it contains its letters) and in meaning, as in قَعَدْتُ قُعُوْدًا (“I sat definitely”), ضَرَبْتُهُ ضَرْبًا (“I hit him definitely”), ذَهَبْتُ ذَهابًا (“I went definitely”) and so on
2. مَعْنَوِيٌ (by way of meaning) – Agrees with the verb that it’s associated with in meaning, but not in pronunciation.  The letters in the masdar are not the letters used in the verb, as in: جَلَسْتُ قُعُوْدًا (“I sat definitely”), فَرْحْتُ جَذَلًا (“I rejoiced definitely”) and قُمْتُ وُقُوْفًا (“I stood definitely”) and so on.  In all of these the masdar and the verb have a similar meaning, but do not have the same letters.

From the Quran

• Emphasis – إِنَّا فَتَحْنَا لَكَ فَتْحًا مُّبِينًا (Indeed, We have given you, [O Muhammad], a clear conquest) – 48:1
• Emphasis – وَرَتِّلِ الْقُرْآنَ تَرْتِيلًا (and recite the Qur’an with measured recitation) – 73:4
• Number of times –  فَيَمِيلُونَ عَلَيْكُم مَّيْلَةً وَاحِدَةً (so they could come down upon you in one [single] attack)  – 4:102
• How the action is done – يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ (O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims) – 3:102

Questions

1. What is the مَصْدَر (infinite)?
2. How many purposes can the absolute object be used for?
3. How many kinds of absolute objects are there with respect to matching up with the verb?

Until next time, السلام عليكم

– Mustafa

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