Standing tall with نصب, Part 5: Dropping the final ن

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله,

We’re down to the fifth and last indicator of نصب (nasb), which is when the final ن that was present when the word was in رفع (raf’) stops appearing when it switches to nasb.

When dropping of the final ن substitutes for فتحة as the sign of Nasb

In Arabic, it is stated as:

وَأمَا حَذْفُ النُوْنِ فَيَكُوْنُ عَلامَةً لِلنَصبِ في الأفعالِ الخَمسَةِ التِي رَفْعُها بِثَباتِ النُوْنِ

As for dropping of the ن, then it is a sign of nasb in the “five verbs” whose raf’ is by the establishment of ن.

You know from when we did the “five verbs” here what they are. If something happens that puts one of them in nasb, the final ن that is the sign of raf’ goes away. Some examples:

• يَسُرُّنِيْ أنْ تَحْفَظوا دُرُوسَكُمْ (“It delights me that you all memorize your lessons”) – the word was تَحْفَظُوْنَ before it change status.
• يُألِمُنِيْ مِن الكَسالى أن يُهمِلوا فِي واجِباتِهِمْ (“It hurts me from the lazy ones that they neglect their assignments”) – the word was يُهْمِلُوْنَ before it changed status.

Each of the words تَحْفَظُوْا and يُهْمِلُوْا is a present action that is put in nasb because of أن.  The sign of its nasb is that the ن dropped off. The doer of the action is the و of the plural, fixed upon سكون (sukoon) in the state of raf’.

The same thing happens for a verb that has the ا of the dual or the ي of the singular feminine second person connected to it, such as:

• يَسُرُّنِيْ أن تَنالا رَغَباتِكُماَ (“It delights me that you two attain your desires”) – the word was تَنالانِ  before it changed status
• ِيُألمنِي أن تُفَرِِّطِيْ فِي واجِبِك (“It hurts me that you [f.] be lax in your assignment.”) – the word was originally تُفَرِّطِيْنَ

You already know how to think about the ا and the ي in these examples (hint hint, they are doers of actions like how we saw for theو of the plural in the example above).

From the Quran

Below is an excerpt (5:33-36).  I have highlighted verbs that dropped their final ن when they went into nasb.

• يُقَتَّلُوْا (“they are killed”) is in nasb because of the word أنْ, which nasb-izes verbs.  We’ll get into the other nasb-izers later إن شاء الله but this is probably the most frequently used one.  Before it dropped the ن, it was يُقَتَّلُوْنَ.
  • ْأن is used to give the meaning of the original noun in the future, so the meaning changes from يُقتَّلُوْنَ (“they are/being killed”) to أن يُقَتّلُوا (“that they are killed”).
  • Note how when the ن is dropped, you will see an ا is written after the و.
• يُصَلَّبُوا (“they are crucified”) and يُنْفَوْا (“they are exiled”) are connected by the word أو (“or”) to يُقَتَّلُوْا, so they have to follow it in state and be in nasb also.
• تَقْدِرُوا (“you all apprehend”) is in nasb because of the word أن
• يَفْتَدُوْا (“ransom themselves”) changed state because of the letter لِ (“in order to”) which is another nasb-izer.
• We will see that in the state of جَزْم (jazm) (which only applies to verbs), these verbs look exactly the same as they do in nasb.  How would we know which state it’s in?  It depends if the influences in the sentence are nasb-izers or jazm-izers.

If you’ve been going through the series so far, then by this point you’ve already completed 1/4 of the grammar of the Quran, so a big ما شاء الله to you.  It may not have been easy, but I hope things are starting to click with examples from the Quran.

Exercise

What do each of the words look like in nasb?  They are a mix of singular nouns, broken plural, masculine plurals, feminine plurals,  dual nouns, “five nouns” and “five verbs” so think carefully!

1. الكِتابُ (“the book”)
2. القِرطاسُ (“the paper sheets”)
3. القَلَمُ (“the pen”)
4. الدَواةُ (“the inkwell”)
5. النَمِرُ (“the tiger”)
6. النَهَرُ (“the river”)
7. الفِيْلُ (“the elephant”)
8. الحَدِيْقَةُ (“the garden”)
9. الجَمَلُ (“the camel”)
10. البَساتِيْنُ (“the gardens”)
11. المَغانِمُ (“the spoils of war”)
12. الآدابُ (“the manners”)
13. يَظْهَرُ (“he is apparent”)
14. الصادِقاتُ (“the truthful females”)
15. العَفِيْفاتُ (“the chaste females”)
16. الوالِداتُ  (“the mothers”)
17. الإِخْوَانُ (“the brothers”)
18. الأساتِذَةُ (“the instructors”)
19. المُعَلِّمُوْنَ (“the teachers”)
20. الآبَاءُ (“the fathers”)
21. أخُوكَ (“your brother”)
22. العَلَمُ (“the sign/mark”)
23. المُرُوْءةُ (“the chivalry”)
24. الصَدِيْقانِ (“the two friends”)
25. أبُوْكَ (“your father”)
26. الأصْدِقاءُ (“the friends”)
27. المُؤْمِنُوْنَ (“the believers”)
28. الزُرّاعُ (“the farmers”)
29. المُتَّقُوْنَ (“the God-fearing”)
30. تَقُوْمانِ (“you  both stand”)
31. يَلْعَبانِ (“they both play”)

Questions

1. When is كسرة the sign of nasb?
2. When is ي the sign of nasb?
3. When is dropping the ن the sign of nasb?
4. Give an example of each that is in nasb:
   1. Sound feminine plural
   2. One of the “five verbs”
   3. Sound masculine plural
   4. A dual noun

 

Until next time, السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

 

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