The sign of the حرف

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.  

Examples of حرف’s are

• مِن
• هَل
• لَم

These three words are all حرف’s because it doesn’t make sense for ال, nunation (تَنْوِين) or the one of the particles of خفض to come with them.  It is incorrect that one would say:

• المِن (with ال)
• مِنٌ (adding a تَنوِين)
• إلى مِن  (using a particle of خفض before it)

Also, it is incorrect for س or سَوفَ, or the silent ْت of feminizing or قَدْ, or whatever else is a sign that the word is a فعل to come with a حرف. You won’t say:

• سَمِنْ or سَوفَ مِن (with س or سَوفَ)
• مِنْتْ (silent ت for the feminine)
• قَدْ مِنْ (using قَدْ)

We ran through this with the particle مِنْ, but the same goes for any other حرف (regardless of it causes خفض in the following word or not).

A look at a page from the Quran shows how prevalently حرف’s are used in the language.  Just as in English, particles are so ubiquitously used that we sometimes don’t notice they’re there.

 

That’s it for now.  Next up إن شاء الله is the changes in status of words as reflected in their endings, otherwise known as إعْراب.

Exercise

Detail the فعل’s (bonus points if you can spot what kind of فعل it is), اسم’s and حرف’s from the following expressions using what you’ve learned.

1. مَا جَعَلَ الله لِرَجُلٍ مِنْ قَلْبَيْنِ فِي جَوْفِهِ
2. يَحْرِصُ الْعَاقِلُ عَلَى رِضَا رَبِّهِ
3. احْرُث لِدُنْيَاكَ كَأَنَّكَ تَعِيشُ أَبَدًا
4. يَسْعَى الْفَتَي لأِمُورٍ لَيْسَ يُدْرِكُها ، لَنْ تُدْرِكَ الْمَجْدَ حَتَّى تَلْعَقَ الصَّبْرَ
5. إنْ تَصْدُقْ تَسُدْ
6. قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَنْ زَكَّاهَا وَقَدْ خَابَ مَنْ دَسَّاهَا

Until next time, السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

 

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