10 Particles of Nasb (Nasb-izers of verbs)

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله,

We’ve spent quite a bit of time recently on how verbs look like in the past tense, present tense and command forms. We know that out of all those, the concept of grammatical status (i.e. changes in the ending of the word) only applies to present tense verbs.  We also know how the endings look like when they change.  Now we’re going to answer the question of how these changes will happen.  That is, what can come and force a verb into nasb, and what can come and force it into jazm?  We’ll look at the nasb-izers now, then the jazm-izers in a later post إن شاء الله

The Nasb-izers of the present tense verb

ْالنَواصِبُ عَشَرَةُ وَهِي: أنْ وَلَنْ وَإذَنْ وَكَيْ وَلامُ كَيْ وَلامُ الجُحُوْدِ وَحَتَّى وَالجَوابُ بِالفاءِ وَالْوَاوِ وَأو

The influences that cause nasb are 10, and they are:

1. أنْ
2. لَنْ
3. إذَنْ
4. كَيْ
5. The ل of كَي
6. The ل of rejection
7. حَتَّى
8. Responding using ف
9. Responding using و
10. أو

The tools used to give nasb to a مُضارِع (present tense verb) are 10 and they fall into 3 divisions:

1. Causes nasb by itself (4 particles)
   1. أن – a particle that gives the meaning of the noun and in the future. For example:
      1. أطْمَعُ أنْ يَغْفِرَ لِي – “I hope that He forgives me” [26:82]
      2. و أخافُ أن يَأكُلَهُ الذِئْبُ – “And I fear that the wolf will eat him” [12:13]
      3. إنِّي لَيَحزُنُنِي أنْ تَذْهَبُوا بِهِ – “That you go with him certainly grieves me” [12:13]
      4. و أجْمَعُوا أن يَجْعَلُوهُ – “And they agreed that they would make him…” [12:15]
   2. لَنْ – a particle used to negate that something will happen in the future. For example:
      1. لَنْ نُؤْمِنَ لَكَ – “We won’t believe you” [2:55]
      2. لَنْ نَبْرَحَ عَلَيْهِ عاكِفِينَ – “We won’t cease being devoted” [20:91]
      3. لَنْ تَنالُوا البِرَّ – “You won’t attain righteousness” [3:92]
   3. إذَنْ – a particle used to reply to something with a reward or an outcome.
      1. Three pre-requisites for ْإذَن to work as a nasb-izer:
         1. It must be in the beginning of the reply
         2. The present tense verb that occurs after it has a meaning in the future
         3. Nothing can come between إذنْ and the verb except
            1. An oath (e.g. “By Allah”)
            2. Calling out (e.g. “O Umar”)
            3. The لا of negation (i.e. “No”)
      2. An example that meets these prerequisites is if someone says to you ْسَأجْتَهِدُ فِيْ دُرُوْسِي (“I will strive in my lessons”) and you then say إذنْ تَنْجَحَ (“Then you will succeed”)
      3. An example with an oath separating them is if you say إذنْ وَاللهِ تَنْجَحَ (“Then, by Allah, you will succeed”)
      4. An example with a call separating them is if you say إذنْ يا مُحَمَّدُ تَنْجَحَ (“Then, O Muhammad, you will succeed”)
      5. An example with the لا of negation separating them
         1. إذَنْ لا يَخِيْبَ سَعيُكَ (“Then your efforts will not fail”)
         2. إذَنْ وَاللهِ لا يَذهَبَ عَمَلُكَ ضَياعاً (“Then, by Allah, your efforts will not go wasted”)
   4. كَيْ – a particle that gives the verb the meaning of the noun. The condition for it to nasb-ize a verb is that the ل of causation (“in order to” or “so that”) comes before it, either explicitly as in لِكَي لا تأسَوا [Quran 57:20] or implicitly as in كَيْ لا يَكُوْنَ دُوْلَةً [Quran 57:20]. If there’s no ل before it, whether explicitly or implicitly, then the nasb is happening because of a hidden أنْ, and كي itself is giving the meaning of causation.
2. Causes nasb using an أن after it that is allowed to be hidden. It is one particle, the causative ل, which is also called “the laam of كي” because they both give a causative (e.g. “in order to”, “so that” meaning. You can assume a hidden أن before the verb, but it still works without it. For example:
   1. لِيغفِرَ لَكَ اللهُ ما تَقَدَّمَ مِنْ ذَنبِكَ وَ ما تأخّرَ – “So that Allah will forgive…” [48:2]
   2. لِيُعَذّبَ اللهُ المُنافِقِيْنَ وَالمُنافِقاتِ – “So that Allah will punish the hypocrite men and women” [33:73]
3. Causes nasb using an أن after it that must be hidden (5 particles).  For all of these you have to assume a hidden أن before the verb.
   1. لام الجُحُوْد (The ل of denial), and its rule is that ما كان or لَمْ يَكُن comes before it
      1. ما كانَ اللهُ لِيَذَرَ (“Allah would not leave…”) [3:179]
      2. لَم يكُنِ اللهُ لِيَغْفِرَ لَهُم (“Allah will never forgive them”) [4:168]
   2. حَتى – It gives them meaning of limit and causation.
      1. It gives a limit when what is before حتى stops existing when what’s after it happens (حتى يَرْجِعَ إلينا مُوسى – “…until Musa returns to us”)  [20:91]
      2. Causation is when what is before حتى causes what is after it (ذاكِر حَتّى تنْجَحَ – “Review until you succeed“)
   3. The فاء سَبَبِية (the causative ف), if it occurs as the answer to a negation or request.  What happens before the ف is the reason for what’s after it.  Look how all the verbs after فَ show nasb.
      1. An example with negation is لا يُقضى عَلِيهِمْ فَيَمُوتُوا (“They are not decreed against so that they die“) [35:36]
      2. A request can be one of eight things.
         1. الأمر (command)
            • ذاكِرْ فَتَنْجَحَ (“Study so that you succeed“)
         2. الدُعاء (request to one greater in status)
            • اللهُمَّ اهْدِنِيْ فَأعْمَلَ الخَيْرَ (“O Allah, guide me so that I work good”)
         3. النَهْي (prohibition)
            • لا تَلْعَبْ فَيَضِيْعَ أمَلُكَ (“Don’t play around so that your hope is wasted“)
         4. الاسْتِفهام (questioning)
            • هَلْ حَفِظْتَ دُرُوْسَكَ فَأسْمَعَها لَكَ (“Have you memorized your lessons so that I listen to them for you?”) – أسْمَعُ became أسْمَعَ
         5. العَرْض (asking for something nicely)
            • ألا تُزُوْرُنا فَنُكْرِمَكَ (“Won’t you visit us so that we honor you?”) – نُكْرِمُ became نُكْرِمَ
         6. التَحْضِيْض (prodding or goading)
            • هَلّا أدَّيْتَ وَاجِبَكَ فَيَشْكُرَكَ أبُوْكَ (“Haven’t you fulfilled your duty so that your father thanks you”)
         7. ْالتَمَنِّي (wishing for something impossible or hard for it to happen)
            • ألا لَيْتَ الشَبابَ يَعُوْدُ يَوْماً فَأُخْبِرَهُ بِما فَعَلَ المَشِيْبُ (“If only youth would return so that I tell it what old age has done”) – أُخْبِرُ became أُخْبِرَ
            • لَيْتَ لِيْ مالاً فَأحُجَّ بِهِ (“If only I had money so that I make Hajj with it”)
         8. الرَجاء (expressing hope for something that’s close to happening)
            • لَعَلَّ اللهَ يَشْفِيْنِيْ فَأزُوْرَكَ (“Perhaps Allah will cure me so that I visit you”)
   4. The واو مَعية (Theو of accompaniment).  It’s used to show something is alongside something else.  It has the same effect as the causative ف.  In the examples above if you replace the ف with this و, the meaning changes from “so that” to “as/while” (“Study while you succeed”, “Guide me as I work good”, etc.)
   5. أو – It usually means “or”, but when it comes with the meaning of إلا (“except”) or إلى (“until”), it causes nasb
      1. لَاقْتُلَنَّ المُجْرِمُ أَوْ يُسْلِمَ (“I will certainly kill the criminal, except that he submits“)
      2. لأسْتَشْهِلَنَّ الصَعْبَ أو أُدِرَكَ المُنى (“I will certainly deem the hardship to be easy, until I attain the desires”)

More examples from the Quran

I’ve found examples for all of these nasb-izers in the Quran except for إذَنْ and او.  Here are a few examples of ف and و as nasb-izers before we wrap up with the review questions:

• ف in response to a prohibition: وَلَا تَطْغَوْا فِيهِ فَيَحِلَّ عَلَيْكُمْ غَضَبِي (“and do not transgress therein, lest My anger should descend upon you”) [20:81]
• ف in response to incitement/goading: لَا أَخَّرْتَنِي إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ قَرِيبٍ فَأَصَّدَّقَ (” if only You would delay me for a brief term so I would give charity“) [63:10]
• ف in response to a wish: يَا لَيْتَنِي كُنتُ مَعَهُمْ فَأَفُوزَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا (“Oh, I wish I had been with them so I could attain a great attainment.”) [4:73]
• ف in response to a hope: لَّعَلِّي أَبْلُغُ الْأَسْبَابَ, أَسْبَابَ السَّمَاوَاتِ فَأَطَّلِعَ إِلَىٰ إِلَٰهِ مُوسَىٰ (“… that I might reach the ways – The ways into the heavens – so that I may look at the deity of Moses”) [40:36-37]
• و in response to a negation: وَلَمَّا يَعْلَمِ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا مِنكُمْ وَيَعْلَمَ الصَّابِرِينَ (“when Allah has not yet tested those of you who fought along with testing those who are the patient ones”) [3:142].  When used this way, و doesn’t mean “and”, it means that the two things are happening at the same time (one is happening while the other is happening)
• و in response to a wish: يَا لَيْتَنَا نُرَدُّ وَلَا نُكَذِّبَ بِآيَاتِ رَبِّنَا وَنَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (“Oh, would that we could be returned [to life on earth] along with not denying the signs of our Lord and being among the believers.”)

Remember, any time you see a verb in nasb, it became that way using one of these 10 نَواصِب (nasb-izers).  We need to train ourselves so that anytime we see a verb in nasb, we’ll look for which nasb-izer is being used.

Next up: jazm-izers of verbs.  Now, review these questions and find the answers above (they’re for you, not for me 🙂 )

Questions

1. What are the four particles that cause nasb by themselves?
2. What do these particles mean?
   1. ْأن
   2. ْلَن
   3. إذَنْ
   4. كَيْ
3. What are the conditions for إذَنْ to be a nasb-izer?
4. When does nasb happen using an أنْ that’s allowed to be implied?
5. When does it happen using an أنْ that has to be implied?
6. What rule does لام الجُحُوْد (The ل of denial) follow?
7. When meanings does حَتى come with?
8. What are the things that one of them has to come before a causative ف or a و of accompaniment?

Until next time, السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

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