Ultimate Arabic

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

We know that there are four types of status, each with a default indicator and substitutes for it.  Here, we’re going to look at the first status, رَفْع (raf’), along with when the ضَمَّة (dhammah) will be its indicator.

From the Ajurroomiyyah:

لِلرَّفْعِ أَرْبَعُ عَلاماتٍ: الضَّمَّةُ والْواوُ وَالْأَلِفُ وَالنُّوْنُ

Raf’ has 4 indicators: The ضمة (dhammah), the letter و, the letter ا and the letter ن.

You can figure out that a word is in raf’ by one of these four indicators, one being the default and the others sometimes substituting for it:

1. Dhammah
2. و
3. ا
4. ن

This section covers when dhammah is used to show raf’.

فَأمَّا الضَمَّةُ فَتَكُونُ عَلامَةً لِلرَّفْعِ فِي أرْبَعَةِ مَوَاضِعَ: الاسْمِ المُفْرَدِ وَجَمْعِ التَكْسِيْرِ وَجَمْعِ المُؤَنَّثِ السَّالِمِ وَالْفِعْلِ المُضَارِعِ الَّذِيْ لَمْ يَتَّصِلْ بِآخِرِهِ شَيْءٌ

As for dhammah, it is a sign of raf’ in 4 situations: The اسم of the singular, the broken plural, the sound feminine plural, and the فعل of the present tense with nothing attached to its end.

The dhammah is a sign of raf’ in four situations (explanation of each to follow):

1. The اسم of the singular
2. The broken plural
3. The sound feminine plural
4. The فِعل of the present tense which has nothing attached to its end (no ا of the dual, no و of the plural, no ي of addressing 2nd person, no ن of light or heavy emphasis, and no ن of the feminine plural)

[Read more…] about Going high with رفع, Part 1: ضمة

السلام عليكم and welcome back!  By now, we’ve touched on the concept of how words show their status (explicitly or implicitly) through changes in their endings.  Now we’re going more into what statuses are possible for a word to be in.

َوَ أقْسامُها أرْبَعَةٌ: رَفْعٌ وَنَصْبٌ وَخَفْضٌ وَجَزْمٌ, فَلِلْأسْماءِ مِنْ ذَلِكَ الرَفْعُ وَالنَصْبُ وَالخَفْضُ وَلا جَزْمَ فِيْها, وَلِلْأفْعالِ مِنْ ذَلِكَ الرَفْعُ وَالنَّصْبُ وَالْجَزْمُ, وَلا خَفْضَ فِيْها

The four divisions of grammatical status are: رَفْعٌ (raf’), نَصْبٌ (nasb), خَفْضٌ (khafdh) and جَزْمٌ (jazm). From that (list), اسم’s have raf’, nasb and khafdh, and no jazm, and فِعل’s have raf’, nasb and jazm, and no khafdh.

Altogether, there are four possible states for the ism and the fi’l:

1. الرَفْع (Raf’)
2. النَصْب (Nasb)
3. الخَفْض  (Khafdh), also known as الجَرّ (jarr)
4. الجَزْم (Jazm)

Each of these has a linguistic and grammatical meaning.

الرَفْع (raf’)

Linguistically, it means “to be high and to rise up”. In grammar, it is “a specific change whose sign is ضَمّة (dhammah) and what substitutes for it”. By “what substitutes for it” we mean that the even though the dhammah is the default sign of this state, some words show this state using something else.  Raf’ occurs in both the اسم (ism) and the فِعْل (fi’l). For example:

• يَقُومُ عَلِيٌّ (“Ali stands”)
• يَصْدَحُ الْبُلْبُلُ (“The nightingale sings”).

Each of these sentences has a verb followed by a noun, with dhammah at the end being the sign of raf’ for both.

النَصْب (nasb)

Linguistically, it is to “stand straight and upright”. Grammatically, it is “a specific change whose sign is فَتْحَة (fathah) and whatever substitutes for it”. It also occurs in both the اسم and the فعل, as in:

لَنْ أُحِبَّ الْكَسَلَ (“I will not like laziness”)

The word ّأُحِب is a verb that is in nasb because of the particle ْلَن, and the word الكَسلَ is in nasb because it’s a noun that is the object of the action.  Both of these words show that using fathah.

الخَفْض (khafdh), also known as الجَرّ (jarr)

Linguistically, it is “to sink low”. Grammatically, it is “a specific change whose sign is كَسْرَة (kasrah) and whatever substitutes for it”. It only occurs in the noun, as in:

تَألَّمْتُ مِنَ الكَسُولِ (“I suffered due to the lazy one”)

The word الكسول is in khafdh because the word before it (مِن) is one of the particles of خفض , and it shows status using kasrah.

Note:  Another name for this state is الجَرّ (“dragging”), which kind of makes sense because when you drag something you drag it low.  Khafdh and jarr are interchangeable and mean the same thing when we’re talking about grammar.  So if you see me calling it khafdh in some places and jarr in others, please don’t freak out!

الجَزْم (jazm)

Linguistically, it means “to cut”. Grammatically, it is “a specific change whose sign is سُكُون and whatever substitutes for it”. It only occurs in the فِعل مُضارِع (the present tense verb), as in:

لَمْ يَفُزْ مُتَكاسِلٌ (“A lazy person has not won”).

The word يَفُزْ is in جزم because of the particle ْلَم before it, and shows it using سكون.

So, the types of إعْراب fall into three :

• Shared between isms and fi’l‘s: raf’ and nasb
• Exclusively for isms: jarr
• Exclusively for fi’l’s: jazm

[Read more…] about Four types of status

السلام عليكم,

By now we have tools to help us quickly identify اسم’s and فعل’s .  One last thing before we move on to meatier stuff, and that’s how to tell if a word is a حرف.

In a nutshell:
و الْحَرْفُ ما لا يَصْلُحُ مَعَهُ دَلِيلُ الاِسْمِ وَ لَا دَلِيْلُ الْفِعْلِ

“… and the حرف is whatever evidence of the اسم or فعل does not apply to…”

The حرف distinguishes itself from the اسم and the فعل, in that it doesn’t make sense for a sign of the اسم or فعل to come with it.  In other words, whatever doesn’t make sense for a sign of اسم or فعل to come with is a حرف.  

[Read more…] about The sign of the حرف

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله,

We’ve looked at the signs of the ism and even taken a slight detour and looked at some special حرف’s that come with them.  Now we’re going to continue on and look at some signs that tell us that a word is a fi’l (verb).  If you remember from here, a فِعْل (fi’l) is something that happens in time.  From the Ajurroomiyyah are 4 signs that tell us that we’re looking at a fi’l:

وَالْفِعْلُ يُعْرَفُ بِقَدْ وَالسِّينِ وَسَوْفَ وَتَاءِ التَّأنِيْثِ السَّاكِنَةِ

The fi’l is recognized using:

1. قَدْ
2. The letter س
3. سَوفَ
4. The silent ت used for the feminine

[Read more…] about Signs of the فِعْل