Ultimate Arabic

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. [Read more…] about المَصْدَر (The absolute object)

السلام عليكم,

The first of the 15 types of nouns in نَصْب is the مَفْعُوْل بِهِ (the direct object).  This is “who” or “what” the action happens to.

وَهُوَ: الإسْمُ، المَنْصُوْبُ، الّذِيْ يَقَعُ عَلَيْهِ الفِعْلُ، نَحْوُ قَوْلِكَ: ضَرَبْتُ زَيْداً، وَرَكِبْتُ الفَرَسَ

… and it (the direct object) is the that which the action befalls, like your saying ضَرَبْتُ زَيْدًا (“I hit Zayd”) and رَكِبْتُ الفَرَسَ (“I rode the horse”)

So, the direct object is (1) a noun (2) in nasb that (3) the action is linked to, regardless if you affirm or negate its occurrence.

In فَهِمْتُ الدَّرْسَ (“I understood the lesson”) and لَمْ أفْهَمِ الدَّرْسَ (“I did not understand the lesson”), the word الدَرْسَ is the object that is (or is not)  understood.

 

أنْواع الْمفْعُوْلِ بِهِ (The kinds of the direct object)

وَهُوَ قِسْمانِ: ظاهِرٌ، وَمُضْمَرٌ.  فَالظّاهِرُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ ذِكْرُهُ. وَالْمُضْمَرُ قِسْمانِ: مُتَّصِلٌ، وَمُنْفَصِلٌ.  فَالْمُتَّصِلُ اثْنا عَشَرَ، نَحْوُ قَوْلِكَ: ضَرَبَنِيْ، وَضَرَبَنَا، وَضَرَبَكَ، وَضَرَبَكِ، وَضَرَبَكُمَا، وَضَرَبَكُمْ، وَضَرَبَكُنَّ، وَضَرَبَهُ، وَضَرَبَهَا، وَضَرَبَهُما، وَضَرَبَهُمْ، وَضَرَبَهُنَّ.  وَالْمُنْفَصِلُ اثْنا عَشَرَ، نَحْوُ قَوْلِكَ: إِيَّايَ، وَإِيَّانَا، وَإِيَّاكَ، وَإِيَّاكِ، وَإِيَّاكُمَا، وَإِيَّاكُمْ، وَإِيَّاكُنَّ، وَإِيَّاهُ، وَإِيَّاهَا، وَإِيَّاهُمَا، وَإِيَّاهُمْ، وَإِيَّاهُنَّ.

… and it is two sections, apparent and obscured.  As for the apparent, its mention has already come, and the obscured is two divisions

There are two kinds of direct objects, the apparent and obscured.  We’ve brought up the idea of apparent vs. obscured before so it should already be familiar to you. [Read more…] about المَفْعُوْل بِه (The direct object)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته,

الحمد لله, after completing the 7 types of nouns in رفع, we’re in the final stretches of our discussions on Arabic grammar, based on the Ajurroomiyyah.  After a few more lessons about the nouns in نَصْب (nasb) and جَرّ (jarr), we’d have a pretty solid understanding of the entirety of Arabic grammar إن شاء الله

 

ِمَنْصُوْبات الأسْماء (The nouns in nasb)

المَنْصُوْباتُ خَمْسَةَ عَشَرَ، وَهِيَ: المَفْعُوْلُ بِهِ، وَالمَصْدَرُ، وَظَرْفُ الزَمانِ، وَظَرْفُ المَكانِ، وَالْحالُ، وَالتَّمْيِيْزُ، وَالمُسْتَثْنى، وَاسْمُ لا، وَالمُنادى، وَالمَفْعُوْلُ مِنْ أجْلِهِ، وَالمَفْعُوْلُ مَعَهُ، وَخَبَرُ كانَ وَأخَواتِها، وَاسْمُ إنَّ وَأخَواتِها وَالتَّابِعُ لِلْمَنْصُوْبِ، وَهُوَ أرْبَعَةُ أشْياء: النَّعْتُ، وَالْعَطْفُ، وَالتَّوْكِيْدُ، وَالْبَدَلُ

The nouns in nasb are fifteen , and they are: the مَفْعول بِهِ (direct object), the مَصْدَر (infinitive), the ظَرْف الزَّمان (frame of time), the ظَرْف المَكان (frame of place), the حال (state/condition), the تَمْييز (specification), the مُسْتَثْنى (exception), the noun negated by “لا”, the مُنادى (vocative/thing or person called), the مَفْعول مِن أجْلِه (object of reason), the مَفْعول مَعَه (object that the action is done along with), the khabar of “كان”َ and its sisters and the ism of “إنّ” and its sisters, and the تابِع (grammar follower) of something that is in nasb, and it is four things: the نَعْت, (adjective) the عَطْف (conjunction), the تَوْكيد (emphasis) and the بَدَل (substitute).

 

There are 15 reasons why a nouns will be in nasb.  Between raf’, nasb and jarr, nasb is the most exciting part.  Why? Because the default state of a noun is in raf’, and there are only three reasons why a noun will be in jarr (we’ll cover that in the lessons on when a noun will be in jarr إن شاء الله), so it’s relatively easy to get those right.  I think the area of nasb is the real proving ground for your knowledge of grammar, because it shows that you accurately know when and why things will deviate from the normal state of raf’.  If you learn these and apply them correctly, you’re on the path to greatness!

Below are the 15 situations when a noun will be in nasb.  Each will have its own discussion, but first a quick example for each (notice how the words in red all have fathah on them): [Read more…] about 15 types of nouns in نَصْب

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله

Today we’ll wrap up the last of the grammatical followers, the بَدَل (substitute).

الْبَدَلُ وَحُكْمُهُ (The substitute and its rule)

ِإذا أُبْدِلَ اسْمٌ مِنَ اسْمٍ أَوْ فِعْلٌ مِنْ فِعْلٍ تَبِعَهُ فِيْ جَمِيْعِ إِعْرَابِه

When a noun is a substituted for a noun, or a verb for a verb, then it follows it in all of its grammatical states.

The word بَدَل is used for when you exchange something for something else.  In Arabic grammar, it’s a follower of a word that is what you really intended to apply your meaning to.  The rule is that the substitute has the same status as the word it’s substituting for.

In the examples below, we use خَالكَ (“your maternal uncle”) as a substitute for مُحَمّد, and change its state  (the vowel on the ل) depending on the state of مُحَمَّد:

• حَضَرَ مُحَمَّدٌ خَالُكَ (“Muhammad, your uncle, was present”) – In the state of raf’
• قابَلْتُ مُحَمَّدًا خَالَكَ (“I met Muhammad, your uncle”) – In the state of nasb
• أَعْجَبَتْنِيْ أَخْلاقُ مُحَمَّدٍ خَالِكَ (“The manners of Muhammad, your uncle, amazed me” – In the state of jarr
• مَنْ يَشْكُرْ رَبَّهُ يَسْجُدْ لَهُ يَفُزْ (“Whoever thanks his Lord… prostrates to Him will win”).  يَسْجُدْ follows يَشْكُرْ in the state of jazm

 

أنْوَاع الْبَدَلِ (Kinds of substitution)

وَهُوَ عَلَى أرْبَعَةِ أقْسامٍ: بَدَلُ الشَّيْءِ مِنَ الشَّيْءِ، وَبَدَلُ الْبَعْضِ مِنَ الْكُلِّ، وَبَدَلُ الاشْتِمَالِ، وَبَدَلُ الْغَلَطِ، نَحْوُ قَوْلِكَ: “قَامَ زَيْدٌ أَخُوْكَ، وَأكَلْتُ الرَغِيْفَ ثُلُثَهُ، وَنَفَعَنِيْ زَيْدٌ عِلْمُهُ، وَرَأيْتُ زَيْدًا الفَرَسَ”، أَرَدْتَ أَنْ تَقُوْلَ: رَأَيْتُ الْفَرَسَ فَغَلِطْتَ فَأَبْدَلْتَ زَيْدًا مِنْهُ

And it [substitution] is four types, substituting one thing for another thing, substituting a part for the whole, the substitute of the content and the substitute of the mistake. It is like your saying: قَامَ زَيْدٌ أخُوْكَ (“Zayd, your brother, stood”), أكَلْتُ الرَغِيْفَ ثُلُثَهُ (“I ate the loaf, a third of it”), نَفَعَنِيْ زَيْدٌ عِلْمُهُ (“Zaid, his knowledge benefited me”), and رَأيْتُ زَيْدًا الفَرَسَ (“I saw Zayd, the horse”). You originally wanted to say الفَرَسَ (“the horse”) but made a mistake and substituted زَيْدٌ instead.

There are four kinds of بَدَل (substitution): [Read more…] about الْبَدَل (The substitute)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته,

We’re continuing our study of grammatical followers, and today we’re looking at التَّوْكِيْد (the emphasis).

التَّوْكِيْد (Emphasis)

التَّوْكِيْدُ: تابِعٌ لِلْمُؤَكَّدِ فِيْ رَفْعِهِ وَنَصْبِهِ وَخَفْضِهِ وَتَعْرِيْفِهِ …

The emphasis is a word that follows the emphasized word in its raf’, nasb, khafdh (jarr) and its definiteness…

تَوْكِيْد (also pronounced تَأْكِيْد with a أ instead of و) means to strengthen something and in grammar there are two kinds of emphasis: [Read more…] about التَّوْكِيْد (The emphasis)

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته,

One of a the reasons why a noun can be in a state is that it is a تَابِع (grammatical follower of another word).

There are four kinds of grammatical followers (i.e. they come after a word and follow it in status):

1. 1. النَّعْت (The adjective)
   2. العَطْف (The conjunction)
   3. التَوْكِيْد (The emphasis)
   4. الْبَدَل (The substitute)

 

Until next time, السلام عليكم

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