Arabic Grammar

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله,

Things are starting to pick up now in our Arabic grammar series.  We’ve gone through all the status indicators and how words look like in their different statuses.  Then we started looking at why status changes will happen, starting with what causes nasb and jazm in a verb.

Today, we’re going to move on to what causes an اسم (noun) to have a particular status.  As a refresher, a noun can have one of three possible statuses:

1. رَفْع (raf’) – Usually represented by a dhammah at the end
2. نَصْب (nasb) – Usually represented by a fathah at the end
3. جَرّ (jarr), otherwise known as خَفْض (khafdh) – Usually represented by a kasrah at the end

Each of these positions has influences that demand it. We start with raf’, because it is the most honorable.

عَدَدُ الْمَرْفُوْعاتِ  وَأمْثالُها (The number of  nouns in رَفْع and their examples)

بابُ مَرْفُوْعاتِ الأسْماءِ – المَرْفُوْعاتُ سَبْعَةٌ وَهِيَ: الْفَاعِلُ وَالْمَفْعُوْلُ الَّذِيْ لَمْ يُسَمَّ فَاعِلُهُ وَالْمُبْتَدَأُ وَخَبَرُهُ وَاسْمُ “كانَ” وَأخَوَاتِها وَخَبَرُ “إنَّ” وَأخَواتِها وَالتَّابِعُ لِلْمَرْفُوْعِ, وَهُوَ أربَعَةُ أشْيَاء: النََعْتُ وَالْعَطْفُ وَالتَّوْكِيْدُ وَالْبَدَلُ

Chapter on the nouns in رفع status – The nouns put in raf’ are 7:

1. الفاعِل – the doer of an action
2. المَفعُولُ الذِي لَم يُسَمَّ فاعِلُه -The object of an action whose doer has not been mentioned
3. المُبتَدَأ – The Subject of a nominal sentence
4. خَبَرُه – Information about the subject
5. The اسم of كان and its siblings
6. The خَبَر of إن and its siblings
7. A grammatical follower of a word in رفع status, which can be a:
   1. نَعْت – Description
   2. عَطْف – Conjunction
   3. تَوْكِيْد – Emphasis
   4. بَدَل – Substitute

A noun will be in raf’ in the following seven situations.  Each of them is going to be covered in detail in a later post إنْ شاء الله, so don’t worry if you haven’t come across them yet. [Read more…] about 7 types of nouns in رَفْع

السلام عليكم,

We’ve looked into why a verb will be in the state of nasb.  Today, we’re going to see what can change it into the state of jazm.

The Jazm-izers of the present tense verb

وَالْجَوَازِمُ ثَمَانِيَةَ عَشَرَ, وَهِيَ لَمْ, وَلَمَّا, وَأَلَمْ, وَأَلَمََا, وَلامُ الأمْرِ وَالْدُعاءِ, وَ ((لا)) فِي النَهْيِ وَالْدُعاءِ, وَإِنْ, وَمَا, وَمَنْ, وَمَهْما, وَإِذْما, وَأَيٌّ, وَمَتَى, وَأَيْنَ, وَأَيَّانَ, وَأَنََى, وَحَيْثُما, وَكَيْفَما, وَإِذا فِيْ الشِّعْرِ خاصَّةً

The influences that cause jazm are 18, and they are:

1. لَمْ
2. لَمَّا
3. أَلَمْ
4. أَلَمَّا
5. The ل of commanding and beseeching
6. لا in prohibition and beseeching
7. إِنْ
8. مَا
9. مَنْ
10. مَهْمَا
11. إِذْمَا
12. أَيٌّ
13. مَتَى
14. أَيْنَ
15. أَيَّانَ
16. أَنَّى
17. حَيْثُما
18. كَيْفَما

And in poetry only: إِذْا

There are 18 tools used to put a verb in jazm, and they are divided into 2 groups below.  If a verb is attached to a pronoun, I bring it out.  Otherwise, you should be able to figure out how it looked like in raf’ before becoming jazm-ized.

1. Puts one verb into jazm – All of these are harf‘s by consensus
   1. لَمْ – Used for negation and changes the meaning to the past tense (i.e. something didn’t happen in the past)
      1. لَمْ يَكُنِ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوْا  (“The ones who disbelieved were not…”) [Quran 98:1]
      2. لَمْ تُؤْمِنُوْا (“You have not believed”) [49:14]
   2. لَمَّا – Like لَمْ, but a key difference is that it means something hasn’t happened yet (i.e. till now)
      1. بَلْ لَمَّا يَذُوْقُوْا عَذابِ (“Rather they have not yet tasted my punishment”) [38:8]
   3. أَلَمْ – It’s the same as لَمْ, but with a أ used to ask a yes/no question
      1. ألَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ (“Have we not opened your breast for you?”) [94:1]
   4. أَلَمَّا – Same as لَمَّا, but with the added أ
      1. ألَمَّا أُحْسِنْ إلَيْكَ؟ (“Haven’t I yet been good to you?”)
   5. The ل of commanding and beseeching –  You’re seeking that someone do something
      • Commanding is from the higher one to the lower
        1. فَلْيَقُلْ خَيْرًا أو لِيَصْمُتْ (“Then he should say good or keep silent“) [al-Bukhari and Muslim]
      • Du’a is from the lower to the higher
        1. لِيَقْضِ عَلَيْنا رَبُّكَ (“Let your Lord put an end to us!”) [43:77]
   6. لا in prohibition and beseeching – You’re seeking that someone not do something
      • Like the command, prohibiting is from the higher to the lower
        1. لا تَخَفْ (“Don’t fear”) [20:68]
        2. لا تَقُوْلوُا رَاعِنا (“Don’t say Raai’inaa”) [2:104]
        3. لا تَغْلُوْا فِيْ دِيْنِكُمْ (“Don’t commit excess in your religion”) [4:171]
      • Du’a is from the lower to the higher
        1. رَبَّنا لا تُؤاخِذْنا (“Our Lord, don’t punish us“) [2:186] – تُؤاخِذْ (“you punish”)
        2. لا تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْنا إصْرًا (“Don’t impose on us a burden”) [2:186]
2. Puts two verbs into jazm – The first is called shart (condition) and the second is called its jawaab (response) and its jazaa (consequence). There are 12 jazm-izers in this group, and it breaks down into four sub-sections:
   1. There is a consensus that it’s a harf (particle):
      1. إنْ – For example: إنْ تُذاكِرْ تَنْجَحْ (“If you revise, you will succeed”).  إن is a particle used for conditional statements.  The condition (تُذاكِرْ – “you study”) and the consequence (تَنْجَحْ – “you succeed”) are both in jazm because of إنْ
   2. There is consensus that it’s an ism (noun) – These are nine:
      1. مَنْ (“who”) – used for intelligent beings
         • مَنْ يُكْرِمْ جارَهُ يُحْمَدْ (“Whoever honors his neighbor is thanked“)
      2. مَا (“what”) – used for non-intelligent beings
         • ما تَصْنَعْ تُجْزَ بِهِ (“Whatever you do, you will be rewarded for it”
      3. أَيٌّ (“which”) – you might see ما after it
         • أيًّا ما تَدْعُوْا فَلَهُ الأسْماءُ الحُسْنَى (“Whichever you all call, for His are the most beautiful names” [17:110]
      4. مَتَى (“when”) – it can come with a ما after it
         • مَتَى تَلْتَفِتْ إلى وَاجِبِكَ تَنَلْ رِضا رَبِّكَ (“Whenever you attend to your duty, you’ll earn the pleasure of your Lord”
      5. أَيَّانَ (“when”) – it can come with a ما
         • أَيَّانَ تَلْقَنِيْ أُكْرِمْكَ (“Whenever you meet me, I’ll honor you”) – تَلْقَ (“you meet”)  and أُكْرِمْ (“I honor”)
      6. أَيْنَ (“where”) – it can come with a ما after it
         • أَيْنَمَا يُوَجِّههُّ لَا يَأْتِ بِخَيْرٍ (“Wherever He directs him, he brings no good”) [16:76] – يُوَجِّهْ (“he directs”)
         • أَيْنَمَا تَكُونُوا يُدْرِككُّمُ الْمَوْتُ (“Wherever you all may be, death will overtake you”) [4:78] – يُدْرِكْ (“it overtakes”)
      7. أَنَّى (“where”)
         • أنَّى يَكُنِ السَلامُ فاشِيًا يَأمَنِ الناسُ (“Wherever peace is widespread, the people will feel safe“)
      8. حَيْثُما (“where”) – Needs to have ما after it to work as a jazm-izer
         • حَيْثُما تَسْتَقِمْ يُقَدِّرْ لَكَ اللهُ نَجاحًا (“Wherever you stand firm, Allah will ordain success for you”)
      9. كَيْفَما (“however”) – both of the jazm-ized verbs have to be from the same verb.  In both of the examples below, the condition and the consequence are both from the verb يَكُوْنُ (“to be”)
         • كَيْفَما تَكُنِ الأُمَّةُ يَكُنِ الْوُلاةُ (“However the nation is, its rulers will be“)
         • كَيْفَما تَكُنْ نِيَّتُكَ يَكُنْ ثَوابُ اللهِ لَكَ (“However your intention is, Allah’s reward for you will be“)
      10. إِذا – I know I said “9”, but the Arabs cheated a little bit and allowed إذا as a jazm-izer in poetry only.  You won’t find it like that otherwise, so it’s not really considered a jazm-izer.
          • إذا تُصِبْكَ خَصاصَةٌ فَتَجَمَّلِ (“If destitution befalls you, then adorn yourself”)
   3. Difference of opinion, but the majority say it’s a harf (particle)
      1. إذْما – Used for conditions.  Must have a ما after it to be jazm-izer
   4. Difference of opinion, but the majority say it’s an ism (noun)
      1. مَهْمَا – Used for conditions
         • وَقَالُوا مَهْمَا تَأْتِنَا بِهِ مِنْ آيَةٍ لِّتَسْحَرَنَا بِهَا فَمَا نَحْنُ لَكَ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ (”And they said, ‘No matter what sign you bring us with which to bewitch us, we will not be believers in you.'”) [7:132]

[Read more…] about 18 Jazm-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”)

[Read more…] about 10 Particles of Nasb (Nasb-izers of verbs)

السلام عليكم,

We’ve looked in detail at all the status indicators and all the words we will see these indicators in.  By now, we’re more than a third of the way into our journey through this Arabic grammar, so if you’ve been following along, you’ve come a long way!  For the next few sections, we’re going to look a little bit at verbs: what kind of verbs there are, what rules they follow, and what factors will change their state.  Ready? Let’s do this!

Kinds of Verbs

الأفعالُ ثَلاثَةٌ: ماضٍ وَمُضارِعٌ وَأمْرٌ, نَحْوُ ضَرَبَ وَيَضْرِبُ وَاضْرِبْ

Verbs are (one of ) three: ماض (past tense), مُضارِع (present tense), and أمر (command), like ضَرَبَ (“He struck”), يَضْرِبُ (“He strikes”) and اضْرِبْ (“Strike!”)

Verbs are divided into three kinds:

1. الماضِيْ (perfect/past tense) – goes back to the time before someone is speaking
2. المُضارع (imperfect/present) – refers to the same time that someone is speaking in or to the future.  It’s technically not right to simply say it’s a “present tense” verb, but that’s the nearest translation.  Grammarians call it “imperfect” because it hasn’t finished executing yet, which also implies that ماض (past tense) is “perfect” because it’s completed.
3. أمر (command) – the speaker is seeking that something be done, so this would have to relate to the future

 

Some example verbs, just to give an idea:

	Perfect	Imperfect	Command
To hit	ضَرَبَ (He hit)	يَضْرِبُ (He hits)	اضْرِبْ (Hit!)
To help	نَصَرَ	يَنْصُرُ	انْصُرْ
To open	فَتَحَ	يَفْتَحُ	افْتَحْ
To know	عَلِمَ	يَعْلَمُ	اعْلَمْ
To presume	حَسِبَ	يَحْسِبُ	احْسِبْ
To be noble	كَرُمَ	يَكْرُمُ	اكْرُمْ

I’ve only translated the first row, because all the other rows work the same way.  We’ve mentioned this before as well in Verbs and Particles along with the Signs of the فعل .

أحكام الفِعْل (Rules for verbs)

فَالماضِيْ مَفْتُوْحُ الآخِر أبَدًا وَالأمْرُ مَجْزُوْمٌ أبَدًا, و المُضارِعُ ما كانَ فِي أوَّلِهِ إحدى الزَوائدِ الأربَعِ التِي يَجْمَعُها قَولُكَ “أنَيت” وَهُوَ مَرْفُوْعٌ أبَدًا حَتَّي يَدْخُلَ عَلَيْهِ ناصِبٌ أو جازِمٌ

The perfect tense is always ended with fathah, and the command is always in jazm.  The imperfect tense is whatever has one of the four letters that are combined in the word “أنيت”, and it is always in raf’ until something that causes nasb or jazm enters it.

The rule for the ماض (perfect tense)

The ماض  is fixed upon fathah, and this fathah can be apparent or implied.

As for the apparent fathah, you’ll see it in the verb whose final root letter is normal and neither the و of the plural nor a voweled pronoun that is used for the doer attaches to the end of it. The same goes for a verb whose final root letter is a و or a ي. For example:

• أكرَمَ (“He ennobled”), قدّمَ (“He advanced”) and سافَرَ (“He traveled”) – We see the fathah on the final letter
• سافَرَتْ زينبُ (“Zaynab traveled”) and حَضَرَتْ سعادُ (“Su’ad arrived”) – The تْ used for the female doer is attached to the end.  Because it is silent and not voweled, we still see the fathah on the ر
• شَقِيَ and رَضِيَ – We see the fathah on the ي
• سَرُوَ and بَذُوَ – ًWe see the fathah on the و

As for the implied fathah, then there are three reasons why a fathah will not show up:

1.  التَعَذُّر – Impossibility of placing a vowel. You see this in whatever ends with an ا or ى (alif maqsurah), for example دَعا and سَعى. Each of these is a past tense verb that is fixed onto an implied fathah at the end.  The fathah‘s appearance is blocked by the impossibility of putting a vowel on an alif.
2. المُناسَبَة – Association with a vowel. This is any verb that has the و of the plural.  For example, كَتَبُوا (“they wrote”) and سَعِدُوا (“they were happy”). Each of these is a past tense verb, fixed upon an implied fathah at its end.  The fathah cannot appear because the space is already occupied by the dhammah that comes with the plural و.  The و in each of them is the doer, fixed onto sukun, in the status of raf’.
3. دفع الكراهة – Warding off the disliked presence of four consecutive voweled letters. This is in any past tense that has a voweled pronoun for the doer at the end of it, such as the ت of the doer, and the ن of the feminine plural. For example, كَتَبْتُ (“I wrote”), كَتَبْتَ (“You wrote”), كَتَبْتِ (“You[f.] wrote”), كَتَبْنا (“We wrote”) and كتَبْنَ (“They[f.] wrote”). Each of these past tense verbs sticks to an implied fathah on the ب.  The fathah can’t show because the space is taken up by a sukun that pops up to prevent having four consecutive voweled letters. Whatever is after the ب (i.e the ت, نا or ن) is the doer, in the status of raf’.

While we’re at it, I should probably show you the ending pronouns for the doer in the past tense.  You can find them here.

 

The rule for the أمر (command)

The rule for the command is to keep it fixed on whatever is used to put the imperfect in jazm.  We learned from The signs of جزم that there are only two ways to put a verb in jazm: 1) using sukun and 2) dropping the final letter.

If an imperfect verb has a normal final root letter, you’d use sukun to put it in jazm.  That means that the command form of the verb is also fixed on sukun.  Like the fathah used for past tense verbs, the sukun is either apparent or applied.

The apparent sukun has two situations:

1. Final letter is normal and with nothing attached at the end (e.g اضْرِبْ [“Hit!”] and اكْتُبْ [ً”Write!”]).  The words يَضْرِبُ (“He hits”) and يَكْتُبُ (“He writes”) both use a sukun to go into jazm, so their commands will have the sukun as well.
2. The ن of the feminine plural attaches to the end (e.g. اضْرِبْنَ -“Hit, you[f.] all!”) and اكْتُبْنَ – “Write, you[f.] all!”)

The implied سكون has one situation, and that is when either the heavy or light ن of emphasis attaches to the end the verb (e.g اضْرِبَنْ and اكْتُبَنْ and اضْرِبَنَّ and اكْتُبَنَّ)

If an imperfect tense verb’s final letter is a defective (i.e. it’s one of  ا – و- ي), then it is given jazm by dropping the defective letter and the command is also built on dropping the defective letter.  For example:

• ادْعُ (“Invite!”) – The original verbيَدْعُوْ (“he invites”) drops the و in jazm to become يَدْعُ
• اقْضِ (“Decree!”) – The original verb يَقْضِيْ (“he decrees”) drops the ي in jazm to become يَقْضِ
• اسْعَ (“Strive!”) – The original verb يَسْعَى (“he strives”) drops the ى in jazm to become يَسْعَ

If the imperfect is one of the Five Verbs that take jazm by dropping the ن, then the command is also built on dropping the ن.  For example:

• اكْتُبا (“Write, both of you!”) comes from تَكْتُبانِ (“you both write”)
• اكْتُبُوْا (“Write, all of you!”) comes from تَكْتُبُوْنَ (“you all write”)
• اكْتُبِيْ (Write! [single female])” comes from تَكْتُبِيْنَ (“you[f.] write”)

All of these present tense verbs would drop their final ن in jazm, so their command forms will be built the same way, with the same ending.

[Read more…] about Kinds of verbs and their rules

السلام عليكم and welcome back!  In Words that take status using vowels, we learned that that all the words that take status in the Arabic language are only eight kinds, four that do it using vowels and four that do it using letters.  We’ve looked at the first four and now we finish up by looking at the remaining four…

Words that that take status using letters

وّالَّذِيْ يُعْرَبُ بِالْحُرُوْفِ أرْبَعَةُ أنْواع: التَثْنِيَةُ وَجَمْعُ المُذَكَّرِ السالِمُ وَالْأسْماءُ الْخَمْسَةُ وَالأفْعالُ الخَمْسَةُ, وَهِيَ: يَفْعَلانِ وَتَفْعَلانِ وَيَفْعَلُوْنَ وَتَفْعَلُوْنَ وَتَفْعَلِيْنَ

The word that takes status using letters is one of four kinds: the dual, the sound masculine plural, the Five Nouns and the Five Verbs, which are يَفْعَلانِ – تَفْعَلانِ – يَفْعَلُوْنَ – تَفْعَلُوْنَ – تَفْعَلِيْنَ

There are only four letters that are used to give status: alif (ا), waw (و), yaa (ي) and nun (ن), and there are four things given status using these letters:

1. The dual (المُثَّنى) – For example, المِصرانِ (the two regions), المُحَمَّدانِ (the two Muhammads), البَكرانِ (the two Bakrs) and الرجلانِ (the two men)
2. The masculine plural (جَمعُ المُذَكَّرِ السالِمُ) – For example, َالمُسْلِمُوْن (the Muslims) and َالمُحَمَّدُوْن (the Muhammads)
3. The Five Nouns (الأسماءُ الخَمسَةُ) – They are أبُوكَ وَأخُوكَ وَحَمُوكَ وَفُوكَ وَذُو مالٍ.  If you want to review them, we first mentioned them in Going high with رفع, Part 2: و
4. The Five Verbs (الأفعالُ الخَمسَةُ) – For example, يَضرِبانِ (they both strike), تَكتُبانِ (you both write), يَفْهَمُونَ (they all write), تَحْفَظُوْنَ (you all memorize) and َتَسْهَرِيْن (you [f.] stay up at night)

[Read more…] about Words that take status using letters

The concept of إضافة (Idhafah) – the “possessive phrase”

Let’s talk about something called idhafah, which means to “add something to something else”.  One of the unique features of Arabic grammar is that you can make a possessive relationship between two nouns simply by adding them together.

For example, the phrase كتابُ زَيدٍ means “the book of Zayd”.  All we had to do was take the word for “book” (كتاب) and add it to “Zayd” (زَيد), and just like that we have “the book of Zayd”.

Idhafah is often translated as a “possessive phrase”, which is okay for now.  Just be aware that an Idhaafah can represent possession and more, which we will find out as we progress in our studies إن شاء الله.

The first word of the fragment is called the مُضاف (Mudhaaf – “the word that was added”).  The second word is called the ِمُضاف إلَيْه (Mudhaaf ilayh – “What was added to”).  We can call them M and MI, for short.

Two key rules for possessive phrases:

1. If the M has a tanwin (or a ن that substitutes for it), that tanwin or ن will drop off
2. The MI will be in the state of jarr, meaning that it will have kasrah or one of its substitutes at the ending.
3. It’s not a hard requirement, but the overwhelming majority of the time the mudhaaf won’t have ال at the beginning.

The meaning would be “the [M] of [MI]”, or “[MI]’s [M]” .  In the example كِتابُ زَيْدٍ, the word زَيد is the MI and has كسرة on it.  The word كِتاب is the M, and has lost its tanwin.  The words together mean “Zayd’s book”.  So at the end you just have a simple formula:

M + MI = “MI’s M”