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Rules for writing hamzah

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السلام عليكم

Continuing from Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen’s قواعد في الإملاء (Rules for Writing), we learn when to write the hamzah (ء) in its various forms.

The hamzah can occur in the:

  1. beginning of a word
  2. end of a word
  3. middle of a word

When hamzah occurs at the beginning of a word

In this case the hamzah is always written in the alif form (أ or إ). For example, in أُكْرِم أَبُوْكَ إكْرامًا (your father was honored an honoring), all three words have the hamzah in the beginning.

When hamzah occurs at the end of a word

At the end of the word, hamzah is:

  1. sometimes written as itself (ء):
    1. If the letter before it has a waw with dhammah and a shaddah (وًّ). For example: التَبَوُّءُ
    2. If the letter before it has sukun on it. For example: دِفْء (warmth), قُرُوْء (menstrual cycles), دُعاء (invocation), and مَلِيْء (filled)
      • An exception would be if the hamzah is nasb-ized with tanwin and it is possible to connect it to the silent letter. It would then be written over a ي. For example: خِطْئًا كَبِيرًا and شَيْئًا مَذْكُوْرًا
  2. sometimes written on a letter that resembles the vowel on before it
    1. Upon a waw (و), as in التَواطُؤُ
    2. Upon an alif (ا), as in قَرَأَ
    3. Upon a yaa (ي) as in قُرِئَ

When hamzah is in the middle of a word

In this case, it can be written:

[Read more…] about Rules for writing hamzah

Rules for writing alif

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السلام عليكم ورحمة الله,

One of the biggest points of confusion is when to write the letter alif in the form of ا and when to write it as ى. From Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen’s قواعد في الإملاء (Rules for Writing), we will learn when it’s ا and when it’s ى.

The alif can fall:

  1. In the middle of the word (in this case it’s always written as ا)
  2. At the end of the word (here it can be written as ا or ى)

When alif is written as ا

There are five situations when it is written as ا at the end:

  1. The word is a harf, such as كَلّا and لَوْلا. Exceptions to this are بَلى – إلى – عَلى – حَتّى, as long as they don’t have the م used for questioning attached to them. Then you would write them as إلامَ – عَلامَ – حَتّامَ
  2. The word is mabni, such as the pronoun نا in قُمْنا (“we stood”) and the pointing pronoun ذا (“this”). Excluded from this are:
    • أنَّى
    • مَتَى
    • the pointing pronoun أولى (which also comes as أولاء)
    • the relative pronoun الأُلى (like الَّذِيْنَ, a plural form of الَّذِي)
    • لَدَى
  3. The word is a non-Arab word (e.g. أمْرِيْكا), with exceptions ending with ى:
    • مُوْسى
    • عِيْسى
    • كِسْرى
    • بُخارَى
    • مَتَّى
  4. The word is ثُلاثِيّ (has a tri-literal root) and the alif was originally a و, as in دَعا (“he called”) and العَصا (“the stick”). Both of these have و as their third root letter
  5. The alif has a ي before it, as in دُنْيا and سَجايا. Excluded from this are proper names, so يَحْيَى is written with the ى

When alif is written as ى

There are three situations when it is written as ى at the end:

[Read more…] about Rules for writing alif

Grammar rules from al-Nahw al-Waadhih

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Finally, a cheat sheet for Arabic grammar rules!

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته,

Below is a list of grammar rules that I’ve extracted from a work called النَحْوُ الْوَاضِحُ by Shaykhs Ali al-Jarim and Mustafa Ameen.  I haven’t studied this book with any teachers, but I found out about it when I was studying another book that they wrote, ُالبَلاغَةُ الوَاضِحَة.

Every section in the book brings examples and then mentions the rules derived from them.  I thought that it would be nice just to have a “cheat sheet” of rules I can go back to quickly review without having to flip through 400 pages of examples and discussion.  I’ve tried to keep it to just the rules, adding examples only as necessary, because the expectation is that you’ve already studied it in detail and just need to recap things.  If you don’t already know them, then head on to the Arabic grammar series and start from there.

Note: The numbers at the end of the headings are the page numbers where they are found in the original PDF.  The rules are as mentioned by the original authors, unless stated otherwise.  Also, the numbering of the rules is slightly off because some numerals were skipped in the original work.  Lastly, I highly suggest that you not use this to actually cheat on an exam (I don’t think there’s any realistic way to fit 20+ pages into that small a space anyhow…)

الْجُمْلَةُ الْمُفِيْدَةُ (The beneficial sentence) 11

  1. The composite phrase that offers a complete benefit is called a جُمْلَة مُفِيْدَة (beneficial sentence), or also كَلام (speech)
  2. The جُمْلَة مفيدة could be composed of two words or more, and each word is considered to be part of it

[Read more…] about Grammar rules from al-Nahw al-Waadhih

3 types of nouns in جَرّ

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Knowing the words that are in jarr doesn’t have to be such a “drag” if you pay attention to the words I’m saying!

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته,

Welcome to the end, that is, the end of our Arabic grammar series based on al-Ajurroomiyyah (but don’t worry, I’ve got of plenty of other stuff planned out to write on).  We’ve looked at all the situations that a noun can be in raf’ or nasb.  Today, we’ll look at when it can be in jarr and we’ll get it all done in one final segment إن شاء الله.

By the way, the word جَرّ means “to drag something”, which makes sense because kasrah is written using a dragging stroke below the letter.

And away we go…

الْمَخْفُوْضَاتُ ثَلاثَةُ أنْوَاعٍ: مَخْفُوْضٌ بِالْحَرْفِ، وَمَخْفُوْضٌ بِالإضافَةِ، وَتابِعٌ لِلْمَخْفُوْضِ

The khafdh-ized words are three: khafdh-ized using particles, khafdh-ized using idhafah and a follower of a khafdh-ized word

They are three kinds of jarr-ized words (the Ajurroomiyyah uses khafdh instead of jarr, but they are the same thing).  Each will be explained in detail further below: [Read more…] about 3 types of nouns in جَرّ

الْمَفْعُوْلُ مَعَهُ (The object of accompaniment)

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Yes, even actions need good company now and then!

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

The مَفْعُول مَعَهُ (object of accompaniment) is the 11th of the 15 types of nouns in نَصْب and tells us who/what an action was done along with.  First, its definition from al-Ajurroomiyyah:

وَهُوَ: الاسْمُ المَنْصُوْبُ الَّذِيْ يُذْكَرُ لِبَيانِ مَنْ فُعِلَ مَعَهُ الْفِعْلُ، نَحْوُ قَوْلِكَ: جاءَ الأمِيْرُ وَالْجَيْشَ وَاسْتَوى الْماءُ وَالخَشَبَةَ

It (the object of accompaniment) is the nasb-ized noun that is mentioned to clarify who the action was done along with, like your saying جاءَ الأمِيْرُ وَالْجَيْشَ (“The leader came with the army”) and اسْتَوى الْماءُ وَالخَشَبَةَ (“the water became level along with the wood”)

The object of accompaniment is :

  1. An اسْم (noun) – Just like for the تَمْيِيْز (distinction), 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. An extra addition to the sentence – It’s not an essential component of the sentence like the doer of a verbal sentence or the mubtada’ or khabar of a nominal sentence.
  3. In nasb – either using a verb (e.g. حَضَرَ الْأَمِيْرُ وَالْجَيْشَ – “The leader came with the army”) or another word from the same root that has the meaning of the verb (e.g. الأمَيْرُ حاضِرٌ وَالْجَيْشَ – “The leader is present along with the army”)
  4. The entity in whose company the action occurred
  5. Preceded by a و that is textually used to indicate the accompaniment – It probably would have been more precise if the definition was given as “the nasb-ized noun that is mentioned after و with the meaning of ‘with'”

Now, the noun that comes after the و as a مفعُول معه can be one of two types: [Read more…] about الْمَفْعُوْلُ مَعَهُ (The object of accompaniment)

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