Words that take status using letters

السلام عليكم and welcome back!  In Words that take status using vowels, we learned that that all the words that take status in the Arabic language are only eight kinds, four that do it using vowels and four that do it using letters.  We’ve looked at the first four and now we finish up by looking at the remaining four…

Words that that take status using letters

وّالَّذِيْ يُعْرَبُ بِالْحُرُوْفِ أرْبَعَةُ أنْواع: التَثْنِيَةُ وَجَمْعُ المُذَكَّرِ السالِمُ وَالْأسْماءُ الْخَمْسَةُ وَالأفْعالُ الخَمْسَةُ, وَهِيَ: يَفْعَلانِ وَتَفْعَلانِ وَيَفْعَلُوْنَ وَتَفْعَلُوْنَ وَتَفْعَلِيْنَ

The word that takes status using letters is one of four kinds: the dual, the sound masculine plural, the Five Nouns and the Five Verbs, which are يَفْعَلانِ – تَفْعَلانِ – يَفْعَلُوْنَ – تَفْعَلُوْنَ – تَفْعَلِيْنَ

There are only four letters that are used to give status: alif (ا), waw (و), yaa (ي) and nun (ن), and there are four things given status using these letters:

1. The dual (المُثَّنى) – For example, المِصرانِ (the two regions), المُحَمَّدانِ (the two Muhammads), البَكرانِ (the two Bakrs) and الرجلانِ (the two men)
2. The masculine plural (جَمعُ المُذَكَّرِ السالِمُ) – For example, َالمُسْلِمُوْن (the Muslims) and َالمُحَمَّدُوْن (the Muhammads)
3. The Five Nouns (الأسماءُ الخَمسَةُ) – They are أبُوكَ وَأخُوكَ وَحَمُوكَ وَفُوكَ وَذُو مالٍ.  If you want to review them, we first mentioned them in Going high with رفع, Part 2: و
4. The Five Verbs (الأفعالُ الخَمسَةُ) – For example, يَضرِبانِ (they both strike), تَكتُبانِ (you both write), يَفْهَمُونَ (they all write), تَحْفَظُوْنَ (you all memorize) and َتَسْهَرِيْن (you [f.] stay up at night)

Status of the dual

فأمَا التَثْنِيَةُ فَتُرْفَعُ بِالألِفِ وَتُنْصَبُ وَتُخَفَضُ بِالْياءِ

As for the dual noun, it is given raf’ using ا and it is given nasb and khafdh using ي

We previously looked at the dual here.  The rules are simple:

• It takes raf’ using ا instead of a dhammah.
• It takes nasb and jarr using ي (with a fathah on the letter before the ي) instead of using a fathah and kasrah
• Instead of the tanwin that appears at the end of a singular noun, you’ll find a نِ (with a kasrah on it). This ن will only drop if the word is mudhaaf in an Idhafah structure

Examples of raf’:

• حَضَرَ القاضِيانِ (“the two judges arrived”) – القاضِيانِ (“the two judges”) is in raf’ because it’s the doer of the verb حَضَرَ (“arrived”)
• قالَ رَجُلانِ  (“two men said”) – رَجُلَانِ (“two men”) is in raf’ because it’s the doer of the verb قالَ (“said”)
• The underlined words show their raf’ using ا instead of a dhammah

Examples of nasb:

• أُحِبُّ المُؤَدَّبَينِ (“I love the two well-mannered ones“)
• أكْرَهُ المُتَكاسِلَيْنِ (“I detest the two lazy ones“)
• The underlined words are both in nasb because they are the objects of actions, showing that using a ي instead of a fathah

Example of jarr:

نَظَرتُ إلى الفارِسَينِ على الفَرَسَينِ (“I looked at the two knights on the two horses“) – The underlined words are both in jarr because each has one of the Particles of خفض before it.  They show jarr using the ي.

Status of the masculine plural

وَأمّا جَمْعُ المُذَكَّرِ السالِمُ فَيُرْفَعُ بِالْواوِ وَتُنْصَبُ وَتُخْفَضُ بِالْياءِ

… and as for the sound masculine plural, it is given raf’ using و and given nasb and khafdh using ي

We already know what the sound masculine plural is from here.  Its rules:

• It takes raf’ using و instead of a dhammah
• It takes nasb and jarr using ي (with a kasrah on the letter before the ي) instead of using a fathah and kasrah
• Instead of the tanwin that appears at the end of a singular noun, you’ll find a نَ (with a fathah on it).  This ن will only drop if the word is mudhaaf in an Idhafah structure

Examples of raf’:

• حَضَرَ المُسْلِمُوْنَ (“The Muslims were present”)
• أفْلَحَ الآمِرُوْنَ بالمَعْرُوْفِ (“The ones who order goodness succeeded”)
• The underlined words are in raf’ because they doers of actions, showing their raf’ using a و instead of a dhammah

Examples of nasb:

• رأيتُ المُسْلِمِيْنَ (“I saw the Muslims“)
• ِاحْتَرَمْتُ الآمِرِيْنَ بِالْمَعْرُوْف (“I paid respect to the ones who order goodness”)
• The underlined words are in nasb because they are objects of actions, showing their nasb using a ي instead of fathah

Examples of jarr:

• اتَّصَلْتُ بِالآمِرِيْنَ باِلْمَعْرُوْفِ (“I connected with the ones who order goodness”)
• رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنِ الْمُسْلِمِيْنَ (“Allah was pleased with the Muslims“)
• The underlined words are in jarr because they have particles of jarr before them, showing their jarr using a ي instead of kasrah

Status of the five nouns

وَأمّا الأسْماءُ الخَمْسَةُ فَتُرْفَعُ بِالْواو وَتُنْصَبُ بِالْألِفِ وَتُخْفَضُ بِالْياءِ

… and as for the 5 Nouns, they are given raf’ using و, nasb using ا and khafdh using ي

We learned what the 5 Nouns are here, and their rules are:

• They take raf’ using و instead of dhammah
• They take nasb using ا instead of fathah
• They take jarr using ي instead of kasrah

Some examples of raf’:

• إذا أمَرَكَ أبُوكَ فَأطِعْهُ (“When your father orders you, then obey him”)
• ِحَضَرَ أخُوْكَ مِنْ سَفَرِه (“Your brother arrived from his journey”)
• The underlined words are in raf’ because they are doers of actions, and they show it using و
• The attached pronoun ك (“you”) at the end is mudhaaf, so that means it will be in jarr.  You won’t see that because pronouns are fixed (they never change no matter state they are in)

Examples of nasb:

• أطِعْ أباكَ (“Obey your father“)
• أحْبِبْ أخاكَ (“Love your brother“)
• The underlined words are in nasb because they are objects of actions, and they show it using ا
• The same thing for the pronoun ك as before

Examples of jarr:

• اسْتَمِعْ إلى أبِيْكَ (“Listen to your father“)
• أشفِقْ عَلى أخِيْكَ (“Have pity for your brother“)
• The underlined words are in jarr because they have Particles of خفض before them, and they show it using ي
• The same thing for the pronoun ك as before

Status of the five verbs

وَأمّا الأفْعالُ الخَمْسَةُ فَتُرْفَعُ بِالْنُوْنِ وَتُنْصَبُ وَتُجْزَمُ بِحَذْفِها

… and as for the Five Verbs, they are given raf’ using ن and given nasb and jazm by dropping it

The Five Verbs have their own rules:

• They take raf’ using ن instead of dhammah
• They take nasb and jazm by dropping the ن instead of using fathah or sukun

Some examples of raf’:

• تَكْتُبانِ (“You both write”)
• تَفْهَمانِ (“You both understand”)
• Both of these are in raf’ because there’s nothing there that will change them from their default, and you see it because of the ن.

Some examples of nasb:

• لَنْ تَحْزَنا (“You both will not grieve”)
• لنْ تَفْشَلا (“You both will not despair”)
• Both of these are in nasb because of the particle لَن before them, and you see it because the final ن is dropped

Some examples of jazm:

• لَمْ تُذاكِرا (“You both did not memorize”)
• لَمْ تَفْهَما (“You both did not understand”)
• Both of these are in jazm because of the particle لَم before them, and you see it because the final ن is dropped

A table to summarize before we look at the Quran:

	Raf’	Nasb	Jarr	Jazm
Dual nouns	ا	ي	ي	—
Sound masculine plural	و	ي	ي	—
The 5 Nouns	و	ا	ي	—
The 5 Verbs	Keep the ن	Drop the ن	—	Drop the ن

From the Quran

Below are examples I’ve highlighted from Surah 46:15-20

• والِدَيْ (“two parents”) is a dual noun in jarr because of the particle ب before it.  It’s missing it’s final ن because it’s mudhaaf (attached) to the pronoun ه (“his”).  The second time on this page it’s in jarr because of the particle لِ before it
• ثَلاُثُوْنَ (“thirty”) and أرْبَعِيْنَ (“forty”) are both numbers that resemble masculine plurals.  The first is in raf’ and the other is in nasb because it’s the object of بَلَغَ (“he reached”)
• المُسْلِمِيْنَ (“the Muslims”)is a sound masculine plural and is in jarr because of the particle مِنْ before it
• الخاسِرِيْنَ (“the losers”) is in nasb because of the special verb كان.  We will learn more when we go over كان and its siblings إن شاء الله
• تَعِدانِ (“you both promise me”) and يَسْتَغِيْثانِ (“they both call for help”) dual nouns and examples of the 5 Verbs in raf’ by keeping their final ن’s
• The rest of the highlighted words are examples of the 5 Verbs in raf’, and you see the final ن on all of them

Questions

1. What are the words given status using letters?
2. How is the dual given raf’?
   1. How is it given nasb and jarr?
3. How is the masculine plural given raf’?
   1. How is it given nasb and jarr?
4. Give examples of the dual in raf’, nasb and jarr
5. Likewise for the masculine plural
6. How are the five nouns given raf’ and nasb?
   1. How are they given jarr?
7. Give examples of the Five Nouns in raf’ and nasb
8. Give examples of the Five Verbs in their three states.

Until next time, السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

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