Ultimate Arabic

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله,

We’ve covered فتحة (fathah) and the letter ا as signs of نصب (nasb).  Today we take a short look at the third sign, كَسرة (kasrah):

When كسرة substitutes for فتحة as a sign of نصب

وَأمّا الكَسْرَةُ فَتَكُوْنُ عَلامَةً  لِلنَصْبِ فِي جَمْعِ المُؤَنَّثِ السالِمِ

As for the kasrah, then it is a sign of nasb in the sound feminine plural.

You already know what the “sound feminine plural” is from Going high with رفع, Part 1: ضمة and now we tell you that you can figure out that a sound feminine plural is in nasb if it has a kasrah at the end.

For example, إنَّ الفَتياتِ المُهَذَّباتِ يُدْرِكْنَ المَجدَ (“Indeed, the refined girls will attain glory”). Each of the words الفتياتِ and المُهذباتِ is a sound feminine plural, and they are both in nasb, the first because of the word إنَّ (which is one of the nasb-izers of nouns) and the second is a description of an اسم that is in nasb state. The indication of their nasb state is the kasrah, substituting for the fathah.

Two things to note here:

1. إنّ and its siblings will force a noun to be in nasb.  We will learn more about إنَّ and its siblings in a separate section إن شاء الله
2. If a word is meant to be used as a description for another word, then both words will have the same status.  This will become clearer in a later section on “grammatical followers”.  For now just know that the noun that is being described and the description will have the same status (as well as the same gender, number and definite/indefiniteness).  In our example, الفتياتِ (“the girls”)  is being described and is in nasb because of إنَّ.  The word المُهَذَّباتِ (“the refined”) is the description.  الفَتَيات and its description المُهَذَّباتِ are both:
   1. definite (you can tell by the ال before them)
   2. feminine plural (you can tell by the ات ending)
   3. in nasb (you can tell by the kasrah at the end)

[Read more…] about Standing tall with نَصْب, Part 3: كَسْرَة

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله

We’ve gotten through all the indicators that can show us that a word is in the status of رَفْع (raf’).  Today we’re going to start looking at the signs of نَصْب (nasb).  Just like how raf’ had a default indicator (ضمة) and some indicators that can substitute for it (و, the ا of duals, and the ن of the “5 Verbs”), nasb also has a main indicator and substitute indicators.

وَ لِلنَصْبِ خَمْسُ عَلاماتٍ: الفَتْحَةُ وَ الألِفُ وَ الكَسْرَةُ وَ اليَاءُ وَ حَذْفُ النُوْنِ

Nasb has 5 indicators: the فتحة (fathah), the letter ا, the كسرة (kasrah), the letter ي and omission of ن.

Depending on the kind of word, there are 5 indicators of nasb:

1. fathah (the main indicator)
2. the letter ا
3. kasrah
4. the letter ي
5. dropping the final ن at the end

This part is only going cover the situations that we’ll see fathah in, and the others will come in later posts إن شاء الله.

When فَتْحَة is the sign of نَصْب

ِفَأمّا الفَتحَةُ فَتَكُونُ عَلامَةً لِلنَصْبِ فِي ثَلاثَةِ مَواضِعَ: فِي الاسْمِ مُفرَدِ وَجَمعِ التَكسِيرِ وَالفِعْلِ المُضَارِعِ إذا دَخَلَ عَلَيْهِ ناصِبٌ وَلَمْ يَتَّصِلْ بِآخِرِهِ شَيءٌ

As for the fathah, then it is a sign of nasb in three situations: the singular noun, the broken plural and the فِعْل المُضارِع when an influence that forces nasb enters it, and nothing is attached to the end of it.

The fathah is a sign that a word is in nasb in three situations:

1. The singular noun
2. The broken plural
3. The فعل مضارع (present tense verb) that is preceded by an influence that causes nasb and does not have the ا of the dual, the و of the masculine plural, the ي of addressing the 2nd person, the ن of emphasis or the ن of the feminine plural are at the end of it.

From Going high with رفع, Part 1: ضمة, we already know what the single noun, broken plural and the present tense verb with nothing attached to its end are, so there’s no need to repeat that here.

الاسْمُ المُفْرَدُ (the singular noun)

The fathah can be explicit, as in:

• لَقِيتُ علِيّا (“I met Ali”)
• قابَلتُ هِنداً (“I met Hind”)

عَلِيّاً and هِنْداً are singular nouns, and they are in nasb because they are objects of the action قابَلْتُ (“I met”). The sign of nasb in both words is the visible fathah, with the first being masculine and the second being feminine.

The fathah can also be implied as in:

• لَقِيْتُ الفَتى (“I met the youth”)
• حّدَّثْتُ لَيلى (“I told Layla”)

الفتى and لَيلى are singular nouns, and they are in nasb because they are objects of actions. The sign of nasb is the implied fathah on the ا.  The impossibility of placing a vowel on ا prevents its appearance. The first is masculine and the second is feminine.

Note:  If you’ve forgotten what it means to have an “implied” ending,  check this to refresh your memory.

جَمْعُ التَكْسِيرِ (The broken plural)

Just like for the singular noun, the fathah for broken plurals can show explicitly on the end as in:

• صاحَبتُ الرِِجالَ (“I accompanied the men“)
• رَعَيْتُ الهُنُودَ (“I took care of the Hinds”)

الرِِجال and الهُنُود are broken plurals, and they are in nasb because they are objects of actions. The sign of nasb is the explicit fathah, with the first being masculine and the second being feminine.

The fathah can also be implied as in:

• وَتَرى الناسَ سُكارى (“And you see the people intoxicated”) [Quran 22:2]
• وَأنْكِحُوا الأيامى (“And marry off the unmarried ones”) [Quran 24:32]

سُكارى and الأيامى are broken plurals, and are in nasb because they are objects of actions. The sign of their nasb is the implied fathah on the ا. The impossibility of placing a vowel on ا prevents the fathah from showing.

The فِعْل مُضارِع (present tense verb)

For example, لَنْ نَبْرحَ عَلَيهِ عاكِفِينَ (“We will not stop being devoted to it”) [Quran 20:91]

نَبْرحَ is a present tense action in nasb.  It has nasb because of the word لَنْ, which is one of the nasb-izers of a verb.  The sign of nasb is the explicit fathah.

The fathah can also be implied, as in يَسُرُنِي أن تَسْعى إلى المَجدِ (“It delights me that you pursue glory”).

تَسْعى is also a present tense action in nasb.  It has nasb because of أن, which is another nasb-izer.  The sign of nasb is the implied fathah on the ا.

If any of the following are at the end of the verb (i.e. it’s one of the “5 Verbs”), then its nasb is shown by dropping the final ن instead:

• the ا of the dual (e.g. لَنْ يَضرِبا [“They both will not hit”])
• the و of the masculine plural (e.g. لَن يَضرِبُوا [“They all will not hit”])
• the ي of the singular feminine 2nd person (e.g. لَن تَضرِبِي [“You (f.) will not hit”])

Each of the words يَضرِبا, يَضرِبُوا and تَضرِبِي is in nasb using لَن, and what shows that is that there is no ن the end. The ا, و or ي is the doer of an action, fixed upon سكون, in the status of raf’.  We will see more of this when we get to the part of how the “5 Verbs” show nasb by dropping the final ن.

If the heavy or light ن of emphasis attaches to the end of the verb, then the word is fixed (i.e. the letter before the ن of emphasis will stay the same in all states).  In these two examples, the بَ is the last letter before the ن and will always have a fathah on it no matter which state the verb is in:

• و اللهِ لَنْ تَذهَبَنَّ – “By God, you will certainly, certainly not go”
• و اللهِ لَنْ تَذهَبَنْ – “By God, you will certainly not go”

Both of them are in nasb because of the word لَنْ.

If the verb has the ن of the feminine plural, as in لَنْ تُدْرِكْنَ المَجْدَ إلّا بِالعَفافِ (“You (f.) all will never attain glory except with chastity”), then the word is fixed upon سُكُون, in the status of nasb because of the word لَنْ.

[Read more…] about Standing tall with نَصب, Part 1: فَتحَة

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته,

We’ve seen when dhammah, و and the ا of dual nouns can be used to show that a word is in the status of رَفع (raf’). Today, we’re going to look at the fourth and last indicator of raf’: the ن.

Substitution of ن for ضمة

وَأمَا النُونُ فَتَكُونُ علَامَةً لِلرَفعِ فِي الفِعلِ المُضارِعِ إذا اتَّصَلَ بِهِ ضَمِيْرُ تَثْنِيَةٍ أو ضَمِيرُ جَمعٍ أو ضَمِيرُ المُؤنَّثَةِ المُخاطَبَةِ

As for the ن, then it is a sign of raf’ in the present tense action when the pronoun of the dual, the pronoun of the plural or the pronoun of the feminine 2nd person attaches to it

There is only one situation when ن  at the end of the word is an indicator that the word is in raf’.  It’s when the present tense action (فِعل مُضارِِع) has any of the following attached to it:

1. the ا of the dual masculine or dual feminine
2. the و of the masculine plural
3. the ي of the feminine 2nd person

The ا of the dual

Some examples of verbs that have the ا of the masculine dual:

• الصَدِيقانِ يُسافِرانِ غَداً (“the two friends travel tomorrow”) – Talking about two people doing the action
• أنتُما تُسافِرانِ غَداً (“you both travel tomorrow”). – Talking to two people doing the action

The word يُسافِران (and likewise تُسافِرانِ) is a present tense action in raf’ because it lacks anything that causes nasb or jazm status. The indication of its being in raf’ is the presence of the ن. The doer of the action is the ا, which is مبني (permanently fixed) upon سكون, in the status of raf’.

From these examples, we see that a verb that has the ا of the masculine dual can start with ي with the meaning of 3rd person (“they”),  or with ت, with the meaning of 2nd person (“you two”).

As for what has the ا of the feminine dual:

• الهِندانِ تُسافِرانِ غداً (“the two Hinds travel tomorrow”)
• أنتُما يا هِندانِ تُسافِرانِ غداً (“You, O Hinds, both travel tomorrow”).

The word تُسافران in the two examples is a present tense action in raf’ using the presence of the ن.  The doer of the action is the ا, which is مبني (permanently fixed) upon سكون, in the status of raf’.

From these examples, we see that a  verb with the ا of the feminine dual can only start with ت, with the meaning of the feminine, regardless if it is third or second person.

The و of the masculine plural

As for the و of the masculine plural:

• ْالرِِجالُ المُخلِصُوْنَ هُمُ الذِينَ يَقُوْمُوْنَ بِواجِبِهِم (“the sincere men are the ones who do their duty”) – Talking about a group of people doing the action
• ْأَنْتُمْ يا قَوْمِ تَقُوْمُوْنَ بِواجِبِكُم (“You all, O my people, do your duty”) – Talking to a group of people doing the action

The word يَقُوْمُوْن (and likewise تَقُوْمُوْنَ) is a present tense action in raf’, and the indication of raf’ is the presence of the ن .  The doer of the action is the و, which is مَبنِي (permanently fixed) upon سكون, in the status of raf’.

From this, we see that what has the و of the masculine dual can start with ي with the meaning of the third person (“they all”), as in the first example, or it can start with ت, with the meaning of second person (“you all”), as in the 2nd example.

The ي of the feminine 2nd person

As for the ي of the feminine 2nd person (when you’re talking to a single feminine object or person):

• أنتِ يا هِندُ تَعْرِِفِينَ واجِبَكِ (“You, O Hind, know your assignment”)

The word تَعْرِِفينَ is a present tense action in raf’ using the presence of ن.  The doer of the action is the ي of the 2nd person feminine, which is مبني upon سكون, in the status of raf’.

The present tense action that has this ي can only start with ت, and it indicates that the doer is feminine.

Summary

1. A present tense verb that has the ا of the dual or و of the masculine plural at the end can only start with ت or ي
2. A present tense verb that has the the ي of the feminine at the end can only start with ت

These five examples cover all the ways a present tense verb can end with the ن (using يَقُوْمُ [“he stands”] as the base):

1. يَقُوْمانِ – “They (m.) both stand”
2. تَقُوْمانِ – “They (f.) both stand” or “You both stand” – (depends on the context of the sentence)
3. يَقُوْمُوْنَ – “They (m.) all stand”
4. تَقُوْمُوْنَ – “You (m.) all stand”
5. تَقُوْمِيْنَ – “You (single female) stand”

These examples are called “The five verbs” (الأفعال الخمسة) that show raf’ using a ن.  They are what I was referring to in Going high with رفع, Part 1: ضمة when I said:

These are not showing raf’ using dhammah, but instead using the presence of the final ن at their ends. The ا (alif), و or the ي would be the known as the فاعِل (doer) of the action, and the explanation of that comes later in the section where ن substitutes for dhammah in the “five verbs”.

[Read more…] about Going high with رفع, Part 4: ن

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته,

We’ve seen when ضمة (dhammah) and the و will show that a word is in رَفع (raf’).  Today we’re going to see how a very unique word shows that it has raf’, and that word is the dual noun.  Unlike English, which only has singular and plural, Arabic also has a dual which is used when you’re talking about two things.  Forming a dual is very straightforward in Arabic because all you have to do is add انِ (with a single kasrah on to the end of it).  For example, adding انِ to the end of رَجُلٌ (“a man”) would get you رَجُلانِ (“two men”).

Substitution of ا for ضمة

ًوَأَمّا الألِفُ فَتَكُوْنُ علَامَةً لِلرَفْعِ فِي تَثْنِيَةِ الأسْماءِ خاصَة

As for the ا (alif), it is a sign of raf’ specifically when doubling the nouns.

ا is an indicator of raf’ in one situation: the dual noun. For example:

حَضَرَ الصَدِيقانِ (“the two friends arrived”)

• صَدِيقان is the dual of صَدِيْقٌ (“friend”)
• It’s in raf’ because it is the doer of the verb حَضَر (“arriving”)
• The sign of raf’ is the ا, substituting for dhammah that we saw at the end of صَديقٌ
  • You’d think that the ن would be what shows the status, because it’s the very last letter, but it’s not.  The ن will be there for a dual noun in all of its three possible states.  As we’ll see later, what would change in the other states is that the ا would become a ي.
• The نِ (with a single kasrah) in the dual is a substitute for the tanween that we saw on صَدِيقٌ

The dual noun is any noun that indicates two masculines or two feminines, using an addition at the end. This addition removes the need for using the same word two times and using “and” between them. For example:

أقبَلَ العُمرانِ وَالهِندانِ (“The two Umars and the two Hinds came”)

The word ٍعُمَران indicates two males, each named Umar,  because of the appearance of an addition at the end of it, and this addition is ان.  It removes the need for using و  (“and”) and repeating the name, so that you wouldn’t have to say حضَر عُمَرُ وَعُمَرُ (“Umar and Umar came”).

Similarly, ِهِنْدان indicates two females, each of them named Hind, because of the appearance ان at the end of it. It removes the need for using و and repeating the name, so that you wouldn’t have to say حَضَرَتْ هنِْدُ وَ هِنْدُ (“Hind and Hind came”).

[Read more…] about Going high with رفع, Part 3: ا

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته,

We’ve learned about the 4 possible grammatical states of words, and the default indicators for those states.  Last time, in Going high with رفع, Part 1: ضمة , we started looking at raf’ and the four situations where we will see it shown using its default indicator, the ضمة (dhammah).

Note: When we say something is the “default”, your ears (or eyes) should perk up, because that is a very subtle way of saying that there are exceptions! Arabic teachers love to do that on you.  They give you a rule, then quietly break out some exceptions that just shatter your world to pieces.  The only consolation you might get while you’re having your breakdown is, “Well, I said ‘most of the time’, didn’t I?”.  Well, I learned it’s not their fault, because the only practical way to teach this stuff is to start from a default base rule and then mention the exceptions as they come.  How did I come to know this?  Because now I’m explaining it and am about to drop an exception on you (sorry!).  Just don’t say I didn’t tell you 🙂

Now, going back to our main point, sometimes dhammah is not the sign that shows that a word is in raf’.  Instead, we’ll see something that substitutes for it.  Today’s post is on one of those substitutes, the letter و.

The substitution of و for ضمة

وَأَمَّا الوَاوُ فَتَكُوْنُ عَلامَةً لِلرَّفْعِ فِي مَوْضِعَيْنِ: فِيْ جَمْعِ المُذَكَّرِ السَّالِمِ, وَفِي الأسْماءِ الخَمْسَةِ: أبُوْكَ وَأخُوْكَ وَحَمُوْكَ وَفُوْكَ وَذُوْ مالٍ

As for the و, it is the sign of raf’ in two situations: the sound masculine plural and the “five nouns”, and they are أبُوك (your father), أخُوك (your brother), حَمُوك (your in-law), فُوك (your mouth), and ذُو مال (owner of wealth).

The و is a sign of raf’ in two situations:

1. The sound masculine plural
2. The “five nouns”

The sound masculine plural (جَمْعُ المُذَكَّرِ السالِمُ)

The sound masculine plural is an اسم that indicates the plural (more than 2 of the same thing) by an addition to the end of it, and it remains valid when this addition is stripped away. For example in the Quan:

• فَرِحَ المُخَلَفُوْنَ (the ones left behind rejoiced) [9:81]
• لكِن الراسِخُونَ في العلمِ مِنْهُمْ و المُؤمِنُونَ (but the ones firmly grounded in knowledge and the believers…) [4:162]
• وَ لَوْ كَرِهَ المُجْرِمُونَ (even if the criminals dislike it) [8:8]
• إنْ يَكُنَ مِنْكُمْ عِشْرُونَ صابِرُونَ (if there are from you 20 patient ones…) [8:65]
• و آخَرُونَ اعْتَرَفوا بِذُنُوْبِهِم (and others that acknowledge their faults) [9:102]

Each of the words المخلفون – الراسخون – المؤمنون – المجرمون – صابرون – آخرون is a sound masculine plural (meaning more than two), with an addition at the end (the ون).

If you take away the ون from the ending, it still remains a valid word. Taking the endings of these example words would give you

مُخلَّفٌ – راسِخٌ –  مُؤمِنٌ – مُجْرِمٌ – صابِرٌ – آخَر, which are all valid.

Each of these words that occur in these verses is in the state of raf’, and what shows that is the و, instead of dhammah. The ن substitutes for the tanween in مُخَلَّفٌ and the others, just like how the و substitutes for the dhammah.

The “five nouns”

As for the “five nouns”, they are a special list of nouns and they are:

• أبُوْكَ (your father)
• أخُوْكَ (your brother)
• حَمُوْكَ (your in-law)
• فُوْكَ (your mouth)
• ذُوْ مالٍ (an owner of wealth)
• There is a sixth word, هَنُو (“thing”), but it’s so rarely used such that some don’t even consider it.

Like the sound masculine plural, they are also given raf’ using و instead of dhammah.  Some examples:

• حَضَرَ أبُوكَ وَأخُوكَ وَحَمُوكَ وَنَطَقَ فُوْكَ وَذُو مالٍ (Your father, your brother and your in-law came, and your mouth and an owner of wealth spoke)
• هذا أبُوْكَ (This is your father)
• أبُوكَ رَجَلٌ صالِحٌ (“Your father is a righteous man”)
• أبُونا شَيْخٌ كَبِيْرٌ (“Our father is an old man”) [Quran 28:23]
• مِنْ حَيْثُ أمرَهُمْ أبُوهُمْ (“From where their father ordered them”) [Quran 12:68]
• وَإنَّهُ لَذُوْ عِلْمٍ (“and indeed he was a possessor of knowledge”) [Quran 12:68]
• إنِّيْ أنا أَخُوْكَ (“Indeed I am your brother”) [Quran 12:69]

[Read more…] about Going high with رفع, Part 2: و