Standing tall with نَصب, Part 1: فَتحَة

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.

From the Quran

Let’s take a look at this page [49:5-11]:

• تَخْرُجَ (“you come out”)  and تَفِيءَ (“it (f.)  comes back”) are present tense verbs whose final dhammah became a fathah because of the word حَتّى before it.  حَتّى is one of the nasb-izers of verbs, which we will learn more about in a later section إن شاء الله
• أنْفُسَ (selves) is the broken plural for نَفْس.  It’s in nasb because it’s the direct object of the verb تَلْمِزُوا (“you all insult”)
• The following are singular nouns in nasb, with the reasons why they are in that status.  Remember that the default status for nouns and present tense verbs is raf’.  If it’s going to be in another state, there needs to be a reason.
  • خَيرًا (better) – the khabar of يَكُوْنُوْا and يَكُنّ (if you really don’t want to wait till later to know what that means, go here)
  • قَومًا (a people) – object of the verb تُصِيبوا
  • رَسُولَ (messenger) – أّنَّ  [anna] is a nasb-izer of nouns
  • اللهَ (Allah) – 2 times on this page
    • إنَّ [inna] is another nasb-izer of nouns
    • the object of the verb اتّقُوا
  • الإيمانَ (faith) – object of the verb حّبَّبَ (“to make something beloved”)
  • الكُفرَ (disbelief) – object of the verb كَرَّهَ (“to make something despised”
  • الفُسُوقَ (wickedness) – connected by وَ to a word that is in nasb
  • العِصْيانَ (disobedience) – connected by وَ to a word that is in nasb
  • فَضْلًا (bounty) – the reason for the action (i.e. Allah makes faith beloved and makes disbelief, wickedness and disobedience despised as a bounty and favor)
  • نِعْمَةً (favor) – connected by وَ to a word that is in nasb
  • بَينَ (between) and بَعْدَ (after) – nouns of place and time usually come in nasb
• We’ll learn more about the nasb-izers of nouns and verbs and all the other reasons why a noun will have nasb in later sections إن شاء الله, but for now just recognize the ones I’ve mentioned here

Questions

1. In how many situations is fathah the sign that a word is in nasb status?
2. Give 4 examples of a singular noun that is in nasb status:
   1. Masculine with an explicit fathah
   2. Masculine with an implied fathah
   3. Feminine with an explicit fathah
   4. Feminine with an implied fathah
3. Give 4 examples of a broken plural that is in nasb status
4. When will a present tense verb show that it is nasb using the fathah at the end?
5. Give two examples of a present tense verb that is in nasb status
6. How doe a present tense verb with the ا of the dual show nasb status?
7. If a present tense verb has one of the nasb-izers before it and has a ن of the emphasis, then what is the rule for it?
8. Give an example of a present tense verb that has a nasb-izer before it and has the ن of the feminine plural at the end of it

Until next time, السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

 

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