المَفْعُوْل بِه (The direct 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.

“Apparent” means that it gives a meaning without needing an indicator of whether it’s first, second or third person.  In ضَرَبَ مُحَمَّدٌ بَكْرًا (“Muhammad hit Bakr”), and قَطَفَ إسْماعِيْلُ زَهْرَةً (“Ismail plucked the flower”), the words بَكْرًا (“Bakr”) and زَهْرَةً (“flower”) are objects of hitting or plucking, and they don’t need to indicate first, second or third person.  It’s pretty obvious that I (the first person) am speaking to you (the second person) about Bakr (the third person).

The “obscured” object is a pronoun that has an indicator which person (first, second or third) is intended can be either attached (مُتَّصِل) or detached (مُنْفَصِل).   Attached objects cannot be used to start a sentence and do not come after إلا (“except”), while detached objects can.

In the table below, each of the 12 rows represents two different ways of expressing the object of an action using the attached and detached versions of the pronouns.  Notice how that with exception of “me”, what you add to the end of the verb is the same as what you add to إيَا.

Also, the attached object يْ (“me”) needs a ن before it to protect the meaning of the verb from getting distorted.  This ن is called نُوْن الوقاية (“the ن of protection”)

	Attached object	Detached object
First person	أطاعَنِيْ – “He obeyed me”	إيَّايَ أطاعَ
	أطاعَنَا – “He obeyed us”	إيَّانَا أطاعَ
2nd person	أطاعَكَ – “He obeyed you”	إيَّاكَ أطاعَ
	أطاعَكِ – “He obeyed you (fem.)”	إيَّاكِ أطاعَ
	أطاعَكُمَا – “He obeyed you both (male/female)”	إيَّاكُمَا أطاعَ
	أطاعَكُمْ – “He obeyed you all”	إيَّاكُمْ أطاعَ
	أطاعَكُنَّ – “He obeyed you (fem.) all”	إيَّاكُنَّ أطاعَ
Third person	أطاعَهُ – “He obeyed him”	إيَّاهُ أطاعَ
	أطاعَهَا – “He obeyed her”	إيَّاهَا أطاعَ
	أطاعَهُمَا – “He obeyed them both (male or female)”	إيَّاهُمَا أطاعَ
	أطاعَهُمْ – “He obeyed them all”	إيَّاهُمْ أطاعَ
	أطاعَهُنَّ – “He obeyed them (fem.) all”	إيَّاهُنَّ أطاعَ

Just like how إيّا can be used to start a sentence, it can also come after إلا (“except”) as in  ما أطاعَ إلا إيَّايَ (“He did not obey anyone except me”) and ما أطاعَ إلا إيَّانا (“He did not obey anyone except us”) and so on.

From the Quran

Below is Surah al-Fatihah.

• إيَّاك (“you”) is a detached pronoun that starts the sentences إيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ (“You we worship”) and إيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِيْنُ (“You we ask for help”).
• اِهْدِ (“Guide!”) has نا (“us) added to it so the meaning becomes “Guide us!”  Just be swapping the pronoun, you can express many meanings.  That’s why memorizing the tables above is so important for your learning.
• Remember: if you see a pronoun attached to a verb, it must be treated as a direct object of that verb
• If it’s possible to use an attached pronoun, it’s wrong to use a detached one.  If I can say “I hit them” using ضَرَبْتُهُمْ, with the attached pronoun, it’s wrong to say it like ضَرَبْتُ إيَّاهُمْ (with the detached pronoun)

Questions

1. What is meant by the مَفْعُوْل بِهِ (direct object), and how many kinds are there?
2. What are the apparent object and the obscured object?
3. How many kinds of obscured objects are there?
4. What is the attached obscured object and how many pronouns are there for it?
5. What is the detached obscured object and how many pronouns are there for it?
6. What is used to separate between a verb and the ي used for “me”?

Until next time, السلام عليكم

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